What Adoption Can Lead To!!!

After the cost of the adoption, thousands spent on dental and ortho and dozens upon dozens of hours spent in doctors' offices ~ Will and Trae had a plan ~ and it went a little something like this ~

Apparently the thought of another trip to the dentist was a little too much to handle, so Will performed his first tooth extraction.

The Misunderstanding of Righteousness

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Our goodness is not based on our individual lives for we have no goodness in us.  Our righteousness is based not on action or deed, for we are truly void of righteousness.

To compare one to another is futile and sinful for it is thievery against the One to whom all glory belongs.

If we claim one may stand more righteous than another then we stand in the midst of the proud lie that greedily gobbles the glory of our glorious God.

Good works are only truly good when birthed out of the Source of Goodness, anything else is an ugly counterfeit, masquerading as light but in truth it is only darkness masked.

If we look upon another believer and deem them as more righteous for one religious accomplishment or another, then we betray the power and awful beauty of Calvary.

Now surely out of a life abiding in Jesus Christ goodness will flow, for you cannot wade into the rivers of the living water without that living water seeping out of every pore onto a thirsty and parched land.  But, that is the outflow of God in us, NOT the outflow of our goodness, for there is rightly no such thing.

Righteousness is endowed upon us from the heavens at the precise moment that we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  And that glorious righteousness flows without prejudice and is bestowed upon the blackest of hearts, which is entirely my heart and yours.

So, let us shake loose the bounds of this false humility that says one brother stands more righteous then me and embrace the gift that was given from the only true Giver.  Our Giver willingly sweat blood to joyfully give this gift of righteousness upon ALL that would call on the name of Jesus, let us dare not demean this truth with self-indulgent comparisons.

Always, always abide first and then allow His acts to flow.

To this, I pray, we all race on.

Ephesians 1:4 ~ “Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him.”

A birthday tribute

This weekend we will celebrate Will's birthday and in honor of his big day I wanted to write something to try and convey how much we love him and to attempt to convey to all of you how truly amazing he is.  I decided to post something I wrote for him 8 or 9 months ago, while it is in story format all accounts are truth, I can attest to that.  You may wonder why a story?  Well, everyone loves a good story and while I could type a list of adjectives such as fiercely loyal, generous, kind, courageous that would go on and on and would be entirely true I thought maybe this story may do a better job.  A story, ok, fine, a story but a story about a truck?!  Trust me, the story about a truck will do a far better job in depicting the man I am blissfully married to then anything else.

Trust me and read it, you may like it and at the very least it will help you better understand Will or BJ or whoever he is to you.

This is the story of a boy and his truck …

Four score and seven years ago, wait wrong story, our story began thirteen years ago in sunny California with a young mom who was terribly frightened about her future and often times felt utterly alone.  As this young mom stood and stared at the unending rows of cars on that enormous lot she knew she must forsake all thoughts of a jeep and provide her daughter with a safe and reliable vehicle.  So, she chose a small, platinum neon and began a new life with her little girl as they waded through life’s stormy seas.  But, God had a secret for this scared, young girl and her platinum neon; for He had heard her prayer that her beautiful young daughter not be forced to bear the brunt of her mother’s sins. So, God in His infinite kindness handpicked a young man and his truck, and this man and his truck would forever change this girl and her neon.

Our story carries on near the shoreline of South Carolina and our young mom plods on each day unsure of how she will do for her little girl all that she needs and deserves, but she presses on hoping that God has heard her plea.  And then one bright South Carolina morning she notices a very nice truck pull into the lot near her little neon and she thinks of how nice it would be to ride in a truck like that with a man like him.  And somehow the man sees past “the baggage” and he takes her for a ride in his shiny, white truck and the two begin to sense that maybe this time it will all be different, and the two were right. 

So, the man sells his beautiful truck to help care for the scared mom who is growing much less scared by the day and he begins a new journey with an old and tired Honda that most would have left in a junk yard.  But he selflessly drives his Honda and provides for the young mom and her little girl who is becoming his little girl more and more every day.

The man and the women (and her neon and her little girl) are united forever and a gift is given; yet again an old and tired vehicle that has served and cared for its family proudly and now has been given to care for the next generation.  So, the man drives the old van while his friends drive nice trucks and jeeps and they smirk a little at him but he drives on and he becomes everything to the young women and her little girl. 

The family continues to grow and a new family car is purchased and the young father is yet again given a hand-me-down, a well loved hand-me-down but a hand-me-down the same and our young man begins another chapter with our fateful platinum neon.  And his friends trade in their nice trucks and jeeps for even far nicer trucks and jeeps and he watches and dreams of the day when he too can have a truck again. 

The family begins its journey across the country, back to where it all began.  And with his eastward journey brings new promotions and his dreams of his beautiful truck will soon become a reality, no longer just a dream.  And then the young man hears a word from God and he wrestles with his dream and with God and God says, “lay it down; it is not best for your family.”  And the young man does, he lays down his desires and his dreams and he watches his friends drive huge monstrosities of trucks and he wonders, “why not me?”

But, God begins to do a beautiful and miraculous thing between this man and his little neon; He begins a love affair that could only have been conceived in the heavenly realms.  And our young man begins to understand how truly wonderful this little gift from God has been to him and his family and he develops a grateful heart.  And others begin to notice how blessed this man and his car are and they ask themselves, “why the difference?”  And the man knows in his heart because this little car has been given by God, not recklessly and selfishly taken from a lot.  And the love grows between car and man and man and God.

And then His God asks him to do something hard, very hard.  For you see there is yet again another scared and lonely mom and she too is unsure of how she will care for this beautiful little girl before her.  She too prays that God will not allow her little girl to pay the price of her sins and He hears her cry.  And our young man is asked to give again to a scared, young mom and he does.  He gives away his beloved neon and he becomes an answer to someone else’s prayers.

God, in His unending sense of humor, has again brought our young man back into a truck.  No, it is nothing like the original and certainly there is no resemblance to his dreams but a white truck the same.  And this truck has been given by the hand of God and it too, just as his beloved neon, will carry him to where God has called him to go.

Now we find the young, scared moms not so young and not so scared because of a wonderful man and his truck. 

But, while our young man is not quite so young now his story is not over; no it is just beginning.  He will be asked to care for many more young moms and their frightened children, he will be asked to give more of himself every day, he will carry the burdens of those who cannot carry them for themselves and he will continue to be an answer to the prayers of so many.  For that is what God has called him to be – a giver, because much has been given to him.  So, he will give the women and the children their dreams back for it has become his dream to do just that.

Most will never be able to thank the young man this side of heaven but this very happy and very blessed mom can.  So, thank you for giving us our dreams back, thank you for being an answer to prayer.

 

With very much love, HAPPY BIRTHDAY BJ!!!  ~ Jennie, Tay, Rue, Trae, Tsinat, Cole, Grace & Tucker

 

 

A Glimmer

Now I see a hint, a glimmer dancing behind the words; just a faint image of You hidden behind letters strung together.  You . . . there, waiting  patiently behind my writing; my writing that attempts to mask my pride and my fear.   And yet, even the slightest glimmer of You is utterly radiant, entirely beautiful and absolutely captivating. 

So I pray on, write on, and race on to the day when the hint, the glimmer, the faint image is . . .  my words.  My words, hidden and peeking out from behind The Word; the terrifyingly, beautiful Word. 

“… with unveiled faces, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory…”  (2 Cor. 3:18)

And I pray on until the Image that I behold has become all that I or you see in me.  The glory becomes no longer a reflection but the only Image seen.

To this . . . I race on.