To Make Real Friends, Be a Friend of God

Let me just start out by saying that when I make a general statement in this post, I know that I am making a general statement....I know there are exceptions to the rules and not all people fall into the following categories. That being said---I will make the following generalizations!

We live in a neighborhood that has the word "estates" as part of the title. We live in a neighborhood where most of the houses probably sell for about half a million dollars (at least the updated ones!). We live in a neighborhood where there is an unspoken message being proclaimed that unless you have the right car, the right job, the right amount of kids, the right salary, the right clothes, send your kids to the right schools, keep your yard a certain way and so on and so on you just don't quite belong or fit in. I don't have the right things so it goes without saying that I don't quite fit in. I'm ok with that, I don't really care for my own benefit to fit in, but I would like to be some influence--namely I want to proclaim Christ to the people that I live around. But that's rather a hard thing to do when you don't know the people. (Ok, we do know the people that live right around us and they are lovely people) I am mainly thinking about people that are close to our age....we are poor compared to them! Anyway, I've been thinking how can I be of more influence to the people that I live around if we hardly see or talk with them. I think there are things that can be found in common, things that will bridge the gap between our worlds, but it's a tough nut to crack. So, all this thinking about how hard it has been to get to know people and find things in common has lead me to think of how utterly unique and beautiful Christ's church is.

The Church, the Bride of Christ, while still imperfect, is a glorious picture of how rich people and poor people and all sorts of people can be friends and more important, family. People that I would not normally think of being friends with I am able to be friends with because of the common denominator of Christ. The more I think on that the more it blows my mind. When I think of the barriers that are up towards us from peers in our neighborhood and then I think of the friendships we have with believers the more I see that only Christ can bring people together! It seems like although people are polite, hell would freeze over before people in our neighborhood would allow more than a mere socially correct conversation to happen.

I was so blessed to hear my father in law preach today on Romans 15:5-6 which says all that I was thinking about the unity of Christians and it says it much better than my feeble ramblings. Here is the handout Joshua's dad shared with his congregation. I hope it will encourage you as much as it did me.

"Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, so that with one accord you many with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." Romans 15:5-6

In this wonderful passage of Scripture we are given a wish-filled benediction identifying one of the great all-consuming purposes that God has for human history. Why did God send His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Why did Jesus die upon the cross and rise again from the dead? Why did God give birth to the church in the life and miraculous work of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost? Why is Jesus coming back to earth to consummate and culminate redemption and history in His Lordship? Why? Here we have a reason that gives a true and great ultimate purpose to these things? God is putting together a people, His people throughout history, through redemption in Jesus Christ so that the day will come when these people will with one voice rise up together in unity of mind and heart to glorify God in all His worthiness, goodness, and transcendent wonder. This is why God does everything He does--He is putting together a people from all over the world to possess one mind in Christ and speak with one voice the unifying praise of the Lord in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. The text tells us the following concerning this overarching theme:

1. Perseverance and encouragement, a vital necessity in Christian living and experience, is actually a work of God given to us in the journey of our salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ in the work of the Holy Spirit.

2. Although God loves every Christian as His own child, yet God wants every Christian to experience the important blessing of Sharing the "same mind" with other believers in Christ. This same mind is centered on the nature and meaning of the true gospel of free sovereign grace through the saving work of Christ on the cross and resurrection, made real in us individually and among us corporately through the unifying love and work of the Holy Spirit. See Philippians 2:1-2

3. The work of God's saving grace and the glorious work o the Holy Spirit in regeneration and sanctification baptizes the believer into the on Body of Christ (See 1 Corinthians 12:13), gifting us for living and service in the Body of Christ (See 1 Corinthians 12:27-31), and giving to all believers a common life (the life of Christ), which we share in love and covenant together in the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thus Christians are to live together in Christ "in one accord."

4. This inner oneness shared by CHristians finds expression with one common voice praising and glorifying God because of and focused on the gospel of His saving grace in Jesus Christ. This is what the church celebrates in worship, and this worshipful celebration of the gospel in oneness of heart and voice reflects the triumphant church's experience in heaven for all eternity.

Application to LIfe
1. Christian oneness is a gift from God and not a human creation forced upon people either by effort or institutionalization.

2. Christian oneness in essence is the church in love with God because of Jesus Christ and through the work of the gospel, grace, and the power of the Holy Spirit, thus this oneness is founded on truth, birthed in regeneration and nurtured in love.

3.Christian oneness is a miracle of God's power in salvation that transforms sinners from selfish, caustic, irritating rebels causing division and hurt into selfless saints sharing, promoting, and living in the love and joy of God's eternal transcendent goodness in the context of human history and life's difficult fallen environment.

4. Therefore, the more the Christian loves and rejoices in Jesus, the closer the Christian gets in affection and mind to God and to other Christians in the church.

5. And the more the church experiences Christians growing in love and joy in Christ, in the light of the gospel, the more the earthly church will together rejoice in and love the Lord.

6. Furthermore, the more this happens on earth in the life, worship, and experience of the earthly church, the more the earthly church resembles the heavenly church.

7. The greater the earthly church rejoices in the Lord, joining in the heavenly church glorifying and honoring the Lord God of heaven and earth, the more redeemed humanity manifests the entire point of why God made people, the more glory God is glorified on earth, and the more frustrated Satan gets.

"May the God who inspires men to endure, and gives them constant encouragement, give you a mind united with one another in your common loyalty to Christ Jesus. And then , as one man, you will sing from the heart the praises of God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. So open your hearts to one another as Christ has opened his heart to you, and God will be glorified." Romans 15:5-7 J.B. Phillips "The New Testament in Modern English."

Amen!

My Little Boy

Daniel had a birthday not too long ago and it's hard to believe that I have a 3 year old...but I do!

Daniel is turning into quite the fun little boy. He's lost much of his babyish looks and he certainly talks up a storm! He has developed quite an imagination and it's fun to have him say, "Mama, let's 'tend this, that's a good idea isn't it?" I think his middle name is play! His favorite color is green and I think it's a toss up if pizza or chicken nuggets are his favorite food. He loves chocolate, just like his Daddy. And his favorite sport is soccer or baseball, I'm not sure what dictates which is his favorite when! He finds the mud puddles outside almost instinctively and he loves to get dirty! He also loves to help me make dinner, although I'm pretty sure that cooking is not what he's most interested in--it's the food he gets to snag while we are making it!

He loves his little sister so much and does all sorts of silly things to make her laugh.

He is quite strong willed, which we pray God will use for His glory as our little man continues to grow and mature. We are so thankful for the interest that he has shown in spiritual things and we pray that that will continue and that he will come to love and trust in Christ.

He is a sweet little boy and I am thankful to be his Mama.

When Things Don't Go As Planned

We have been here at my parents house for about 2 weeks and we have loved every bit of it. The hubby was back at home taking comprehensive exams. Whew! They are over and we are heading back to him. We have really had a great time but we are ready to get back to hubby/daddy!

My parents have a pool and we have had a blast in the warmed up water of the hot tub! I was reminded today of God's grace in Daniel's life as I saw the scar that he has on his left shoulder blade area. He had surgery to fix a coarctation of the aorta when he was about 12 days old. I wrote a lot about this and actually his birth in the scrapbook that I have made for him, but I think that for the next few weeks I'll write some thoughts on the things that I learned during that time and some of the things that I have reflected on now--3 years since that time. I want to do this in hopes that my experiences may help someone else to hope more in God.

So, stay tuned!!

Preparing for Easter

This is the first year that Daniel will be really able to "get into" and enjoy Easter so we have been thinking more about what traditions we want to start as we celebrate Easter! I am so thankful for the many ideas out there in blog land! Here are some that I think we are going to try this year!

1. We did these Resurrection Eggs last year and Daniel had a great time with it. We will do these again this year. You start 12 days before Easter and read a short portion of scripture and open up an egg each day...the eggs have little "toys" in them that relate to that days aspect of the Easter story. Daniel really enjoyed our advent calendar this past year and I'm sure he will love this again this year!

2. I have always heard about Hot Cross Buns and even remember the little jingle, "Hot cross buns, hot cross buns, one a penny, two a penny, hot cross buns"! But I don't remember ever having one. So I think as a fun baking project I'll make these with Daniel. He loves to help me in the kitchen so this will be a great way to involve him in helping me and a great teaching time about the cross. I found this recipe that look good.

3. I remember reading in Noel Piper's book and in it one of the things she did was make a tomb and use pipe cleaners to make "people" and use it all to act out the events of the Easter story. I think Daniel will really love this one...he has such a great imagination and he knows how to play really well! I like this idea because it's simple and doesn't cost a lot of money!

4. I have gotten most of my ideas from this blog and one of the things that this family does is have lamb for the Easter meal instead of ham....I haven't ever thought of this but I really like this idea. I really like lamb and we rarely have it since it is quite expensive, so this would be a treat and another way of giving us a tangible reminder about Christ being the Lamb of God.

5. I really also like her idea for the egg hunt. I'll just copy what she said cause it's really good!

"Easter egg hunts need not be about a bunny! They can also be a symbol of our relationship to our Savior. God tells us to seek him, just as those little children will be ernestly seeking those eggs: ”You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13) I have also thought it would be so nice to add little messages inside the children’s eggs with messages about God’s sweetness: “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103 ESV); the rules of the LORD are true, and righteous altogether. More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. Moreover, by them is your servant warned; in keeping them there is great reward. (Psalm 19:9; Psalm 19:10-11 ESV); etc… The candy is an excellent picture to your child of how wonderful a relationship with Jesus is… it is even better than candy!"

6. Making Resurrection Rolls will also be a tradition we start! Daniel will have such a fun time making these....and eating them will be great too. I can just imagine how he will have a blast putting the marshmallows in the rolls, covering the roll all up and then discovering the marshmallow is gone and it's left an empty space.....we'll get to talk lots about the empty tomb with this one!

7. I found this printable and I think I'll make a memory match game with it. Daniel has started to learn how to play the memory match game so this works for us at this stage.

8. Although Daniel is not into coloring all that much, he will do it some. So I will probably print off some coloring pages from here and http://ministry-to-children.com/easter-coloring-pages/ for him to do this year...I don't know that we will make this a tradition, probably just something for the kids when they are young.

9. Here is a printable that I'll probably put up in the dining room.

10. And last but not least at all is that we will be reading the Easter story from the scriptures. I think this will be the most important tradition that we start. It is tempting to read just from a children's Bible because it's easy to think that children will understand it better from that...but what a disservice to our kids to only read from a children's storybook Bible.

This site also has some great ideas...I don't think we will be trying anymore than what is listed above but maybe in years to come we'll try some of these.

The Long View

It's been a little over nine months of adjusting to two kids. The longer I am a parent the more I realize that parenting is just one of the many things that require one to take the long view of things. Babies don't just eat solid foods well overnight. Kids don't learn to sleep in a big bed overnight. Kids aren't potty trained with the snap of a finger(ok there are some exceptions out there!). And all of those practical things which are important for me to teach my kids just scratch the surface. My kids don't learn the truths of the gospel quickly and they certainly don't come out of the womb knowing how to obey. So taking the long view of things means keeping at it. It requires endurance to do the same things over and over and over and over. It requires patience. It requires reliance on God. It requires wisdom. For the most part it requires not taking the path of least resistance. I have found that what requires less work now does not take the long view into consideration. When I am tempted to just "ignore" the temper tantrum or the "No way, did he just say that to me!?" moments, I have to remind myself that 1) If I don't do something about it now, I will miss many opportunities to point out the sin in my kids and the reason they need the gospel. 2) I will miss the opportunity to establish that God has given me authority of their lives for a season, that will be really important when they are older---the teenage years come to mind! 3) I would be sinning by not doing now what God has given me as my responsibility in nurturing and training my kids.

Is taking the long view hard? Yes. It takes more work. Is is worth it? Yes, but boy am I glad that I don't have to do it alone!