How it looks from the middlest...

No story about how Gary and Diane answered the call to missions would be complete without the view from the middle, or the middlest as our family referred to her birth position.  She saw a lot of facial expressions that the rest of us missed.  And more fear and heartbreak.

I remember when Dad started with Kairos.  None of us knew much about it including Mom.  Her reaction was pretty funny when she learned how many cookies she had to make.  But we had fun helping bake that first year. We heard Dad’s stories after the weekend and there were some good stories. But those stories did not touch my firsthand experience seeing transformation during the closing ceremony. Seeing all the guys there and how important my Dad had become to them and them to him was overwhelming.  Dad was looking for them, standing up and craning his neck and they were doing the same as they got settled in this big room.  And then at the end, seeing the love and respect with these men was really moving.  He told us stories of passing out cookies to the cell blocks and them chanting his name. They developed lasting relationships. The same thing happened to Mom when she spent the weekend in the kitchen for Kairos. 

Then the two of them started talking about missions work after retirement.  I have to say that I was leery about their plans out of selfishness.  I wanted them to be around and we saw them so often it would leave such a hole. I remember the weekend before they found out where OMS would send them.  Dad showed me a video of Columbia and the prison and how God was working there. I just got tears in my eyes because I could so clearly see at that moment the providence of God and how he had been working all these thing together. I said, “Dad I know you are going to Columbia.” 

God worked on the selfishness in me too. In January as I was going through cancer treatment, against all odds, God enabled Mom and Dad to be here for my surgery. They left for Costa Rica for language school a few days after. Somehow we all were ok talking on Skype and messaging on Facebook. 

Sometimes we can't see from our perspective what is going on but when we look back God does amazing work.  He is continuing to do that for Mom and Dad and all of us.