lockstep...

I was listening to David Platt today and he asked the question, "how does one know when God is calling them to do something?"

Platt went on to say that God normally doesn't roll back the clouds and with a big booming voice say, "Go there."

No, he normally doesn't use that route with us.  We think this method would be helpful but His method is so much better.  He uses the Holy Spirit to speak to us and through us.  He reveals to us in so many ways that He is "In This" and that He wants us "Here".

After hearing David Platt say this today, I have to admit some skepticism on my part.  Forgive me, but I am still learning and I would still like to bet that the rolling back the clouds method would be better for me.  

Selfishly though, the rolling back the clouds method also cuts me some slack.  If He does in fact roll back the clouds, call me by name, using even my defining middle name of Douglas, and command me to go "There" then sure, He probably wants me to obey.  

But then conveniently, if he doesn't roll back the clouds, then there must be a pretty good chance He wasn't talking to me.  I mean, come on....he didn't even say Jonathan Douglas Allen...so really, that command could have been meant for somebody else, or more probable, anybody else.

I write a lot.  And I'm not even a writer.  It is just an escape.  It's sort of a thinking out loud without the "out loud" part.  Most of my writing is fractured and segmented.  It's just bits and pieces.  

I have several hundred journal entries over the past several years where I have read scripture, read a book, or gone through an experience and wanted to make some sense of it by writing about it.

Today, precisely 484 days after it's entry, I found something I had written on May 7th, 2013.  This is the first time I have gone back and looked at this entry since I had written it on that Tuesday before Mother's Day, 2013.

Most of you know that we began adopting Gary in February of 2013 and it wasn't until Mother's Day, 2013, that we heard that Zhang Peng Xu (Willy), who was Gary's best friend, wasn't being adopted by the family that began to pursue him.  

So on Mother's Day, May 12th, 2013, we heard about Willy's situation and decided to pursue him. 

It just felt right.

....and here is why!!....

Remember what David Platt said.  The Holy Spirit is God's method of guiding and directing his servants.  

We had many confirmations on adopting Willy, but here is the proof in the pudding.

Here is the entry that I made on May 7, 2013...

"Who's supposed to be sleeping in that spare bedroom; who's supposed to be sitting in that extra back seat?

I have so much.  I am given much.  I too often mistake God's provisions through other people, to me, as being for my own comforts.  Quickly calling them necessities, I dismiss others provisions as mere status quo.

So I die tonight and I'm asked why "William's" seat remained empty or "Edgar's room was never slept in.  What do I say??? Knowing none of these names will only reveal that I didn't allow Jesus to serve THROUGH me.  What a frightening thought.  

So then is works the resolve?!?  Absolutely not!  Surrender is the key.  Give up...die...let go...

It reminds me of the phrase in a song, "life is waiting for those who lose control."

If all this finger printing for all the adoption paperwork has taught me anything, it's that it only works best when you give up fighting, and let the one who is supposed to be in control, be in control.  

Faith, as Paul saw it, was a living, flaming thing leading to surrender and obedience to the commandments of Christ.- AW Tozer"

May 7, 2013

Look at that name!!!  That beautiful name!!!  William!  There he is!

Days before we knew, He knew.  

He plans and directs.  He forms and creates.  He sets up cosmic meeting points in times such as this, and just waits in pure excitement for the day he has set aside for us to find it.  Does this not speak of His Love?  Does this not show off His passion for his servants?

He asks us to do one thing.  Surrender.  Surrender all that seems normal and obey.  

Walk in lockstep with the One who knows your every way.  He will never fail you.  He may lead you to the highest mountain, and he may lead you to certain death, but He will never fail you.  Trust in that.

Jonathan Edwards said, “Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.” 

That's not a bad plan. 

Oh!  And who in the world is Edgar???

God only knows....

This email, pictured below, we wrote updating the English teachers at the orphanage about where we were at in our adoption process for Gary... Check the DATE! We had NO clue at this point we would be adopting Willy!! 

And here it is.... The email we wrote in response to receiving an email about our William "Willy"... Check out the DATE! God knew all along Willy was our son!!

Spirit lead me where my faith is WITHOUT BOARDERS!!!! Wow!

More than orphans...

One of our sons was irritated the other day because we didn't go to his favorite neighborhood pool, but chose to go to his brother's favorite pool that is located in a different part of the neighborhood.  

How has it come to this?? 

How could this kid, who just last year, had never even swam in a pool, now have the ability to pick and chose what pool he wants to go to?

Taste and see that The Lord, He is good.

The kids have been wake boarding a lot lately. It has been a great sport for our kids to learn, and it turns out that they have a natural bent towards the sport.  

As I was snapping pictures the other day at Terminus Wake Park, I got a shot of one of our sons catching air off a ramp and I have not been able to shake the image since.  

Here is a child, who was once alone, depraved, who couldn't swim, went without food and clothes, and lived under a park bench in China for a short part of his life.  This very young man almost drowned one time chasing a crawfish into the water.  Almost died in a motorcycle accident.  Almost died falling through a roof.  But God had huge, HUGE, plans for this life.  He wasn't done with this life.  He wasn't done molding the clay.  So he formed, and spun, and shaped his life into what he is right now.  And the potter's wheel is still turning.  He is still being perfected.  The wheel has not stopped yet!!  Praises!

And yet, O LORD, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are the potter. We all are formed by your hand.Isaiah 64:8

This present day, he is soaring off a ramp, strapped to a wake board, with the biggest smile and rush of excitement!

How can this be?  

How can a child so stuck, so alone, so without a chance, so out of time and out of luck, now be flying high at the wake park?

Galatians 3:27-4:9 tells us that once depraved, followers of Christ have now been adopted as sons.  Once we lived without hope.  We knew nothing but loneliness and desolation.  We knew life without pools and wake parks.  We knew limits, boundaries. 

Now, we know nothing short of being the sons and daughters of the king.  Our lives become limitless now as he gives according to His riches to us. Phil 4:19

All of us have been orphans.  Some are still orphans.  But God, has chosen adoption as the vehicle of his good news for us.  Adoption into His family means that no one can look at God and say, "so which ones are your kids and which ones are your adopted kids."  

No, adoption means that we were meant to be so much more than orphans.  We were meant to be so much more that adopted children.  We were meant to be the sons and daughters of God, period.

The old is passed away; all things become new.  2 Corinthians 5:17

This is adoption.  This is salvation.  This is redemption.  This is the very heart of God.