Beautiful!

God has blessed us beyond our comprehension with these two beautiful and wonderful children.

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives His beloved sleep.

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warror, so are the children of one's youth. Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them; they shall not be ashamed, but shall speak with their enemies in the gate. Psalm 127 NKJV

Outside Kids

Kyra and David love being outside! They love to play and to explore. Kyra is a bike rider and David can usually be found riding his stick - horse. How about those boots with his shorts. He definitely makes a fashion statement! The first thing David wants to do when he wakes up is put his boots on!

Revelation

http://www.jesusinthemargins.com

Chapter 2
When God chose to reveal Himself to mankind, He did it in the person of Jesus. God revealed Himself in the margins.

Rick says, "Jesus showed up in a rural town called Nazareth. Not much of a place, really. There were probably ten, maybe fifteen thousand people living there, and they were a less-cultivated class - more like blue-collar or hillbilly types, rude and crude."

Not only did He show up in a small town, but his birth was scandalous.

"What's more, he shows up in the womb of an unwed teenage mom." (from the author).

Here's the great part about Jesus in the margins:

Rick McKinley says, "That's where Jesus arrives. And more. He doesn't come to the margins just to rise up out of them, like some against-all-odds Rocky success story. No, he comes to the margins to stay there and live there and work there. That is the focus of his mission."

I love the fact that God reveals Himself to us in Jesus and that Jesus lived among the marginalized. The world is where we get most of our value. The world says if you are to have value you have to be rich, popular and successful. Jesus says that to have value is to be loved by God and to love God in return. Jesus says there is value in relationships. Family, friends, church. That is what is of value.

No one has ever come to the end of their life wishing they had worked more. There have been a lot of people come to the end of their life wishing they had spent more time investing in relationships...

-R

Honesty

http://www.jesusinthemargins.com

I am reading a good book that I would like to discuss. The author Rick McKinley describes what he means by the margins in the first chapter:
"Society - our world, our culture - has margins just like this page does. They're places occupied by people who go unnoticed, misfits who seldom figure in when the mainline world defines and esteems itself. But they're there. The margins are where I find people like me."

Maybe you are a margin dweller. I know that I am. I have never really fit in well into society. I have tried real hard, but mostly I was just playing games.

In this first chapter, Rick shares part of his story of being a Christ-follower and five other people's stories of what they have been through in thier life and what their thoughts on God are. They are very honest.

He then says this:
"The great thing about the margins is the honesty. No one here is still playing games. We're all ready to have an authentic look at life. We desperately want love and acceptance, but we just can't bring ourselves to sacrifice honesty in order to get it."

Why do we play games? I think maybe it is because we think if people really knew us they wouldn't love us. I too am tired of playing games. I am tired of acting like I hve it all together because I don't. What about you?

There is hope, though. There is One who knows us inside and out and He loves us in spite of who we are. His name is Jesus.

If you are a margin dweller, you will want to read this book, I promise it will minster to you. You can leave me a comment and let me know what you think about honesty and Christian Community. If we are going to be the people of Jesus, we have got to be honest with one another.

-R

Christian Community

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also alove one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another. John 13:34-35

I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; the they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. John 17:20-21

Have you ever wanted someone to believe the gospel of Jesus Christ? Have you ever tried to convince someone that the Bible is true? I do this a lot. I find it to be something that is very hard and frustrating. But as I meditate on these two passages of scripture I find that Jesus tells us that we cannot explain the gospel outside of Christian Community. I just finished a book by Leslie Newbigin entitled The Gospel in Pluralist Society. In it he points out that the Christian church exists in a society that is pluralist - there are many differing beliefs. He makes two great points in this book:
1. "The only effective hermeneutic of the gospel is the life of the congregation which believes it."
(Hermeneutics is the art or science of interpretation)
2. "Jesus did not write a book but formed a community"

Jesus never intended for us to simply explain the gospel and convince someone to believe it. He intends for us to 'live' the gospel. As we live in a community with other believers who love each other and are one in spirit with one another and with God our Father and Jesus the Savior of the world, people will see that we believe the gospel because we live the gospel. It is amazing to see what happens when a person is drawn into a loving community of faith and hope and they begin to be infected with the virus called Jesus. (From an old Russian proverb.)

Some thoughts -
1. Do you believe the gospel?
2. Are you a part of a believing community? (Not just a church-goer, but intimately connected to the life of the ekklesia?)
3. Do you live the gospel in your place of work, your home, among your friends?

-R

Dads, Moms, and a Loving Heavenly Father

Sometimes people ask me if I have a hobby. A lot of people enjoy playing golf, roping or hunting. I never have been much into sports and I tried roping years ago. I stink at golf and every time I get on a golf course, I think of all the things I could be doing if I wasn't there! For me, getting to go and help my Dad work cows is one of my hobbies. I love to spend time with my parents and to brand, wean, sort, move...whatever he happens to be doing on the ranch. I really feel sorry for people that don't have a good relationship with their parents. I am truly blessed with a mom and dad that love me and my sister and our families. My dad is one of my very best friends and we enjoy being together. In Ephesians, we see three earthly relationships that reflect the spiritual realtisnship that we have with God. The first is found in 5:22-33 and that is marriage. The relationship of Christ and His church is reflected to us in the earthly relationship of a husband and his wife. The second is found in 6:1-4 and that is the relationship of children and parents. God is our Father. If we have earthly parents that love us train us and show us grace, it will be easy for us to understand that God is a loving Heavenly Father. THe third realtionship is in 6:5-9 and is the relationship between masters and slaves. Today, I think we can best see this in employers and employees. Employers reflect the image of God to their employees as they treat them fairly. Employees are to work as if they were doing their work for the Lord and not for men.

My Dad and Mom have a great marriage and they model what a husband loving his wife as Christ loved the church is like. They are both loving parents and it is easy for me and Kacey to understand what a loving Heavenly Father is like. One of the reasons that I love working for my Dad is that he is always fair with those who work for him. It is also a worship experience, because we are working cows for God and not for men. God is the One who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and we are all in service for Him.

One person's graffiti is another's masterpiece

Spring is here! We are excited to get to spend more time outside with our friends playing in the tree-house and decorating with sidewalk calk. We are also hauling enormous amounts of sand in our dump truck. Baseball is our newest passion. Kyra is getting where she can hit a ball tossed to her about 1 out of 5 times. (That's a lot better than her dad!)

With children comes joy. Jesus says that we must become like little children and children love to play. Playing is such an important aspect of being a child. If these kids had their way, they would stay outside from sunrise to sunset. We are thinking of asking for a city ordinance to block off our street so that no cars can come in front of our block! Never mind that we have an entire block vacant behind our house. It takes a lot of room to play!

Have a great spring and enJOY the Lord with your family.

-R

We Must Be Converted!

Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 18:3
As an evangelical pastor, I have told people many, many times that they must be born again to even see the kingdom of God. I have not focused so much on the fact that we must become like little children to enter the kingdom of heaven. (Kingdom of Heaven = Kingdom of God) Since I am preaching on this passage of scripture this week I have been meditating on what Jesus meant by this. A few thoughts come to mind. Little children trust, they are humble, they are innocent, they are playful. When was the last time that you played like a little child. Jesus does not need our grown-up 'self-esteem'! He says that conversion is to become like little children. Are you born again? Are you like a little child? (If you are interested, check out the GBC blog on Monday for the message on this passage.)