The Parenting Trinity...

 OK, so, before I go into this blog let me put a disclaimer. I am not a theologian, I am not a doctor, psychologist or hold any professional degree of any sort. I am simply a follower of Christ, a husband and a father. My inspiration and thoughts are derived simply from spending time in the presence of the Lord, doing what He has called me to do, and from being with my family. So basically, I do not proclaim to an expert at anything, these thoughts are my own revelation, take them how you want.
 So, The parenting trinity you ask? First thing I thought when those words came into mind was, Lord you are going to have to shed some light on this one for me. And as usual, He did, as He faithfully does time and time again. So what does it mean? Well here we go. God, as we understand in our limited human comprehension of God(Yes, I've been reading Tozer), is three persons in one. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. God in His mighty abilities functions simultaneously every second of every moment of everyday in all three persons. Mind blower I know. The discussion of the trinity can be for another day, I am simply going to show how God has shown me relevance of that in my life and in parenting. You see, as parents, and in life in general, we have to learn to operate in the same manner. Now, before you accuse me of saying we can be God the Father, Son or Holy Spirit, I am not. I am simply saying we most be like Him. After all, aren't we taught in the scriptures that we are being transformed into a new creation, that we are made in His image and likeness, that we are to die to self, to daily pick up our cross and follow Jesus? So you see, if we are to be like Him, we must act and operate like Him. So, there will be situations in parenting, where we will have to learn to operate in one of those attributes. First we'll look at those three persons, and define, to the best of knowledge and abilities, the characteristics of each.
 First, the Father, when we see God as a father in the bible, we find some very distinct traits that He brings. Love, wisdom, truth, justice,righteousness all which mean that the father is wise, honest, just, and righteous. We also see that the father brings correction, discipline and judgement. But you see, He doesn't bring just one at time, each characteristic comes simultaneously with the others. And the last three cannot come without the others.
 Second we have the Son, now how can a "son" have a role in parenting, well we are talking about the attributes of the Son (Jesus), displayed in His teachings, actions and even now in His current role in our lives today. When we see or hear Jesus, we see first and foremost Love. Then we see mercy, grace, forgiveness, compassion, peace and joy all leading to redemption, rescue and ultimately salvation. Again all these traits operate together. You cannot separate one from the other. To do so would say that God is not omniscient, infinite and almighty. As parents these are things that reinforce the actions of the Father.
 Third we have the Holy spirit. I had to park here for a little while, but it came to me. Joy,peace, love, kindness, gentleness etc. All of these are what gives the warm and fuzzies! The Holy Spirit is our comforter, our interpreter, our very connection to God. This is the very one that Jesus said who come after He ascended to be with the Father. Without these attributes it is impossible to enact upon any other level of the trinity. You will find you will need these attributes, the Spirit, in order to funtion in the role of the "father" or the "son".
 Every situation in life is unique, and has it's own special way it needs to be dealt with. As those situations arise, you have to make a choice. Am I going to respond like the world, though the word says I am in this world, but not of this world(just sayin')? Should I respond like the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit? Now hears the ultimate answer, all three. Easier said than done, believe I know, and have failed the test over and over again. But I am learning that even though a situation may call for more emphasis on one particular attribute, you will need the other two to bring forth resolution to your circumstance.
 In closing I'll say this, if we are made in His image and Likeness, and if we are being put to death daily and being made to be more and more like Him, it is safe to say that we have the ability to function as He does. For Him, God, He cannot be any other way, He cannot change because He always remains the God who was, is, and is to come. We on the other hand can, must change. We must learn to function as He does. What better way to model to our children, if we begin to function in the same way as God. He clearly sets the example for us, by demonstrating His love, by being the Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. He shows and tells us through His living word that to be like Him is the only way to live.
Love In Christ
Be Blessed!!!!

Before the Judge....

 Well, here I am in Ukraine. I've been here for three weeks. If you are unaware, we are in the process of adopting a 14 year old girl. After three weeks and a massive of amount of time spent with the Lord either praying, listening or studying His word, and after huge portions of revelation I, tonight, am consumed with the simplest of revelations.
 You see, tomorrow is the day that we have come half way around the world for. Tomorrow is the day that we have endured heart ache, tears, trials and an enormous test of faith, patience and love. Tomorrow we go before the Judge.
 First, let me give you a short recap of today. Today was a great day, another day of great progression in our bonding as a family. That is until one little disagreement, and suddenly I am faced with some rejection. I stood my ground as a parent, and though the whole thing is silly, and really, all will be fine, after all God has given me NO REASON at all to doubt Him or that this is His will!
 Now, on with the good stuff, and this is gonna be a short one, after all, I did say this is the simplest of revelations. You see, tomorrow, I go before the judge and plead(intercede) for this child, I will ask the court to take on  her "burden"(though she is in no way a burden). I will take responsibility for her life. And despite feeling a little rejection tonight, My love for this child is no different than the love for any of my children. That very love is what will continue to plead for her life before the judge.
 So here's the revelation if you haven't already figured it out....Jesus was beaten, insulted and rejected as the Son of God, as a Saviour and as a King! Yet the very next day He picked up His cross, carried it up the mountain and gave His life on the Cross. Three days later he rose from the dead, He ascended to heaven, and now He sits at the right Hand of the God, the Judge, and pleads for our lives. Why? It's all about LOVE! That is the reason I am Here today!!

I dare you to Declare Isaiah 6:8

 Isaiah 6:8 says, And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, "whom shall I send, and who will go for us?" Then I said, " here I am, send me"(esv). Almost a year ago Amy and I begin to declare this very thing in our lives. We would cry out in prayer and in our worship, "here we are Lord, use us for your kingdom and glory. Here we are, send us!". The Lord did not hesitate to answer that prayer. It was not long before we were consumed with a spirit of adoption, and our world, our lives were changed. We were introduced to our daughter and are now more than half through the process of bringing her home from half way around the world.
 Through this entire process the Lord has brought me into some of the deepest revelations of Him, of His character, of His heart, of His word and most of all His love, His agape love! But through it all one continuous theme has constantly come to the surface. You see the Lord has equated our journey with Abraham, mainly Abraham and Isaac, a father and a promise. After all we faithfully declared "Here we are, Lord send us, use us" right?
 Let's start with Abraham and Sarah, here they are getting up in age and still waiting on a promise from God, a son. And like most of us we believe in the promises that God has for us, we even have the faith that the promise will come. However, the thing we lack is the patience and trust. We somehow tend to think we can make the promise happen better than God can. But what ends up happening is instead of Isaac(the promise), we get Ishmael. So, the Lord has sent on this journey, and many times we have had to repent for trying to create our own way to fulfill what God has promised, or trying to do it ourselves and not trusting Him, not waiting on Him.
 Now, Abraham and Isaac. Can you imagine the joy Abraham had every time he looked at his son Isaac. Knowing that Isaac was a gift from God, he was a fulfilled promise of the Lord. He had to have been one proud papa! Then, one day God says bring him as a sacrifice to Me, put him on the altar and kill him as an offering to Me(paraphrasing Gen 22 of course). And Abraham, being the man of God that he was, says yes Lord, I'll do it, I trust you. Here is Abraham saying here am I, Lord send me! God, however wasn't satisfied with a simple yes Lord, I'll do it. So Abraham gets Isaac, they grab all the stuff for the offering, Isaac carries it on his back up the mountain(without complaining). They get up there, prepare the altar, Abraham puts his son on the altar, pulls out the knife, then God says Stop! You see, through this whole journey we have been both Abraham and Isaac. God called us on this journey, and when the call came we said yes, here we are, send us Lord! But he didn't hand us everything then and there. We had to be Isaac and push on and carry our part of the offering, we had continually offer our worship and ourselves to the Lord. And now, as we are so close to the end of this part of the journey, I feel as though we are Abraham, yet it's a lot harder to pull that knife out, at times we want to try to find another way to fulfill God's promise. But I have to tell myself, it's not up to me, it's up to God!
 So, I dare you, declare it "Here am I, Lord send me"! But as you do remember the Promises of God, as His word does not come back void! He is faithful, even when we lack faith. And sometimes we have the faith, but not the trust. Sometimes we have faith and trust, but no patience, that's when things really get mixed up because we try to do it ourselves. Look around in the journey that God has called you on in your life, see if you are Abraham or Isaac, or look to see if perhaps you may have maybe created an Ishmael, your own version of what God wants for you. It's OK, we all do it, but remember that your Isaac will come! "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding" Proverbs 3:5

The straight and the narrow

Long time, no blog. To say that I have been preoccupied is an understatement. For those wondering, the adoption is moving along quite well, as we will mostly likely be going to pick up our daughter in right around a month. And I have a blog coming on that soon, but first, I want to just share the amazing insight the Lord has given me today. Now keep in mind, and take this from the perspective of a wise "Father" just kind of giving His son some loving correction to get him refocused on what matters. So here it goes.
 So today as sat in my truck at lunch time, I decided to just kind of sit and relax and perhaps see if the Lord had anything He wanted to tell me(although I was really just kind of hoping to play some games on the computer and chill.). I looked across the street from where I was sitting and began to look in the woods, which surround a beautiful lake and reservoir(I'll get to that in a minute). As I looked I noticed what looked like a small pathway through the woods. Now even though I can't see it, I know what is on  the other side, a beautiful lake and just amazing place to relax. Now the Lord began to show me how He has shown me the path, He has told me where it leads, even though I can't see it, I know it's there. I couldn't help praise Him for giving me such a beautiful explanation of faith. He also showed me to trust Him, and continue to follow the path, even though I can't see where it leads, I know where it leads, and I know He has cleared the way. So, in my usual way I said Thank you Lord, that was awesome, Love ya, thanks! Then He said, I'm not done yet.
 Then He tells me to look in front of the path, and what do I see? I say well Lord there's some pretty thick brush, a huge ditch, a fence, another ditch and oh yeah, a road(which by the way, will take you to the lake, but it'll cost ya). Let's start with the road, broad is the way that leads to destruction(Matt 7:14, I believe). But also, He showed me the road is man made, and how many times we, I, try to build our own path, instead of following God's path. Then He showed me with the fence that many times we put obstacles up in our own lives that keep us from accessing the path that God has laid out for us. Then there is the brush and the ditches, and those are just weapons of the enemy, which if we stand on the Word of God cannot prosper against us as children of God.
 But the one thing that He showed me and this brought it all home for  me, was one simple thought, stay focused on Him and His plan for your life. You see, the last thing He showed me was this, as I looked again at the small path,and really just focused on it, I could not even see those things, and ultimately, to get to the path, I could cross the road, climb the fence, cross the ditches and fight through the brush, or walk to the entrance and just follow it the way it was intended to be followed. And that's the straight and narrow, if we Focus on Him and follow His direction and leading, then when the obstacles come, whether we make them or the enemy, they are all easily surmounted with Christ.

God or the United States?

You know, sometimes it just amazes me the way people react to someone when they choose to follow God, and do what He has called that person to do. I am also amazed at how many people hide behind the title "American", or think that good deeds and acts should remain within the confines of the United States. I mean let's be totally honest, and not hide on what happened 236 years ago. Yes it is safe to say this country was founded on Christian ideals and principles, but truthfully, can we honestly say that today, as a nation, we are a Christian nation. Those, like me, who are after God and His perfect will and heart hope and pray that the church will again rise up, and God is restored as the head of this country. We hope and pray that the church will repent and God will withhold His Judgment that is most assuredly impending. But honestly, can we say we are a Christian nation?

What brings on this tirade, this seemingly harsh rant, let me just say this, I am in no way angry, I am not defending and I am not attacking anyone! In fact I am just merely speaking freely what is on my heart and what I have observed as we embarked on this amazing journey to bring a child, a child that we have come to know and love just as we love our naturally born children, into our home. Most people have been supportive, most have been encouraging. But some have been offended. But as Jesus once said, I will shake the dust off my feet and keep moving. (Not an exact quote, but you get the point.) Some people ask, there are lots of children here, why not from the United States? Others say, "It’s not fair to your children". And some even think it is wrong because we have to raise money. All valid questions and points, but they fail to take into account one BIG detail, one small tidbit of information, the simple fact that we DID NOT PLAN THIS. True, we have wanted to adopt, and we always said we would once we were ready, we said the child would be from the US, and we would not disrupt our birth order. Guess what, God, yes God, had another plan.

When we met this beautiful young girl we fell in love with her. We knew over the time we had with her that she was going to be a part of our family. God had put a love in our hearts that was birthed within His heart, and He placed it in ours. We love our unconditionally, just the same as we love our other three. The fact of the matter is, my heart broke immensely as we got to know her, and even more so when we had to watch her get on a plane, and return to her home country. Every day, a part of my heart breaks because to me, one of my children is half way around the world, living in a place of uncertainty. Her desire is not just to have a family, but be in our family. So this is not a blind adoption, we know and love her, and she knows and loves us!

With that being said, what makes the US so special, that its children take precedence over the rest of the children of the world. Last time I checked, the Word of God that is, we are all children of the same God, the same creator. In fact, a founding document of this country states that to be true, I believe it says "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."- United States Declaration of Independence. Nowhere in this statement does it specifically limit those rights to Americans. My belief in God, and my belief in that statement written as the opening statement in the very document that declares our freedom, is why I am trying to bring this child into my home. I am simply doing what God has called me to do! There used to be an old saying, "God doesn't call the qualified, He qualifies the call". Through this journey we are on, I am watching God qualify His call for us to do this every single day.

I love the Lord, and I love this country, otherwise I would not have served it as I did. But you see, there is one who is greater than this nation, He is the King of Kings, and He is the ruler of all nations and one day, every knee shall bow, every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord of all. "As for me and my house, we WILL serve the Lord". We will acknowledge Him in all our ways, and He alone will direct our paths. It is our submission as a family that has brought us on this journey.

Love in Christ

J

Hannah and Samuel...

 Long time, no blog. To say that I have been preoccupied is an understatement. You see, A LOT has transpired over the past month and a half. God has moved on mine and my families hearts in a big and mighty way. You see we had a unique opportunity to spent Christmas and a good part of January with some very special children from an orphanage in the Ukraine. It was awesome, to just be able to love on these kids and show them the love of Christ that so many have gotten used to, and even take for granted.
Enter the big move of God......
 Over the course of time that we spent with these children, we fell in love with one of them. And what do you know, she fell in love with us. We asked her to be apart of our family, and she said YES! So the adoption process has begun. Now we are merely in the very beginning stages of it right now, but things are moving right along. But when I sit back sometimes and look at what needs to be done, I tend to get a glimpse of how David must of felt when he looked up at Goliath. Thankfully, that feeling subsides when I realize I hold more than just a sling and a stone. I have Christ, in whom I can do all things. I have the mightiest sword, the word of God in which the promises and power to overcome can be found. But most of all, I have God the Son, God the Father and God the Holy spirit. The King of Kings, the Creator of the heavens and earth and the one true God to whom all things are in subjection to and belong to.
 With that being said, on to the title of this blog, Hannah and Samuel. Throughout this whole thing I have been fervently praying for God to make all that is needed come forth. But the one thing that I seem to continuously ask God is this one simple prayer, "God give me this girl, give me this child, so that I may in return give her back to you Lord. Lord send me this child and let it be for your glory Lord". You see we are not trying to save the world, we are not filling our own desires, we are doing what the Lord has called us to do. We earnestly believe in James 1:27, we believe that to be the foundational piller for our family (James 1:27 : "Pure and undefiled religion in the eyes of our God and Father is this; to visit orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the wolrd"). So just as Hannah desparately cried out for a child, as do we! We have commited to the Lord the children we already have, and Proverbs 22:6 is the mandate from the Lord in which we raise our children. We teach them His ways, not ours(Disclaimer: We are not perfect, we will never claim that one. So yes, they get some of us in their training as well.). What we are passionate about, our children will be passionate about. " As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord". A little clishe I know, but it is another pillar for our family, service to Lord. But that is my point, I am fervantly asking God, to give us this child, because we want to giver her right back to Him. The one whom, when before the giant, guides the stone to the exact spot to bring down the giant. The one who's peace passes all understanding. The one who takes away all pain, all sorrow and replaces it with great unspeakable joy.
So Lord, yes, please give me this child so that I may give her back to you.
 May the Lord Bless You and Keep You!!
Love In Christ
J.
P.S.
If wish to help with the adoption check out my facebook page, message me there and I'll send you all the info. FYI, we need to raise about $25,000.

Are you a Gardener?

 2012 is starting out already to be an amazing year. God has set us upon a new and exciting journey that I never would've even imagined a year ago. The Lord has also begun to bring deeper revelation to me that I am just enthralled about. Over the past few days I have spent quite some time just sitting before God and allowing Him to just speak to me. And during that time He has taught me about Gardening. Yes, gardening, but more on a spiritual level, than natural.
 It started with the Lord asking me about a Garden, you know, what's it for? How do you start it? How do you cultivate it? So on and so on. Then He just unloaded on me. First He showed me, man was created in the Garden. It was in that garden, the Lord created man from the ground and breathed His life giving breathe into him. He showed me that is how God created us, to be in that secret garden with Him, in a place of communion and intimacy with Him. Of course we know how the story goes, man is eventually removed from the garden and separated from Him. But, it is still entrenched in us a desire, deep desire in our spirit to return to that place.
 The next thing He revealed to me was that, the first thing we must do is, find the garden. I immediately asked, how do I find it? He then showed me when we find Jesus, we find the garden. You see, when we except Jesus in our hearts, we find that place of communion with God. Christ is our advocate with the Father. It is through Christ we can enter in to His presence. We enter the garden with Christ.
 The Lord then showed me how the garden works. He showed me at times we are in a season of  plowing,  preparing the land and planting seeds. These are times of prayer and intercession and worship. Then there are times we go into the garden to get the things we need. When we go before the Lord and just soak in His presence and listen, these are times of spiritual growth. This is when the Lord does His part and sends the rain and sun to help the "crop" grow.
 Finally He showed me the harvesting time. There are times, after we have cultivated the ground, planted the seeds, worked the garden, and allowed the Lord to do what He needs to do, then it's time time harvest, to reap what you have sown.
 Jesus, as we read in Luke 22:39, frequented the garden of Gethsemane. It was here, in this garden, we see a real glimpse of the fervent prayer life of Jesus. It was in this garden we see the King of Kings in his most desperate time while in the flesh. So for me the garden is a significant place to say the least.
 So what's my point? I just want to share, that after some time of planting, cultivating and waiting on the Lord to send the rain and the things that we can't do, my family and I are approaching the harvest. Although until now this revelation was not known to me, the things we have been planting and asking God to provide and grow are now blooming and will soon be ready for us to harvest, as long as we continue to come into the garden and cultivate the land and tend to the things the Lord wants us to. So Lord I just ask that you give me and my family, and any who read this a "green thumb". I ask that we all seek after that intimacy with you. That we desire to be in that secret place with you Lord. In Jesus name Amen!
Love In Christ
JT