Three months (and about 20 minutes) ago they had just made the call . . . they needed to get her into surgery . . . NOW! I still often recall the surreal nightmare that led up to the neurosurgeon making that call . . . going to bed in anticipation of a wedding . . . waking up an hour later not knowing what was going on . . . paramedics . . . the initial diagnosis at the ER — bleeding in the brain . . . being prepared for the worse. Three months later . . . two more surgeries . . . 6 weeks of chemo and radiation therapy . . . here I sit . . . doing my second Thanksgiving holiday of the year (oh, I do like being a transplanted Canadian) with SO MUCH to be thankful for. And as I read in Job this morning, I’m reminded that what I have seen of God’s hand over these past 3 months is just “the outskirts of His ways.”

“He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing. He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them. He covers the face of the full moon and spreads over it His cloud. He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness . . . Behold, these are but the outskirts of His ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand?” (Job 26 7-10, 14 ESV)

So, I haven’t focused a lot in recent weeks on the wonder of the creation around me. I pretty much take for granted that the earth hangs out in empty space . . . living in Seattle, I’m not as convinced about waters being stored up in clouds that don’t split (kidding . . .). I haven’t recently looked out over an ocean horizon and noticed the boundary between light and darkness. Instead, I’ve been pretty focused on what’s been happening in my house. Thankful that, though so much has taken place, so little has really changed.

I recall the second surgeon saying how amazing the first surgery had gone and how “lucky” that first surgeon was given that he didn’t have time to take an MRI and was therefore essentially operating blind. I remember that, after the second surgery, she was the “one-in-a-thousand” with bleeding which would require a third operation to do “clean up” . . . and then realizing it was the piece of tumor they couldn’t reach that had “self-destructed” and bled out. I hear again the radiation oncologist’s words, “Remarkable . . . Incredible . . . Amazing” as he describes to another doctor the lack of side effects she had experienced during the weeks of post-operative treatment. And I thank God, that the woman I went to sleep with last night, is much the same as she was as when we went to bed 3 months ago. Can’t explain it any other way . . . then having seen the hand of God . . . and that, is just the outskirts of His ways.

And, isn’t’ that the way it is for any of us who have been drawn into relationship with the God of the universe through the Savior of the world? We have known the reality of sins forgiven . . . we have seen the glimpses of the new heart implanted within us as, over time, we act less like ourselves and more like Him . . . we have known sustaining grace through times of trial and trouble . . . we have been privileged, from time to time, to see Him intervene. And all of it, says Job, is just a small whisper revealing just an inkling of who He is and how much He love us.

So, I rejoice that I am on the outskirts this morning. Having seen something of His glory and grace . . . not just in the events of the last 3 months . . . but throughout the almost 34 years of this pilgrim walk. I’m thankful for every whisper He has allowed me to hear. And I wait in anticipation of the thunder that will be known in that day when faith gives way to sight . . . when the tears of earth are absorbed within the living river of heaven . . . when the God who lives inside me through His blessed Spirit is before me in all His majesty and glory . . . and maybe, even then, that will still be just the mere edge — perhaps it will take eternity to fully appreciate all that my God is . . . but hey, I’ll have the time!

For now . . . thank You, Lord . . . for Your presence, Your favor, Your grace. Would You continue to let me hear the whispers . . . and to take notice of the outskirts of Your ways? . . . for Your glory . . . amen!