To K.J.R.

Dear Kirk,

Yesterday I climbed over all the giant white oaks on the ground across the way. The devastation before me would have broken my heart five years ago. My heart is aching, but not broken. You are inside me, stretching out and pushing against your cocoon. God has filled me with unquenchable hope. He commands us to hope, but he had mercy on me during this storm by giving me you. I would have despaired unless I believed I would see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. We are all born into a world prepared for us, a story long woven and spun. You are coming into a world torn up and changed, an older world than your siblings have known, where food and water and saws and axes, where brave and tireless men and cheerful and rugged women are crucial and necessary for the endurance of good. In one of my favorite books, the Dean’s Watch, there is a boy named Job who was born to trouble, much like yourself. He is helped by a kind man, but not rescued, for he has much to endure and overcome. But the kind man says this to him, and I often remember these words. They are for you, too. “Boy, all things pass. You are a brave child and a remarkable one. You will not be defeated. And for the undefeated there is always a way through.”

A month from today in your due date, November 2nd, but your birthday is in the hands of your Maker, who sends the wind and rain from his storehouse to rip up the great oaks and to flood the mountains. He says “go” and “come” and nothing can stop him. And so it will be when he delivers you. He will make a way for you. I am not afraid. I am excited for you, baby. You are, indeed, a remarkable child, born in remarkable times, dark times, but you will not be defeated. You will go on through many storms. You will look at destruction and see the Lord and worship Him. Your name is Kirkland, “Church-land” and you, who Christ has died for, are the hope of the whole earth.