Growing up in the Methodist church, I heard and believed the gospel, yet I chose to live my life as if I didn’t. After college, I moved to Kansas City to take an engineering job, begin my career and live out my dreams. Along with several professional successes came the emptiness that success brings. Disillusioned and distressed, I turned to the Scriptures for answers and hope. I found them both.

At the same time I met Rita, my wife-to-be, and I began to grow in my understanding of the Christian life. We were married and started a family, moved to Rita’s family farm, went to Russia, and served a term in the Kansas state senate. I now teach structural engineering at the University of Kansas. Life is good. But that’s not my testimony.

My testimony is that God is faithful, and that He keeps all of His promises.

Russia

One of the two things that some would consider interesting about my life was the year spent as a missionary in Russia. I was in my office in Kansas City one Saturday morning in 1993 when I saw an article about a retired chaplain and his wife who sold most of what they had to go to Russia for a year. This was in response to the Russian Minister of Education’s request for missionaries to come and institute a Christian ethics and morality curriculum in the Russian public schools. It seemed like a cosmic, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I telephoned Rita. When we compared notes later on, we discovered we had each sensed an immediate calling. Our daughters, Lisa and Molly, were five and two years old at the time. We were one of the first families with young children to participate. We found ourselves in St. Petersburg with a team that included one other family and five single women. We ministered in the schools, to teachers, neighbors, students and especially to a group of teenage orphans who lived just around the corner from us. It was a wonderful year of catching fire from one another. A time of biblical study and growth in understanding. A time of living a life dedicated to ministry.

At the end of our year, Rita and I once again sensed a very unique calling to adopt one of our orphan friends. A year later our family was blessed with the addition of our third daughter, Galina.

We’ve stayed in touch with our ministry team and have seen God’s faithfulness in transforming youthful idealism into persevering faith for several who have experienced very difficult circumstances in life.

Politics A second thing some people would consider interesting about my life was the term I served in the Kansas senate. Nothing could have been more improbable. I’d had little interest in politics, and even fewer gifts for it. The impetus to run came from Sunday evening church discussions bemoaning the state of our government and the weak Christian presence there. It didn’t seem to me that we were accomplishing very much with these discussions. I decided that stepping out of my comfort zone and injecting a biblical perspective into the primary election season might be more productive.

Researching biblical principles to serve as a framework for political positions on the issues of the day was challenging and valuable. Going door to door discussing worldviews and political views was stretching and informative. Receiving help for the campaign was humbling. On the day of the primary election, we were several hundred miles away, attending the RP International conference. The results came in for the primary—and later the general election—that I had won. Rita and I looked at each other, saying, “What do we do now?”

We have learned the lesson that 1) God sometimes orchestrates circumstances so clearly that it’s easy to see His hand of providence; 2) It’s essential to have a set of principles to base your life on, because going with the flow doesn’t work; 3) As important—maybe more important—than your particular positions is the manner in which you articulate them and treat people, i.e., with gentleness and respect.

I knew I didn’t want to be a career politician. I thought that two four-year terms would fulfill my obligation. I was preparing to run for reelection when my engineering firm was undergoing some changes. At the last minute, I pulled out and went back to my engineering firm, out of a sense of loyalty. That was one of the hardest decisions of my life. If I believed God had called me to this position, what had changed? Lesson 4: Sometimes God doesn’t orchestrate the circumstances of life clearly enough to be certain of His calling, or sometimes we pull a Jonah and refuse to accept God’s call.

New Mercies

God promises that His mercies and compassion are new every morning. Each day He gives us a fresh start, being forgiven and being assured that there will be new mercies that day. Being reminded of this gospel can wipe away the discouragements of past failures and disappointments, and replace them with living hope and anticipation of God orchestrating the circumstances of life that day for His glory and our good. Even though from our perspective it seems the covenant is broken, it is amazingly still in full force.

My Russian teammate, Barry, called this his crowded-Metro verse: “We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Cor. 4:8–9). God permits troubles, uncertainties and distress, but not despair. He promises to be faithful in being with us over and above, and most importantly, through our circumstances.

“A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out” (Isa. 42:3). I’ve seen God keep this promise to close Christian friends who have suffered tremendous grief and loss. He promises not to lay upon us more than we can bear. I now see in hindsight that the relatively minor bruisings I’ve received have enabled me to more clearly understand where the strength comes from that helps me stand. I’m thankful that Christ is tender to those of us who are weak. He knows that the spirit is willing, even though the flesh is weak.

Assurance

I would say, as many have, that my exposure to Reformed theology has most notably helped me understand both myself and the sovereignty of God. I had heard these doctrines before, but I came to not just know, but to experience these truths. It was only when I became convinced of my true nature, and God’s sovereign grace, that I was enabled to “come out of myself.” The gospel message became a reality. Having these promises applied to my heart, I began to walk by faith, instead of just by sight. Since that time, assurance has been an up-and-down road for me. I’m much more dependent upon the promises of God as my ground of assurance, as opposed to significant evidences of the fruit of the Spirit. I would like to see a much greater manifestation of the Spirit’s work in my life.

As to the effect these doctrines have had on me, I can say that though I am still very weak, and not as rid of the lusts of the flesh, the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16) as I should be, yet by the grace of God I do believe I am walking more closely with Him. I remember, early in my Christian life, reading that St. Augustine testified that as he grew in the Lord, he became more and more aware of his sinfulness. On his deathbed he had Psalm 51 inscribed on his ceiling. That has been something I’ve thought about a lot. How do I reconcile that with being conformed to the image of God, growing in holiness, and seeing the fruits of God’s Spirit in increasing measure? At age 57, I can say that I share Augustine’s view that my sinfulness (in nature, not just acts) is much more apparent to me now than it was years ago. That has worked against my full assurance, but has helped me understand growing as a growth in grace. My helplessness, and therefore my dependence are much more apparent. That has been, and will be, a lifelong lesson. The pride of life and the lust for the world are enemies of the soul that will not be vanquished in this life. “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!” I’ve never questioned Paul’s struggles in Romans 7:24 as being anything other than the believer’s struggle. Wanting to live a victorious life without those struggles overlooks the basic fact of our creaturely dependence and moral inability. This has led to one of my oversimplified principles. We’ve been recipients of God’s grace and we are to extend that grace to others.

“Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage” (Ps. 84:5). In my younger days, I was always trying to get something; and when I did it was empty. Even when I was chasing after the wind, I’ve always enjoyed the journey.

I am still one who enjoys the journey. God has graciously provided a promise at the end of the road that lights our way. He gives us a heavenly hope, where He Himself will be with us and will be our God. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes; there shall be no more death, or sorrow, or crying. Not only has He given the ultimate future promise, but every good and perfect gift we experience along the way is a gift from Him.

His provision of Rita for me as a lifelong, godly companion is gracious beyond measure. We are heirs together of the grace of life. Children are a blessing from the Lord. There is no greater joy than to see our children walking in the truth. Lord willing, we might even be blessed enough to see our children’s children. Receiving and extending grace plays itself out primarily in the home. We’re just here to learn to love Him. We are blessed to be surrounded by our dear friends and godly examples in the Winchester, Kan., RP Church. Seeing life as a journey, secure in our final destination, frees us to enjoy the tastes of those blessings we experience along the way, and enables us to be content, even in the difficult circumstances of life.

—Bob Lyon lives on a farm just south of Winchester, Kan. He is an elder in the Winchester RPC and works as an engineering professor at the University of Kansas. He and his wife, Rita, have three daughters, a son-in-law, and a second son-in-law soon to be.