In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
(Galatians 4:3-7 ESV)


Let's just say this, I haven't mentioned "adoption" specifically in this blog in a while, and I am not preaching a sermon right now about it. But let me dispel any doubt about adoption as a warm and fuzzy miracle that comes along and brings joy ever after. In my case, Christ adopted me into His family as a self-centered, wrong-thinking sinner. He has been continually, sometimes painfully, converting my nature to look like His family and His son ever since... So you can take what I just said, apply it to yourself and see what raw materials and missing parts Christ began with in your own heart. Now take this thought, and realize that with us bringing 5 adopted children into our own family, we are continually asking Him, desperately asking Him, to continually convert their nature to His as well.
So if you are looking for things to pray for this morning, I just gave you 9 of them, that is 5 by adoption and 4 by birth.


Happy graduation day to my beautiful and smart firstborn daughter who today graduates from MSU! May God bless you as He has blessed us by allowing us to be your parents. May you inherit all His glory one day, may you be satisfied now in His unending love, may Christ get praise for Himself through all your life.


Love,
Mom and Dad

Gospel Endurance needed...

It is somewhat disorienting, when it is cloudy and 48 degrees, for lawn mowers to be running outside on the tiny ten-foot square plots of grass in our neighborhood. Because there is no real change of season, or actually when you have 4 seasons in one day, it just seems odd to hear the small engine clacking when it feels like November outside…

Isn’t it supposed to be warm, and humid, with the smell of grass being so thick that you can almost feel it before you crank a lawn mower? Or at least that is probably how it is where you are now, back in Alabama, or somewhere in the other hemisphere, but not so here in Quito…

Lots of things, lots of things... have transpired in the last 30 days. Some we'll mention here and some we won't. Kole and Kory have been doing a great job of JV soccer at the school, and it has been fun to watch one of our house church members coach them from a cross-cultural and gospel perspective. Vickie has been leading the JV basketball to multiple wins, and teaching them about the character of Christ in winning or losing.

We concluded a Young Men’s “Man-Up” discipleship retreat a few weekends ago, where teachers and coaches and dads taught and demonstrated the gospel to 37 young men in grades 9-12 for two days straight thru. It was exhausting but powerful, and we want to be able to make this an annual event! We enjoyed a brief visit from Bob and Suzy from BH, but it was not exactly the relaxing ministry visit you would expect due to a smack-down stomach bug that descended on Bob while they were here at our apartment for a few days.

Weekend before last, our family and another family from our house church made the trip just outside Quito on Sunday morning to see our brothers and sisters in Christ in Calderon, a small town north of the city. I had the chance to share from Ephesians 5 about… yes- you guessed it, marriage! God used His word to speak to the group in some powerful ways, prompting a couple of people to stand up and publicly repent in tears at the end of our time together for not obeying the commands of His word in how they treated each other in their marriage relationship. We were humbled by the response, and encouraged by God to see His work through His word!

This morning I shared at our secondary chapel time about Adoption and the picture it gives of the Gospel, or maybe it would be better if I said the Gospel, and the picture it gives to adoption… then, back to back I had the chance to share a message with middle school students in the afternoon about God’s Word and our vital need for it.

On a personal note… please continue to pray for us. We desperately want His Spirit to be at work through us, and in and through our family, and in our surrounding community. Parenting is a tall order. Parenting is an incredibly tall order when there are 9 kids. Parenting is, well, borderline insanity with 9 kids across three continents. Also, pray for my Mom and Dad in the US (Chris’s parents). They have been through a real struggle in health needs and so we would ask for grace in that situation.