Dear Abigail...

April 16, 2013

Dear Abigail
     Hi baby girl! I can’t believe your mom is almost eight months pregnant with you already! It seems like just yesterday we were looking at three positive pregnancy tests, laughing and crying all at once. That day changed everything for us! Even though we waited for you for two long years – we still had a hard time believing it at first!

     And now you’re almost here. I’m sure you know by now how much I love your mom – you hear it all the time! And I’m sure that you also know that we argue sometimes – but that’s nothing to worry about. As much as you’re moving around right now, and as strong-willed as you already seem to be, I’m sure we’ll have our own arguments too! But I hope you’re already finding out that no one in this family goes to sleep angry!

     Sadly, I have no idea what kind of world you’re going to grow up in. Horrible things are happening all around us even now. Where this world is going to go from here, I don’t even want to know! You’ll go through some hard times. You’ll experience some things that my generation never experienced. You’ll know other kids whose families are being torn apart – or were never there in the first place. You may even experience some very dangerous situations. But I promise you this; the same God that watched over your grandpa and grandma, the same God that protected and guided your mom and dad will watch over you! We’ll teach you how to hear His voice – and if you’ll pay attention, He’ll always place you at the right place at the right time! God will bring you out of every problem on top!

     God is always faithful – and we are going to show you this from the moment you’re born. I told you before that you’ll probably have friends with destroyed or nonexistent families. But I also promise you this, you will never have to go through that! You can rest assured that you will always have your mom and your dad. I’m going to do everything I can to be an example of God’s faithfulness. I’m going to love your mom the way Jesus loves us. I promise you this – you will never have a stepmom or a stepdad…I love your mom too much for that! Besides, there’s no way I’m ever going to let some other person raise my beautiful little girl!

     You’re not going to be normal, Abigail. Why? Because normal isn’t good enough for you! It isn’t normal anymore for girls your age to live with their mom and dad. The normal right now is to have a mom and a sperm donor. (I’m trusting that it will be decades before you even know what that term means!) It isn’t normal for kids to have parents involved in their life. And it certainly isn’t normal for them to have a mom and dad who are committed to raising them up spiritually. But that’s what we’re going to do!

     Even as a girl, you’ll know the Bible better than most Christians – because we’ll be reading it every night. Before you hit your teenage years, you’ll know how to talk to God…and how to hear Him speak to you! You are going to do amazing things for the Kingdom of God, Abigail. I can’t wait to see His calling on your life start to show up!

     It’s important for you to know that I’ll do everything I can to guard that calling on your life…even if it means chasing away some of people who want to be your “friends”. If you’ll trust us, your mom and I will show you what kind of people are worth having around – and what kind of people aren’t worth the time of day! And…many, many years down the road…I know you’ll meet the righteous young man who will take you by the hand and lead you into the next level of God’s call on your life! From that day on, the two of you will walk with God together. Now, I don’t even want to think about that day! But I hope you’ll trust our input on that decision too. If you’ll pay attention to the way I treat your mom, you’ll see how your own husband (…in the very distant future…) should treat you.

     Above all, know this…I love you Abby! I’m going to do my best to teach you, to guide you, and to protect and provide for you. And when the times come that I don’t know how to help you, please let me take your hand and lead you to the One that has all the answers! After all, He loves you even more than I do!

Looking forward to seeing you for the first time,
Your Loving Dad

I don't usually post videos, but it's a weekend and I really like this song! Besides, it carries a message of it's own!

The Sound Of Victory

In 2 Kings 6 we see a desperate situation. Israel was ruled by Ahab’s wicked son Joram. Most of the godly Israelis had emigrated to the southern kingdom of Judah, to the righteous kings Asa and Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 15:9). At the time of Elijah and Ahab’s showdown, there were only 7,000 godly people in the entire country of Israel. Fast forward about twenty years and things hadn’t changed much. The natural son of Ahab - Joram - and the spiritual son of Elijah - Elisha - were still locked in a battle for the hearts of God’s people.

Because of Israel’s backslidden condition, God had begun to allow other nations to begin swallowing them up. The nation of Syria was one of them, and in 2 Kings 6 they had laid siege on the capital city of Samaria. Still, God goal was reconciliation, not retribution. His desire was that his wayward people would return to Him. But the more they refused, the more desperate their situation became.
Food was scarce in Samaria. The Syrian army closed around the city like a clamp. No one could come or go. But God was about to make a power-play to wake his people up!

As it always does, God’s Word came first. Elisha prophesied that within 24 hours everything would change. Food would be so plentiful that any amount of money would buy it. No one believed him though, and no one moved.

Outside the city, sat four lepers. If the people inside the city had it bad, can you imagine life for a leper at that time? These were throwaway people. They weren’t allowed inside the city, and who would give precious food to someone who was just going to die anyway? If the word to describe conditions inside Samaria was desperate, the word for these four lepers would be hopeless.

The very evening that Elisha prophesied, these four lepers decided to do something about their situation. They said, “Why should we stay here and die? If we go back into the city, we’ll die; if we stay here we’ll die. Let’s go to the Syrians. If they have pity on us, we’ll live. If they kill us, we’ll die quickly at least.

So they got up at twilight, as the sun was setting and went to the Syrian camp. When they got there, things weren’t at all like they were expecting. No one was in sight! Not one soldier, not a man or woman anywhere! Every tent they entered was deserted! Not one Syrian was in the entire area! But...all their stuff was! The four lepers cleared out one tent, taking all that stuff and hiding it. Then they came back and did it again!

On their third trip back, they realized that they weren’t exactly doing the right thing. All of Samaria was starving to death, and they were hoarding the abandoned supplies. So they went and told the king in Samaria. Within hours of when the lepers told King Joram, the markets in Samaria were full of Syrian supplies!

Why did the Syrian army just disappear? What was it that made them leave everything they had behind? 2 Kings 7:6-7 says that “God caused them to hear the noise of a great army.” So, rather than staying and fighting whatever this massive army was, they turned and ran. They ran so hard that they stripped off everything they had on them so they could run faster! They actually left a trail of dropped supplies as they ran, not to mention everything that was still in their camp!

What I want you to see is in verse verse 7: “They arose and fled at twilight.” The same time the four lepers decided to get up and do something! God took the sound of four weak, starving lepers and turned it into the sound of a massive army! All He was looking for was someone to do something!

Now let’s talk...are there situations in your life where you feel like you’re starving? Does anything in your life feel hopeless? Maybe you have issues that have been going on in your family for far too long. Maybe your heart is broken for your city or your neighborhood and you wish something would change. Maybe you want to see God’s power and glory poured out in your church. Whatever it is, take a lesson from these lepers and just do something! If you do nothing, then nothing will change. But, if you get up and start moving you’ll get results! Maybe this means witnessing one more time to your loved ones. Maybe it’s praying a little more aggressively. Whatever it is you’re believing God for, don’t give up!

You may see what you’re doing as weak and ineffective, but if only you could hear what it sounds like to your enemy! God is able to turn the weak, tired efforts on your part and turn them into victory! He’s just looking for someone to start moving!