am terminat!

The biology exam is complete.  It is about quarter to 2AM, and the thing is done, and it rocks.  Nine pages of biological-fact-splendour.  We got cells.  We got osmosis.  We got prokaryotes and plankton, mutations and mycelia, chitin, saprophytes, symbiosis, and the like.  

Part of the reason I am up so late is that there were a few hours this evening when I could not work on the exam at all.  I attended a pro-life dinner, a fund-raiser for the pro-life group here called Pro Vita.  They seem to be doing some the right stuff.  Educating using high schools and even elementary schools as a venue.  They are working with families, distributing materials, counseling and comforting those who are contemplating an abortion or who have already done it. One young girl even gave a testimony to the way Pro Vita had helped her, and she brought her little baby boy along, Raul Alexandru.  That was amazing.  If you can believe this, somewhere in the neighborhood of 40% of Romanian women have had an abortion.  The largest percentage in Europe.  I suppose the advent season is as good a time as any to be thinking about this.  I guess Mary had as good a reason as anyone to "eradicate" that "thing" growing inside her, adding to her public shame and disgrace.

I have been thinking about faith in these terms lately.  Part of faith is doing something that does not make sense only because you know it is right.  I have spent way too much time trying to carefully orchestrate my life's events, to get everything in its right place so I have no surprises.  And that works.  Most of the time.  It is when things go awry, though, that I have had to learn to trust.  Somewhere along the line we see that they never really went awry, that it was our thinking that was off, that we had the wrong idea when we made our plans. 

I have a friend who has been making some bad decisions lately.  By God's grace he felt okay talking to me about it, and by God's grace I was able to listen more or less without judging him.  And also by God's grace I was able to point him to God's word and the promises there, hoping to encourage and exhort him.  What he has chosen to do, however, instead of reconcile things, is to add to them more bad decisions to try to escape or cover up his error.  It gets to a point where he is going to have to stop doing what seems right to him, what seems the path to self-preservation and do, instead, the right thing, which really makes no sense at all.  Go figure.  I look forward to being his friend during this process, Lord willing.  Until then, what can you do but pray.  Any of y'all who want to join me in praying for this young Romanian man, I would love to report great news in the coming days or weeks or months... however long it takes.  You know how that goes.