Joseph

We know very little about Joseph, husband of Mary, beyond his lineage and his profession.  He is mentioned by name three times in the gospel of Matthew.  Every time it plays out the same way.  God tells him something and he acts on it.
Matt 1:24-25 "When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus."
Matt 2:13-14 " .... an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, 'Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there till I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.'  And he rose and took the child and his mother by night, and departed to Egypt..."
Matt 2:19-21  "...when Herod died, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, 'Rise take the child and his mother, and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's life are dead.'  And he rose and took the child and his mother and went...."

It does not appear that he spent a lot of time hashing out the decisions with friends and the Bible gives no indication that he and Mary debated the wisdom of these moves.  It looks like: God called - he went.

Serge is a do-er not so much a talker (unlike his wife).  It is easy to miss the power of his faith because there is so little discussion of it.  I have been thinking for some months about Joseph because Serge has reminded me of him so much in this act of going to China.  Joseph was called by God to raise a child as his own that wasn't his own.  Serge too.  When I wavered (often as the years went by) on this idea of adoption, he held firm.  Not insisting, but with words like "I don't know, Stewart, if we don't go through with it, I feel like we are leaving her".  That remark made years before we were assigned a specific child or had seen a photo.
I can get frustrated when he won't engage me in my angst about the logistics or prudence of a situation: "What about this? What about that?"  But it really doesn't appear that those types of questions are particularly biblical.  Sure, we are to pray for wisdom and "..in an abundance of counselors there is safety", but when you believe God gives you a direction, you best just go. 

Many people disagreed with this decision to adopt; some were forthright, most were subtle.  It is okay, we love you anyway.  On our last "date night" before the guys left for China, we discussed the complete lunacy of the whole thing.  We feel too old!  We understand the misgivings. 

Next day though, Serge rose and went to China.