Anaya

 JAM 1:27  Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Abby and I are adopting an infant girl. She is not yet in this world, but will be with us in mid-January according to God’s routine. We are adopting an infant girl. Through a friend of some dear friends we have been introduced to a wonderful woman who cannot raise another child and was putting her up for adoption. We are adopting an infant girl. I have to keep saying that to make it real. Here is how God is at work in our lives…

Abby and I currently have foster twin 2 year old boys in our care. We are desiring to adopt them. If the Lord allows us to have the desires of our heart on this one, it will happen. We are preparing for this. We also have wanted to adopt a newborn to raise as our own.

God’s first whisper: About 2 weeks ago, Abby got a call from a friend who said there was  child to be born to a friend of hers that was to be given up for adoption and thought we would be interested… were we ever!

God’s second whisper: While sitting on the couch one evening last week, I said a prayer out loud, asking God to help me find a girl’s name that was pleasing to Him and that Abby would love. The first name that I saw that struck me as pleasing was Anna. I said a few other names first which we couldn’t agree on and then came back to Anna. Abby loved it! This was to be the name of our little girl, God willing.

God’s third whisper: We were invited to a birthday party for the birth mother’s son who was turning 3.  This would be our first meeting with her to introduce ourselves.  We went to Kohl’s to pick up a Remington razor that I wanted and as we were readying to leave, Abby remembered that we needed to buy a birthday present for the boy. I asked about what kinds of interests he had and neither of us had any idea. Immediately, from down the isle, comes the birth mother’s sister and aunt. We have never seen them at any store and we never go to Kohl’s.  They updated us on the boy’s interests and we bought him a shirt with a train theme.

God’s fourth whisper: At the birthday party, we met the birth mother’s mother and got to talking about family dynamics and other matters. The mother asked when the birthdays were for our twin foster boys. We replied and the mother revealed that this was her birthday as well.

God’s first shout: While sitting on the couch conversing with the birth mother, she indicated that she would like to name the child at birth for her own birth certificate and that we could rename later when the adoption was final. We asked what she wanted that name to be. She chose Anaya. ANAYA IS THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN VERSION OF ANNA. ANAYA MEANS “ANSWER FROM GOD”. We choose to keep this name because the child is of mixed heritage… African American and Caucasian.

GOD is good!

less is More

John 3:30 (NIV) “He must become greater I must become less.”

I often thought that I must take less credit for the things I do and give all credit to the Lord… for His glory is the reason for everything… not mine.

Recently, however, I am realizing that this verse means so much more. I must also pattern and live my life after the life that Jesus lived. In this way, my human nature diminishes and God’s nature becomes more revealed through my actions.

I pray, not as much as I should, that my actions reflect the face of Jesus… and that I honor Him in all I do throughout my day… so that He becomes greater in the eyes of the world, while I become less. At the same time, His will becomes greater in my life, while my wants  become less.

where everybody knows his name…

I was reading Christianity Today, today, and came across an article about government grants to faith based organizations and the implications that came with accepting this money. That article is here.

However, I wanted to comment on the revelations of more and more of our Christian leaders that Christ isn’t the only answer. The one narrated here was about an Episcopal Bishop who denounced a prayer that was “aggressively Christian” and served up one that addressed the “God of our many understandings.” ?????

Also included was the Episcopal Church hosting interfaith worship services. ?????

Did Jesus ever indicate that we are to do these things? Are we to allow worship of false gods in our Churches? Are we to be so afraid of the political machine that we are no longer going to claim Jesus is the only way? Are we to allow cafeteria or buffet type theology to ruin our faith?

Perhaps we are? God is in control, right? His will be done. How much time do we have left? I mean… its all spelled out in the Word… about the world accepting one religion.

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!

Abby received a phone call on Friday from our foster – adopt social worker claiming she had some good news. We will pick up two 2 year old fraternal twin boys Monday afternoon. We spent all day Saturday buying beds, sheets, car seats, a lamp, potty trainer, etc… This has been the longest weekend of my life.

We are both so excited to start this new chapter in our lives, and are amazed by the series of “coincidences” that took place prior to receiving this news.

1. A few months ago, Abby and I left our previous church and joined a new church with an incredible children’s program.
2. 2 weeks ago, Abby started teaching in the children’s program at church.
3. 1 week ago, Abby bought a new car to accomodate children, in case this ever happened, and AWD for the Colorado roads.
4. Friday, Abby receives a call that we are getting 2 boys, right in the age range we hoped for, and a sibling group.

Coincidences? Or God’s plan… you decide, because I already know.

Rachel gets married

Forgive me, but I just sat through this film masquerading as art. The premise of a woman, who in a horrible time in her life, caused the death of her little brother, would have been worth it had the rest of the movie not been allowed to show itself. Come on! The wedding itself tried so hard to be relevant and inclusive, it came off as contrived and unbelievable. It was like an alternate universe of every race coming together without any problems, the mingling of religions in one ceremony, praying to their god for blessings on the marriage followed by scantily clad belly dancers and hedonistic, eyes closed, hips and pelvis thumping dancing.  One of the mother’s observed, “this is what heaven is like and it is so wonderful that we get to practice it while here on earth.” I sure hope this isn’t what heaven is like… not the mixed races thing… we should all hope for that… but the mixing of everything, tolerance of everything, etc…  Am I wrong? And the ending… no resolution… ahhh I get it… life has no resolution… thanks for the lesson.

This movie tried to be art and it showed.  One of the worst movies I have ever seen.

Obama abhors sushi…

Ludwig Wittgenstein, one of the great philosopher of the 20^th century, made this observation in 1937:

What inclines even me to believe in Christ’s resurrection?. . . —If he did not rise from the dead, then he decomposed in the grave like any other man. He is dead and decomposed. In that case he is a teacher like any other and can no longer help and once again we are orphaned and alone. So we have to content ourselves with wisdom and speculation. We are in a sort of hell where we can do nothing but dream, roofed in, as it were, and cut off from heaven. But if I am to be REALLY saved, what I need is certainty—not wisdom, dreams or speculation—and this certainty is faith. And faith is faith in what is needed by my heart, my soul, not my speculative intelligence, for it is my soul with its passions, as it were with its flesh and blood, that has to be saved, not my abstract mind. Perhaps we can say: Only love can believe the Resurrection. Or: it is love that believes even in the Resurrection; hold fast even to the Resurrection. What combats doubt is, as it were, redemption. Holding fast to this must be holding fast to that belief. … So this can come about only if you no longer rest your weight on the earth but suspend yourself from heaven. Then everything will be different and it will be “no wonder” if you can do things that you cannot do now. (A man who is suspended looks the same as one who is standing, but the interplay of forces within him is nevertheless quite different, so that he can act quite differently than can a standing man.)

Oprah is a racist

Today, Abby and I did our part for the economy… we went shopping for home improvement items. I don’t understand the whole “economy is bad” thing. Everything is on sale.

the other white meat

Charles Schummer, Joint Economic Committee Chairman, recently stated,

And let me say this, to all of the chattering class, that so much focuses on those little, tiny — yes, porky — amendments: The American people really don’t care.

Is he referring to those who blindly follow Obama and the democratic party, and believe they can do no wrong? Is he referring to those who are receiving the pork? Surely he isn’t speaking about anyone I know, democrat and republican alike. This is outrageous! Has anybody any idea of the money being spent on pork? Here’s a list that Ed Morrissey put together:

$2 billion earmark for FutureGen near zero emissions powerplant in Mattoon, IL
$39 billion slush fund for “state fiscal stabilization” bailout
$5.5 billion for making federal buildings “green” (including $448 million for DHS HQ)
$200 million for workplace safety in USDA facilities
$275 million for flood prevention
$65 million for watershed rehabilitation
$200 million for public computer centers at community colleges and libraries
$650 million for the DTV transition coupon program
$307 million for constructing NIST office buildings
$1 billion for administrative costs and construction of NOAA office buildings
$100 million for constructing U.S. Marshalls office buildings
$300 million for constructing FBI office buildings
$800 million for constructing Federal Prison System buildings and facilities
$10 million to fight Mexican gunrunners
$1.3 billion for NASA (including $450 million for “science” at NASA)
$100 million to clean up sites used in early U.S. atomic energy program
$10 million for urban canals
$2 billion for manufacturing advanced batteries for hybrid cars
$1.5 billion for carbon capture projects under sec. 703 of P.L. 110-140 (though section only authorizes $1 billion for five years)
$300 million for hybrid and electric cars for federal employees
$198 million to design and furnish the DHS headquarters
$255 million for “priority procurements” at Coast Guard (polar ice breaker)
$500 million for State and local fire stations
$180 million for construction of Bureau of Land Management facilities
$500 million for wildland fire management
$110 million for construction for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
$522 million for construction for the Bureau of Indian Affairs
$650 million for abandoned mine sites
$75 million for the Smithsonian Institution
$1.2 billion for summer jobs for youth
$412 million for CDC headquarters
$500 million earmark for NIH facilities in Bethesda, MD
$160 million for “volunteers” at the Corp. for National and Community Service
$750 earmark for the National Computer Center in MD
$224 million for International Boundary and Water Commission – U.S. and Mexico
$850 million for Amtrak
$100 million for lead paint hazard reduction

While I am certain that many of these could possibly do some good… to put them in a stimulus plan supported by my tax dollars? I don’t support any stimulus plan that doesn’t put money directly in the pocket of those that need it, however, if you are going to try to win my support, do it honestly. Didn’t President Obama just say a couple of days ago that there was “no pork” in this stimulus? Aaahhh… America’s savior.

a new chapter…

Matthew 16:18: And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.

Abby and I recently started attending a new church. We miss our friends and brothers and sisters in Christ from our previous church… partly because they were our first real friends upon moving to the Denver area, but mostly because they played such an important role in our discovery of the real Jesus and the beginning of our relationship with Him.

Higher Point Christ Fellowship is more than worship… more than fellowship… more than community. It is all these and more. It is the “more” that is difficult to define. I believe God led us here because this church offers what Abby and I needed to start our journey.  Higher Point is all about relationship and community… not just Sunday mornings… and because of this, we immediately felt a sense of belonging and peace. The worship services are unorthodox but sincere, and you sense that God is present. The leadership and community showed a genuine interest in our faith and helped nurture it to where we became less so that God could become more… a servant’s attitude.

Abby and I recently found ourselves becoming more and more complacent with our lives and found ourselves neglecting God when all was well. This was a constant source of irritation and planted a longing for the newness of what we originally felt. We had lost our excitement and found it difficult to hear God above all the noise of our busy days. I can’t really explain it, but I felt that God was leading us somewhere else… somewhere we could leave the plateau we were currently stuck on and climb higher. We started attending Crossroads Community Church, and once again, immediately felt belonging and peace. Who knows how long we will attend this church, hopefully for quite a while, but for now, we enjoy the energetic, life changing messages that offer so much insight to where we currently are in life and in Christ.

As we continue with our adoption plans and plans for a mission to Honduras in the near future, we can only pray that God continues to use us as a light to a dark world and as salt to a bitter humanity.

faith like a tree?

A gentleman under the guise of “Bleeders” left a comparison of faith to a car crashing into an object on . I liked it so much, I wanted to copy and paste it here. I hope to someday have faith like a tree.

When a car crashes into a steel light pole, it can sheer the very 2 inch bolts from the base and topple a 30 ft steel pole. But, if a ford truck slams into a tree, the tree doesn’t move – it withstands the force of impact and the vehicle is left destroyed. This is how my faith has been since growing in Christ. Before, any little question, doubt or attack could knock me off my path – but now, as my roots go deeper, nothing can shake me from Christ.”