Donna, my wife, and I recently moved into a small flat. We have been married for three years and in all that time we had never had a home of our own. We had lived our whole lives as missionaries with no home and no possessions. We travel a lot, all over world but had been praying for our own space for a long time. God provided a small flat in our little village where we could finally have a two bedroom home and we were overjoyed.

The flat had a little garden in front and at back of house and suited us fine. The house was in varying stages of disrepair and we wondered how much time and money we should spend on fixing it up as we were just renting. In some ways I think it was indicative of how we as Christians are unsure of how involved in world we should be since we are “just passing through”. We relinquish our duty as Christians not willing to engage with world because we don’t think that it is worth it! All while disregarding one verse we all know by heart (For God loved world so much that He gave His one and only begotten son… how much more can you invest, than to die for ones you love?) But that is another story and I could possibly write chapters on it, but we’ll leave that for another day.

On that note, we realised that we had a lot of work to do on little place. We came home from office and spent every evening cleaning until midnight as it was such a mess! As I said before we had no furniture or any worldly possessions so we had an empty house to fill and we would have to, over next six months, trust God to fill it with everything we needed!

We would need appliances, cutlery and plates, a sitting room suite, tables, a bed, cupboards, drawers and wardrobes. We also needed to get into garden which was looking like a jungle! I remember how exhausted I felt coming home from work each day and seeing all work we still had to do.

I also used to borrow garden equipment from a neighbour. I distinctly remember first time I cut hugely overgrown hedge. The neighbours all noticed and commented on change. The elderly neighbour upstairs was very grateful too. It was amazing how encouraged neighbourhood was that someone had moved in and was actually looking after property and taking time to look after garden.

I realised that pruning hedges makes people stand up and take notice. If people in my neighbourhood are touched by fact that I cut my hedge, how much more is world touched by Christ in me on a daily basis through my life. This hedge was a witness in neighbourhood and was in complete contrast to previous tenants way of thinking. People noticed and appreciated effort we made to make our home inviting.

I am reading book of Job again in light of all that is happening over world with injustice of life and I am realising again that "life isn't fair but God is good".

(Hebrews 11) Abel believed God and he died, Enoch believed God and he did not die, Noah believed God and pretty much everybody else died. The only thing that they had in common was that they all believed God and it pleased Him. All that matters is if we believe, because then we can supernaturally bear all of often overwhelming circumstances and situations of life by our simple faith in God. His "yolk is easy and His burden is light"

The problem of suffering leads us to one of four conclusions, 1. there is no God and life is a pathetic joke, 2. God is cruel and arbitrary and cares nothing for mankind, 3. God is powerless, or 4. God is alive and at work in our lives but we do not always completely understand what he is doing. Number 4 takes incredible faith.

As Job put it,"Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." The book Of Job actually hit me very hard as I read what it says. Job suffered terribly. His suffering would be on par with those in Africa or Asia or with any third world nation like Mozambique or Madagascar, where there is terrible demoralizing poverty.

Job had everything to lose at beginning of book and actually did lose everything in a very short period of time. He had friends who tried to give him counsel by reasoning with him about why all of this was happening. In fact His friends guidance was on par with any wisdom that man could give today. Job is one of earliest books ever written, and yet not much has changed since then. There is nothing new under sun.

Suffering has been a part of life ever since fall and yet God turns it around for our good. It is incredible that Satan had to ask God's permission to terrorise Job, he doesn't seem to have free reign, and also seems to be leashed, so that he can't take Job's life ultimately.