Chapter 1: The God Who Is in Charge
THE GOD WHO IS IN CHARGE
WHEN Walt came to me at Christmastime to ask for your hand I said to him, “There is no one to whom I would so gladly give it.” Then we talked of the long wait you would have if the wedding date was not to be until after your graduation.
“Do you think you can stick it out?” I asked him, and he answered, without hesitation, “Ma’am, I’m a Calvinist!”
He knew that I would understand what he meant by that. You and I are Calvinists too, in that we believe in a God who is in charge. We are not for one moment of our lives at the mercy of chance. Walt saw the timing of his proposal, his own graduation from seminary, your graduation from college, as among the “all things” that work together for good to those who love God. He saw the pattern of duty that lay before you both and took it to be the will of God, so that the power of his own emotion to weaken his resolve was not a threat. He knew, as the psalmist knew, “My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” I am grateful that God has given you a man like that.