I’ve already posted the story of our adoption here. But I have to write a bit more about it. Today is the fifteenth anniversary of the day we saw the picture of the four children we adopted.

Fifteen years. A lot has happened in that time. Think of it this way. A few months earlier, the first attack on the World Trade Center occurred. It’s easy to forget that event, since it was a failure. But it was intended to have the same impact that eventually happened on 9/11. It was the moment that the radical Muslims declared war on America, and our lives have never been the same.

On April 17, 1993, God drew a line in the sand and our lives have never been the same. On that day he asked Betsy and me if we were in or out. Did we really want to follow Jesus or did we just want to be a nice family. As the poem says, we chose the road less travelled. And it has made all the difference.

In the movie Three Days of the Condor, Cold War CIA Operative Cliff Robertson asks John Houseman if he misses the action of WWII. Houseman replies, “I miss the clarity.” Most of our life is gray with unclear guidelines for who are the good guys and who are the bad guys. Houseman looks back at the horrific time of the second world war and remembers it fondly, because there was no ambiguity about who the bad guy was.

The day God told us to go get those kids was that moment of clarity for Betsy and me. Life has been pretty gray since that time. Sometimes, it has been completely dark. But we can look back at that day and remember that there is a God and we are his.

Communion, Passover, 12 stones from the middle of the river, wedding rings. Stuff that makes us remember. God gives us moments in the light to keep us on course when we are in the dark. That’s what today is for me. A time to remember God is there.