The Eighteenth Floor
GCD Newsletter - July 24th 2024
My wife and I are serial house sitters. Sometimes there are dogs.
Right now I’m sitting on the eighteenth floor, overlooking our town’s railway station and a smattering of other local sights. From this distance, the train lines look more like a model railway, like the trains are running for my amusement rather than for the benefit of the family I just saw running from one platform to another.
When we house sit, we get to know the owners in a way few others ever will. Kitchen layouts, pillow choices, furniture, and bookshelves might not be the most important features of their lives, but they are significant. The view from this window is quite the reverse. I don’t know any of the people I can see. Even if I did, they’re too far away for me to recognise them. Instead, I see patterns. How many suitcases, briefcases, and backpacks did I see yesterday? Why are most of the cars silver, and how did I never notice that before? Why is that parking lot used so infrequently? Where was that family running to, and did they get there on time?
How does God do this?
He knows each of us more intimately than we could ever imagine, and yet he sees more than just patterns from his vantage point on the 77th floor. He knows when we run away from him, and welcomes us every time we run back to him. He’s there when we eat, and sleep, and rest, and read. He knows the baggage we carry, however we carry it or try to hide it.
Only he knows why so many cars are silver.
God sees everything, and he sees you.
Last week we released our latest book, The Art of Stability, which guides us back to the shield of our salvation and the hand that supports us when all else fails1, and this week we’ve released a chapter of that book that you can go and read right now.
—one of our newsletter writers—also wrote about the comforting truth of the sovereignty of God. You might be struggling with the small things, or the big picture, but please know that either way, God sees it all.Grace and Peace,
Adsum Try Ravenhill is married to Anna and together they are passionate about seeing men and women discipled in the context of the local church. They live in Reading, UK and are part of a church plant that meets in the town hall. Adsum edits theGCD Weekly Newsletterand can be found through his writing atThe Raven’s Writing Desk. You can find all of Adsum’s previous articles for GCD here.
by Rusty McKie
“I got what I wanted—a family, a church, a ministry—yet with it came many unwanted destabilizers. Depression rose as I awoke to unattended sadness in my soul. Anxiety squeezed as I experienced panic attacks over the fear of losing more loved ones. Weariness settled as I worked harder and harder with less and less to show for it. Anger increased as I saw the destruction around me. Hope waned as the gales grew.”
by
“We must understand that God’s thoughts are higher than ours. There are circumstances in our life that we might never understand. Things happen and we’ll never be able to see how God is using them for good. When we think of what is “good,” we often assume that means we won’t have trouble, sickness, death, or hardship. However, Scripture tells us we will experience these things until the final consummation when God finally and fully takes them away. We live in a cursed world and still feel the effects of that curse.
But…”
The Art of Stability
“If you are interested in hearing a voice and/or reading the words of someone who flies under the radar, does the long and steady work, and is the real deal, Rusty is your guy.” — Karen Swallow Prior Ten days into the very first lockdown, I got Covid. I could barely think or move, and I couldn’t concentrate on anything long enough to read, listen, or watch anything either. …
“You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand supported me” Psalm 18:35 ESV