“Out of the Mouths” or “What I Heard From 3 Boys Under the Age of 10″

The longer I am a parent the more I am convinced that I will constantly be amazed by the things that kids say. Sometimes they speak and I shake my head in disbelief. Other times they speak and I have to hold my tongue tight while the sarcasm button in my head screams to be pushed. Then there are the times when they speak and I listen, simply taking the opportunity to treasure the words.

I was putting away laundry tonight and overheard my boys talking, with their friend Keagan, in the other room. Titus was explaining to Keagan that Tyson (try to keep up) used to be Buddhist when he still lived in Taiwan. This, of course, caused Keagan to ask questions about whether or not this was true.

As Tyson answered he seemed almost embarrassed that he had ever worshipped a god other than the God. It almost seemed that his little heart was hurting at the thought of ever loving someone more than Jesus, because Tyson loves Jesus.

After a little coaxing Tyson finally told Keagan that yes this was true which led the two of them to talk about how good God’s grace is. They talked about it being so important that God had given Tyson another chance even though he had worshipped another. They talked about God’s mercy and how important it is and how thankful they are for it. And they talked about how they should only worship God.

All of this in a 2 minute conversation between a 9,8, and 7 year old boy.

Wouldn’t it be great if we all understood God’s mercy with the simplicity of children.

Wouldn’t it be great if we were all that aware of how much God wants us to worship Him alone?

Wouldn’t it be great if we all had the humility to admit when we put anything before God and rest in His grace?

Sometimes the things kids say cause us to pause and thank God for the faith of a child.

 

 

Why I Run

There are times when you are forced to ask questions of yourself. Questions that bring out the true motives of what we believe and why we believe it. In answering these questions we find out what is important to us and realize what defines us. It is in the answers that our true motives are revealed.

This is exactly the situation I found myself in on a Saturday afternoon.

My wife (Robyn) enjoys running and because she enjoys it, she wants me to enjoy it as well. For years she has been asking me to run with her and I finally agreed.

I didn’t just agree to run, though, I agreed to run a half-marathon. If it had been any other race I probably would have said no, but Robyn asked me to run the Joplin Memorial with her. To help a city mark a year since the tragic tornado and honor those who lost their lives and homes on that day. To me that seemed worthy of running and worthy of beating my body and making it my slave so that I could complete that race.

Last Saturday I was preparing for that race with a very long and mentally lonely run when I had to ask myself “Why am I running?” It was in that moment that I had to answer one of those questions that defines me and the answer drove me to finish those last few miles strong.

The answer? It wasn’t that my wife asked me to run. It wasn’t to help Joplin remember. It wasn’t because I enjoy running. It was a little girl from South Korea named Aria.

Over the past few years God has opened my eyes to the needs of the orphaned. There are close to 140 million children all over the world who have no family and are simply longing for someone to call them “Son” or “Daughter.” Aria is one of those girls.

Through our own adoption story we saw friend after friend sacrifice on our behalf so that we could bring Tyson home. We saw them sacrifice of their time, their energy and their finances and we saw them care for our son as their own. Our adoption story isn’t just our story, but it is one that we have shared with close friends and family and it is just as much their story.

Part of that story are our good friends Nathan and Kelly who are now going through their own adoption story. The love that they have for their little Aria (which is incidentally a beautiful song) is growing daily and it is only a few months until they will hold her in their arms for the first time.

The fatherless need homes and our family believes that we can help other families give them homes. We are not rich and we don’t have a great deal of financial resources, but we have faith and we trust and believe that God will make a way for us to help others adopt as well.

Robyn and I are running for Aria. We are running because we want to help bring this little song home to her forever family. Every mile of training, every mental block, and every sore muscle reminds me that I am running to bring Aria home.

My passion is for the orphan to have a family and I am asking you to help this orphan to come home to her family. If you can financially help then please visit firstgiving.com and give a few dollars to help bring Aria home. If you can’t give please pray for her and for Nathan and Kelly and their girls as they prepare a place for her.

As for me, every time my foot hits that pavement I will remember that I am running to bring Aria home.

Unworthy

⁹ Then Jacob prayed, “O God of my father Abraham, God of my father Isaac, LORD, you who said to me, ‘Go back to your country and your relatives, and I will make you prosper,’ ¹⁰ I am unworthy of all the kindness and faithfulness you have shown your servant. I had only my staff when I crossed this Jordan, but now I have become two camps. ¹¹ Save me, I pray, from the hand of my brother Esau, for I am afraid he will come and attack me, and also the mothers with their children. ¹² But you have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper and will make your descendants like the sand of the sea, which cannot be counted.’” – Genesis 32:9-12

Unworthy. That one word stuck out to me more than anything else as I read this morning. It’s at the core of what Jacob, and the rest of the Patriarch’s, believed about who they were in light of who God is.

When Jacob says that he is unworthy, it is born out of his humility before God. Jacob understood that God didn’t really owe him anything. God had promised to make his descendants numerous (Gen. 28:13-15) and that he would be blessed. God even said that all peoples would be blessed through Jacob and his offspring, but God didn’t have to make that promise. God chose to use Abraham, then Isaac, and now Jacob as the human line for His redemptive plan.

Unworthy. With this honest cry Jacob puts everything into perspective. He doesn’t take credit for his great wealth and he doesn’t ask for more. It seems to me that Jacob realizes that everything he has is a gift from God and that he truly is unworthy.

Unworthy. Is this how I feel toward God’s consistent pursuit of me? Is this the way that I relate to God?

Too often I forget just how unworthy I am and begin to expect God to give me things. In the selfishness of my flesh I begin to think that He is the one who is unworthy. Even as I type this, and scan the sky for lightning bolts, I wonder how this thought could ever enter my head.

The reality is that I am the one who is unworthy. I am the one who is in need of God and His amazing grace. Who am I that the King of the Universe would pursue me?

Unworthy. Like Jacob this is how I want to approach God.

What about you?

A Look at the Year That Was

In January 2011 I had a random thought come into my head, what if there were a Church Spirit Week? Out of this thought I began to write on this blog and to have fun letting God use me in a unique way. As I wrote of Pajama Monday’s and Holier Than Thou Jeans I never imagined all of the things that this year held in store for us. As the year closes I can only thank Him for what He has done and look forward to what He has in store. Here are some of the highlights.

In March we left on a jet plane bound for Taiwan. It was the end of a 22 month process and the beginning of an adventure that I want to remember every moment of. I will forever be thankful that God brought Tyson into our lives. The 9 days we were in Taiwan were amazing, but the lifetime we have to love our son promises to be even better.

Soon after returning from that amazing trip Robyn and I were sitting on our couch and thinking back on this amazing adventure that God had just taken us on. As we talked she asked me what I thought the next risk God would ask us to take would be. I will never forget those words. I honestly had no answer, but knew that whatever the risk might be it would only be a risk in the human mind.

It didn’t take long for that risk to flesh itself out. Sometimes you need to be willing to listen and to wrestle with God in order to find out where He is leading. It began with an understanding that we needed to be willing to follow wherever He led us. We needed to be willing to go wherever He called us to go. The end result of that was packing up our family and moving back to Indiana, to serve in a new place and in a new ministry.

Shortly after the move God began working on me. The lessons were difficult, yet worth it. Some words were spoken of me that left deep wounds, but the scars have made me a better man. We were thankful to live at our local camp for a couple of months until we saw God provide a rental house (through someone’s kindness and anonymity). We began to tithe instead of worrying about how much money we had for the month and yet we saw God provide more than we knew was possible.

In everything God was calling me to trust, to pray Sun Stand Still prayers, and to know that He alone truly is God.

Over the course of this year, that is easily the biggest lesson I have learned…that the LORD is God. Without a doubt. We have seen a storm destroy our roof and a vehicle and yet they were replaced. We have seen a $25,000+ adoption come to fruition and yet we owe little. We have seen Him move us and use us in incredible ways.

I’m not sure what risks God will lead me and my family to in 2012, but I am thankful for them. If they are anything like those of 2011, then this promises to be an incredible year.

Lego© Lessons

Most of the world looks at Monday like my 4 year old looks at me when I ask her to do something she doesn’t want to do. You know the look, the one that says I’ll clean my room but I will not be happy about it.

I’m not most of the world. Lately, I look forward to Monday. Monday means the possibility of sleeping in (a rarity) and an entire day with my family. Monday means that life goes from 5th gear to 1st gear and I enjoy it.

This week, Monday meant releasing my inner 9 year old (not that hard to do since Robyn tells me she is married to a Jr. High boy anyway) and dove headfirst into the world of Lego©. The boys and I dug out the tote full of the little plastic blocks and started the adventure of putting Darth Vader in his Tie Fighter.

Somewhere in the tub of colorful pieces lay the exact ones we would need to complete this masterpiece of brick building. Somewhere among the thousands of pieces lay the hundred or so we would needed.

That was the problem. The grey, darker grey, and black pieces lay scattered throughout yellows, greens, blues, reds, whites and various other pieces. Each step of the process was going to take time.

Early on I suggested that we get rid of the pieces we knew we wouldn’t need, so that the others would be more evident. So I started tossing the colors back into the tub. Darth Vader always seemed more slimming in black than yellow or green anyway. He must be more of a Raiders fan that he is of the Packers.

Each stage in our Lego© journey led us to sift through the pieces to find a flat grey piece with 2 bumps or a large black piece with 16 bumps. Each stage also left us searching through the colorful mess that lay before us. I would toss some of the pieces into the tub and the boys would ignore my wisdom (because I possess it in such great amounts) and simply shift the pieces around hoping to come across the one of value that we needed.

As we repeated this cycle I couldn’t help but think that this is the way we approach so much of life. We sift through the same junk over and over again hoping to find the things of value. While the pieces we need may only be black and white, we can easily be distracted by those with some color.

Titus is saving up to buy a nook. Yes, you read that correctly. We are raising the 9 year old set on saving money for a device meant to read books on, but don’t let that completely fool you because actual “reading” would probably be a close second to the many hours he would want to spend playing Angry Birds.  In his pursuit of saving for a nook, however, there will be a plethora of things that he will also want to buy.  That $.50 bouncy ball in the grocery store machine will be tempting…but it’s only a colorful block. It’s attractiveness will wear off in time.

I think you know where I am going with this. We allow the colorful things to distract us from the things of value, the things of truth. It’s so easy to forget that the piece we need is in with the rest of the pieces, but we need to sort through it to find it. Like with many other things we have to sift through the muck to get to the truth.

There are many things out there that are meant to distract us. We know that the enemy desires to distract us from following truth. Most of the time the things that distract us can seem more colorful and attractive than the simple black and white message of the truth.

Over time I am learning more and more what those colorful blocks are for me. Some are big and glaring and hard to miss. Others are small and I skip over them. Each one possesses the temptation to turn away from the truth and to sin. Sometimes they distract, sometimes I can throw them into the tub and out of site, and sometimes I throw them right back into the pile ignoring them for now yet knowing that they will have to be dealt with later.

The lesson I learned from Lego© on Monday? Don’t let the colorful stuff distract you from your purpose. Don’t allow it to take you away from the truth.

I also learned that God will use even simple things like Legos© to teach wonderfully simple lessons.

What are some simple lessons that He is teaching you?

Merry Christmas!

Just a quick video from our family to say Merry Christmas to you.  Click on the link to see the video.

James

Merry Christmas!

You Have To Start Somewhere

The last time I went to the dentist I was an 18 year old high school student. I was shaving once a week, still had head full of thick curly hair, and wasn’t even thinking about how to raise 4 kids. Now I shave more often (head included to overcome the lack of hair), am daily thinking of how to raise 4 kids, and finally broke a long stretch of not going to the dentist.

After that long of a break I wasn’t really sure what to expect. I knew that the time away wasn’t healthy. I knew that I should have gone many times before, but I didn’t. I could have broke the monotony of excuses for not going with a simple visit at any time. The no dental insurance route would have worked fine but the bottom line is that I just didn’t go.

Driving to the dentist my head was filled with one overwhelming thought: “You have to start somewhere.”  With every change in life there is a beginning point. Whether it be the process of restoring healthy teeth or dealing with some hidden sin the process has to start somewhere. I have said that very phrase time and time again, but never have I felt the weight of it like I did in that moment.

The hardest things to deal with, in life, have been the things that I have avoided. Sometimes I avoid the things that God is wanting to do within me. Sometimes I avoid the people whom I have difficulty with. Sometimes I avoid developing healthy eating habits because grease seems to taste better than lettuce.  In every case I have found that avoidance only leads to regret.

As I lay, mouth wide open, in the dentist chair I couldn’t help but think of the work God has done on the sin in my life. The grinding of metal on tooth reminded me that deep cleaning can hurt. Dealing with the issue can be like scraping plaque off of teeth, it’s never fun, but in the end it’s always worth it.

It would be easy for me to dwell on the things that I haven’t dealt with. It would have be easy to sink into a deep hole of regret and pain. It would be easy to once again believe the lies, but that isn’t what God intends for me. The lesson He wanted to get across to me wasn’t to avoid but to start.

With every sin to confess, every relationship to heal, and every dentist chair to sit in there must be a beginning. We can’t expect anything to be different if we aren’t willing to deal with the deeper issue.

Avoidance is easy. Starting is hard. Over the next few month I will spend plenty of time in the dentist’s chair. It may be painful, but it will be beneficial. At least I’m not avoiding it anymore.

As I continue to grow in my faith I hope that I take the same approach. Dealing with the issues that drag my faith down is never any fun, it can be painful, but the end result is worth it.

I am praying that avoidance will someday become the last action I take, but for now I will take it one step at a time.

What about you. What things have you been avoiding?

In Step With the Spirit

Two weeks ago I resigned from a 4 year youth ministry. A year ago I would have resigned out of frustration and it would have been wrong. This year I resigned because I couldn’t deny that God was leading me and my family in a new direction.

For a few months we prayed and fasted over an opportunity to move back to Indiana, a place we left 4 years ago to come “home” to Kansas. When the opportunity presented itself I questioned it over and over. I prayed, I fasted, my wife and I talked about it over and over again and at the end of the day we had to come to rest in the fact that we have chosen to follow God wherever He might lead us.

Over the course of a few weeks it became clear that God was leading us to Indiana, to do a ministry that I had never done full-time. For the past 10 years I have been privileged to work with teens who are struggling to find their own faith and figure out who God has called them to be. There have been some amazing students along the way and it has been fun to see so many give their lives and their livelihood to the King of Kings.

During my time in youth ministry I have consistently been able to teach students how to play an instrument and then help them gain the confidence to use their musical ability to lead worship. It has been one of my favorite things to do. I have greatly enjoyed training worship leaders for the next generation and to help them see that God has a great purpose in store for them.

In the teaching and training of worship I have seen my desire to lead worship being shaped and formed. I have often said that playing drums, in worship, is the most comfortable place in the world for me. I think I may have been wrong. I love playing the drums, but there is something about strumming a few chords on a guitar and singing out praise to my Savior that makes me forget everything else in the world. Those are the moments when life is perfect and God is on His throne.

For these reasons, and so many others, it only seemed natural to step out in faith and trust that God was leading me into music ministry. It would take a great deal of time to share with you all of the details and all of the ways that God has confirmed this in my life and in my family so I won’t, at this time. It is, however, incredibly obvious to us that He is leading in this and because of that we must follow.

Throughout all of this I have been reminded that, “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” In keeping in step with the Spirit I had to accept where the Spirit is leading me and my family.

Two weeks ago I resigned from youth ministry at Town and Country Christian Church in Topeka, Kansas and accepted a position as Music/Young Adults minister at New Hope Christian Church in Washington, Indiana. I am thankful for what God has done through me and my family here in Topeka and I am excited to see what He will do through us in a new ministry in Indiana.

The Words You Say…

The right conversation can leave a person in a positive mood and ready to conquer the world. The wrong conversation can leave a person in a negative mood and frustrated about everything going on around them. I have realized, lately, that my end of the conversation goes a long way in determining the outcome. A conversation can end on a positive, or negative, note based on the way that I conduct myself within it.

One of the things that baffles me, within the church, is the way that we bite and devour one another. I’m not saying that I haven’t been a part of it, or that I won’t fall into it again, but I am realizing that it is very easy for Christians to tear someone else down.

I can think of several conversations where I allowed myself to tear into someone’s character and begin to think of specific things that I didn’t like about them or about a choice that they had made. I chose to slander instead of keep my mouth shut. My words were harmful and hurtful instead of helpful.

I could search as much as I want to and find no Biblical basis for dragging someone’s name through the mud. I can find nothing Biblical about tearing into the decisions that someone else has made. As frustrating as someone else’s choices might be I must be careful about the words I speak in response.

Too often we fool ourselves into thinking that gossip is concern. Concern is telling one or two people about something frustrating to us. Gossip is telling many people.

One of the things that Robyn and I want to instill in our children is that they speak with kindness and love. We want them to honor and not hurt others with their speech. Our desire is that our children learn to be encouragers and not slanderers.

In 2 Tim. 2:16 we are told to “Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.” Godless chatter is prevalent among those who claim to follow Christ. I know that I have been guilty of it, have you? I am making it a personal goal to be an encourager. I want to build others up and not break them down.

I am also making an effort not to talk about people, but to talk to them. In this, I hope to eliminate my own fleshly desires to tear others down. I hope that you join me in this. Let’s be people who avoid godless chatter and instead encourage each other, while its still called today.

What about you? What are some ways that you find yourself indulging in godless chatter?

Busy Seasons

Busy seasons of life tend to sneak up on us. You may be the type of person who has every detail of your life organized and planned and yet something comes up that throws you for a curveball. In those times you somehow, someway you find yourself treading water and hoping just to get through the mass wave of stuff that life has thrown your way.

Work may be more demanding than you are accustomed to it being. The constant demand of your kid’s extracurricular activities may have kept you from seeing your spouse this week. Suddenly you find your car a mess from the plethora of fast food wrappers and empty pop bottles. You long for a few moments to just sit and relax but they don’t come. Life seems to be a race that you are taking 4^th place in and you can’t seem to keep up with the pack leaders.

In these times where are you placing God? Has everything else pushed Him to the side because you “just don’t have time?”

Why is it that in our busiest moments we push aside the very one who promises His peace? Why is it that in these times we leave behind the rock we should stand on and look to a sandy plane for our foundation?

Strength comes when we are at our weakest. In our business we tend to forget that we have been promised strength. Isaiah tells us that youth grow weary and yet God gives them strength. Paul tells us, in Ephesians, to “be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power.”

What is it that keeps you from turning to God in the busy seasons of life?