Remember to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters in India.
Rodney
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
God's Time
My wife and I have been in the adoption process for the last 13-14 months. We’ve been trying to adopt an older child who’s been in the system for over 2 years. And to bring things to light I’ll give you some nation wide numbers to chew on that I got from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources, Administration for Children and Families:
In Foster Care: 510,000 Children
Goal for Adoption: 117,380 Children
Actually Adopted: 50,379 Children
Those numbers are right here in the United States. When you look at those numbers, you wonder, why does the adoption process can take so long? We have become a Fast Food and internet nation, we want everything to be done “RIGHT NOW!” We want everything at our fingertips with no delays from the time we push the button to the action that we are requesting. However, with adoption, you can’t be like that. If you jump at the first child that comes across, you may have settled for a child that has more problems then you can handle.
Through this process, my wife and I have learned what it really means to wait…and wait…and…uhm…wait. We’ve had to accept that we needed God to bring us the child that he wants for us. Sometimes we just have to let thing happen in God’s time, not ours.
Rodney
In Foster Care: 510,000 Children
Goal for Adoption: 117,380 Children
Actually Adopted: 50,379 Children
Those numbers are right here in the United States. When you look at those numbers, you wonder, why does the adoption process can take so long? We have become a Fast Food and internet nation, we want everything to be done “RIGHT NOW!” We want everything at our fingertips with no delays from the time we push the button to the action that we are requesting. However, with adoption, you can’t be like that. If you jump at the first child that comes across, you may have settled for a child that has more problems then you can handle.
Through this process, my wife and I have learned what it really means to wait…and wait…and…uhm…wait. We’ve had to accept that we needed God to bring us the child that he wants for us. Sometimes we just have to let thing happen in God’s time, not ours.
Rodney
Monday, January 26, 2009
The Flying V
I started cycling not to long ago to keep in shape. A friend of mine asked me to join in on a Saturday group ride, which I wasn’t sure I’d be ready for. I had been Mountain Biking; however, the idea of riding 30 plus miles worried me. I didn’t feel that I’d be able to keep up with the group. Saturday came…my anxiety level was a little high, as had stated…I was a little worried about keeping up. We started the ride, and it wasn’t log before I discovered that I was barely pedaling. We had formed into a line and I began to understand that the man in front was pulling everyone else along…like the geese flying south for the winter in their well known “Flying V”. When the lead rider would get tiered, he would drop out and file back in line at the rear to get pulled along by the group and a new leader would take his place keeping the same pace. When we got done with the ride, I was shocked…I could of done another thirty miles.
A few days later, I figured I’d ride my bike to work. It was 18.7 miles and mostly flat. The weather was looking good with no real wind to speak of, so I thought I’d give it a shot. What I didn’t count on was how hard those 18.7 miles were going to be without the group. I made it to work, but my legs were spent, and I did it at about three quarters of the pace. WOW! Major difference!
The same can be said for our walk as Christians. There is this overwhelming dislike for Churches (Organized Religion, as some would call it) amongst people that call themselves believers. The number of unchurched Christians is staggering. But how are they really doing with their walk? Who is helping them stay accountable? And who is rejuvenating them when they get spiritually tired? And who helps them through the tough times when the devil tries to turn their lives upside-down? It’s said that a coal that falls far from the fire only burns half as long. Hmmm…..
After my experience with cycling…I’d much rather ride in a group...spiritually...then by my self anyday.
A few days later, I figured I’d ride my bike to work. It was 18.7 miles and mostly flat. The weather was looking good with no real wind to speak of, so I thought I’d give it a shot. What I didn’t count on was how hard those 18.7 miles were going to be without the group. I made it to work, but my legs were spent, and I did it at about three quarters of the pace. WOW! Major difference!
The same can be said for our walk as Christians. There is this overwhelming dislike for Churches (Organized Religion, as some would call it) amongst people that call themselves believers. The number of unchurched Christians is staggering. But how are they really doing with their walk? Who is helping them stay accountable? And who is rejuvenating them when they get spiritually tired? And who helps them through the tough times when the devil tries to turn their lives upside-down? It’s said that a coal that falls far from the fire only burns half as long. Hmmm…..
After my experience with cycling…I’d much rather ride in a group...spiritually...then by my self anyday.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
A Little More on Adoption
If you’ve ever thought about adoption of an older child, you need to consider the way we treat God and His adoption of us. When a child is introduced into your home, at first there might be a lot of, or an appearance of extreme joy from the child. There’s this fairy-tale vision of how things will be in a family, as if, they will get what ever their little heart desires…a dream world…a fantasy, that there’ll never be another problem. But as normality set’s in, the children take on a different type of behavior. We start to see the self centeredness, and start to get some rebellion, or maybe a better explanation, complacency to the house rules. They seem to loose interest in the family. Now, this is not about every child in an adoptive home, but simply some.
The same can be said about our adoption by God. When we first become Christians, we are so excited! We are beaming with Joy! Then as time goes on, we become complacent with or try to reinterpret God’s house rules, we become rebellious and fight change. We forget about the grace, God’s Grace that allowed us to be adopted in the first place. We forget that God did not owe us anything and we start treating God as if he does. God does not owe us anything, but he gives to us simply because he loves us, just as we give to our children out of love.
Rodney
The same can be said about our adoption by God. When we first become Christians, we are so excited! We are beaming with Joy! Then as time goes on, we become complacent with or try to reinterpret God’s house rules, we become rebellious and fight change. We forget about the grace, God’s Grace that allowed us to be adopted in the first place. We forget that God did not owe us anything and we start treating God as if he does. God does not owe us anything, but he gives to us simply because he loves us, just as we give to our children out of love.
Rodney
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