In God’s Hands

Cole, Ashley, Nicholas and Jonathan
Originally uploaded by °Beth.

True confession: I’m a news junkie.

Most days the news can be a downer, but as of late it can be overwhelmingly bleak. If you’re tuned in you know—it seems as if the whole world has gone awry. Can’t help but wish my kids were growing up in a safer world.

I was thinking about the dismal state of affairs when a memory, almost forgotten, came flooding back.

After college I left my beloved state of Indiana for California—not exactly known for hometown hospitality or a low incidence of crime. My parents were more than a little nervous about this arrangement, but the way my mom always says it, they were “putting me in God’s hands.”

The day after I arrived I attended Jack Hayford’s congregation, Church on the Way with some friends. Even though there were over 6000 people in attendance, my parents actually caught a glimpse of me walking up the aisle toward my seat—they were watching the pre-recorded service that evening in their living room, 2200 miles away! My dad yelled out, “There’s Beth—turn on the VCR!”

Who knows what they were taping over, but in the fury of the moment they quickly hit record and now have a permanent reminder that God cares about the details.

Pastor Hayford is known for asking his congregation to turn to their neighbor and “tell them such and such, or ask them this or that.” Had an angel directed me to my seat? Am I magnetically drawn to TV cameras? This I don’t know. But several times throughout the service, while I obediently did just what Pastor Hayford asked, well the cameras rolled . . . and I was their spotlight.

Now that I’m a parent, I’m guessing that random, what’s-the-chances moment in time did my parents a world of good. It was like God was saying, “See, I am holding her in My hands.”

That particular tape is just collecting dust somewhere among the many in my parent’s guestroom closet. Yet even today the message resonates—though God is well aware of the nuclear activity of North Korea and the sneaky terrorist exploits of Iran, there is really only one safe place to reside . . . In His hands.