No word from Ethiopia yet

I wanted to say a little more about my previous post, explain why I wrote it and why I believe it is so important. I was praying about it on my run this morning and God brought me further clarity.

Here is the thing - in long distance running and even swimming to a degree there is a "sweet spot," that place where you run or swim almost effortlessly, it is amazing and most runners thrive on running in their sweet spot. It is not understood entirely why or how this happens, in the midst of the sweltering heat, miles into what has been a painful run and all of a sudden you realize you have run right into one of these beautiful running experiences. These moments are not easy to come by, most runs are just painful but every once in awhile you get lucky.

God reminded me this morning that we all have a sweet spot spiritually too; that moment and space with God where everything else fades, the world seems far removed and you sit in a peaceful, amazing place with God where you know that you are being consumed by the Spirit of God and in that moment nothing else matters. Your spiritual "sweet spot" is effortless and painless as you sit in the presence of God. This is the place where we are made into the image of God, this is the point where healing takes place, where addictions break free, where visions are born and where everything makes sense. It is amazing, it is the place where lives are truly changed. The problem is you can not have these times with God with the TV on, your Ipod blasting, Facebook feeding a constant stream of messages from your 615 friends (how do people have so many friends?) rushing your kids around from one practice to the next or even in the midst of our constant church activities. It happens in the quiet moments with God that are full of worship, repentance and focus on our Creator. That is why I feel so strongly about quieting our lives on a daily basis so that we can hear the voice of our God. And as we learn this lesson our children will understand and they will people of God who want nothing more then to spend as much time as possible in their "sweet spot" with God. Life is short and often painful, all we really have are these moments when the Spirit of God falls upon us and we become more engrossed in the eternal, focused on all that will never pass away.

To all of us with children in our lives

We have not heard anything out of Ethiopia yet but we still have several more days so we are praying and believing in God's perfect timing, whatever the outcome may be. We are excited and confident in the future that God has in store for us.

For months I have felt God impressing a sense of urgency on me in regards to the way that I train my children, Joel 2 and Acts 2 run through my mind with regularity. He has a plan for our children, He has a purpose and it does not begin at 18 or 21 or when they graduate from college, it begins now and it begins with us... "I will pour out my Spirit upon all mankind and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams." He is clear with us, our sons and daughters should be so full of the Spirit that they see visions and prophesy and I have a funny feeling that this does not occur with the typical 1.5 hours of Sunday school that most Christian children are exposed to. No, this is a lifestyle that is lived out everyday that produces hearts, souls and spirits that are so open to the move of God that a young age they "prophesy and see visions." This lifestyle is our calling, this is our job; to raise our children in an environment that is inundated with the things of God.

In the world that we live in we have an enemy and if left exposed our children make easy prey.

1 Peter 5:8 "... for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion seeking someone to devour."

John 10;10 "The thief only comes to steal, kill and destroy..."

There is no age requirement for this destruction, our enemy is a ruthless destroyer and he is unconcerned with age. We live in a painfully difficult world and children are faced with death and destruction everyday in a myriad of forms, they can not survive this onslaught of attacks with a mere hour or two of training a week. They need to be fully equipped, "Put on God's full armor that you may be able to STAND UP AGAINST the strategies of the devil." (Ephesians 6:11) This is a war and if you go into war untrained, unprepared and ill-equipped you don't survive, it is that simple. So, why do we keep throwing our children out into a war without teaching them the tools so that they "may stand up against" this war?

So, we know this Jennie, get to your point, here is my point: it is time we unplug and turn off all the DAILY distractions of our lives and our children's lives. God keeps pressing on my heart and my soul that they need time to learn (memorize) His word, to learn to pray and intercede, to learn to worship in spirit and in truth and to learn how to discern. It takes time to train them and they need it and deserve it. All the Ipads, Ipods, Itouches, Iphones and all the other Is of this world are not connecting us to anyone but ourselves, hence the reason they start with I. Our children spend their days in front of televisions, video games, computer screens and many other assorted varieties of distractions. Between sports, music lessons, clubs, friends, and a thousand other things we fill their lives with they are left with very little time to learn and to train to be the people God is calling them to be. Am I saying we need to get rid of our televisions, our gaming systems, our after school activities? Yes, that is what I am saying, we need to junk it all and focus on what they really need and if there is time left over then put in a few things back in. But, first and foremost we must take the time to "train them up in the way that they should go..." and that is not the church's job, that is our job and it is a time consuming job and it is a job with great value.

So, here is the next question: if we were living our lives the way that we should with our eyes fixed on Him and not on things of this world then our children would follow suit, right? So, they lived plugged into TVs, computers, Ipods, activities, etc. because we live plugged in to them, they follow what they see lived out in front of them. And make no mistake about, you are in a war and you need to train and prepare constantly and then teach your children to do the same.

In the last 2 years I have been shocked by the growth of my children in their faith as I have shut down some of the things in our lives and spent more time with them in the word, in prayer and in worship. They are little sponges and they are constantly soaking it all in, that is the way God created them. So, do we want them to soak up video games, television shows, Lady Gaga (seriously, how she can refer to herself as that is beyond me?!) or the things of our Heavenly Father.

So, lets get off Facebook, lets turn it all off, shut it down, stay home and prepare ourselves to be the people He is calling us to be. We need to stop handing our children over to satan and then acting so shocked and perplexed when they are walking away from God when we know very well that we allowed them and even encouraged them to waste away hours of their days plugged into to countless distractions.

Before you write me angry comments, remember that He is saying this to me too and it is Him who is saying it.

Fundraising Gear

This is our fundraising gear, we are trying to put together another order so if you are interested email or call me.
We have not heard anything in regards to our paperwork in Ethiopia, we still have through the end of this week though so we will keep praying. We are also waiting for word on the girls receiving our welcome package. I will post when we know more.