The moon is blue

When John and I first started dating he would walk me home and say goodnight in front of my sorority house door and above the door hung a lit, blue, neon crescent moon.  It was the symbol of my sorority and he would look up and say, "Hey Corrie, the moon is blue" and then I, in return, would say, "No, I don't see a blue moon."  This went on for weeks and months.  It was just his way of seeing where I stood with him, emotionally.  Well, one day, John walked me home in the evening and he didn't say anything and I looked at him and all of a sudden I realized that he liked me.  I mean, HE REALLY LIKED ME and I could trust him to protect me in whatever circumstances may lie ahead for us.  So I said to him, "John, did you know the moon is blue."  He just smiled and said "Yes it is, isn't it."  Anyway, I probably went into too much detail about our little early romance, but we still use those words to describe where we are with each other, emotionally.  If I am frustrated, I just look at him and say that the moon isn't even close to being blue or if he is thinking I am not trusting him he might remind me that the moon is still blue, etc....  You understand what I am getting at, right????

Okay, here is the real story for you.  SO, the other day John and I were running in our neighboring area about 6:15 in the morning and a HUGE HERD of cattle (and when I say cattle, I mean big, gigantic longhorn cattle) came charging at us.  It is not abnormal for you to see a herd of cattle roaming down our neighborhood street or down any street in the city for that matter.  They kind of roam anywhere.  But, not often do they take up the entire street and the ditches on both sides and I have never seen them running before.  So, I look up ahead and I notice that these cattle are coming straight for us and I kind of panic and tell JOhn that I am going to run behind him because this is it, we are going to die or at least get some punctures.  I almost wanted to curl up in a ball and look big and strong (because I am sure the cattle would see me and be scared).  Anyway, John proceeds to run in front of me and he starts flailing his arms all about to scare them off our little path.  I was so scared.  Well, they run right by us and they didn't run into us, on us, over us or even knick us a bit.  And I looked at John and said to him, "You know what babe, the moon is blue" and I loved that moment.  He truly was going to take some cattle head on to protect me.    I wish there were some pictures for you to see, but of course, no camera while running.

As a few days have gone on, Mary and Emilee and I have gone to see the kids at CLAPAI.  This past week was their first week back from the break and I realized again about God's protection and his shelter over these kids, whom I have grown to love and desire to protect them as well.

There are times when you recognize God's protection over you and there are times when you don't always see it, but you know it is there.  But, in a huge way, I think one of the biggest lessons I am learning (in a small, slow but steady pace) while living here in Nigeria is that God protects.  He protects me, these small kids, my marriage, my family, my friendships, he protects me from sickness and death, he protects this ministry and its relationships.

He protects His family and no matter what form that takes, whether I see it or not, He is protecting.  I am so thankful that I can trust in it.  The bummer is I am the unfaithful one, not wanting to see God's moon for me as blue if I don't agree with Him. But Blue it is and blue it will always remain because of who He is, not who I am.  And for that I am glad this is the lesson being taught to me, even if it is cloudy and I don't even see a moon at all.