Tag: Jesus

Posted in Uncategorized

asking for saints.

Posted on by Wick

“Daddy, “dead” means “died”.”  My 4 year old was talking to me from the back seat of our mini-van.  She’d just internalized a basic truth about the end of life, and was repeating it back to me.  She said it confidently, but still with a slight question mark waiting for me to confirm what she’d said.  So why was our 4 year old talking to me about such a weighty topic?

The girls had helped me get the candles out for youth group this past week.  They asked me what it was all for, and I told them I’d explain after evening services.  So as we gathered in the minivan after church and kids programming, I explained.

“Tonight I invited the teenagers to come and light a candle.  They would each light a candle for someone they wanted to remember, who had died and gone to be with Jesus.  We talked about the people we loved, who were not with us anymore because they were with God now.”

It’s true.  For our monthly scheduled “prayer experiment” this month, I offered our teens almost an entire night where we gathered chairs in a circle, and just remembered together.  Some chose to remain quiet, but obviously reflecting on someone meaningful.  Others may have been bored off their rockers, but at least they were respectful of the moment.  But several chose to step out and light a candle, and share with us a memory of someone who’d made an impact on their life.  I’d been nervous and not known what to expect…but felt God was smiling on the idea.  (probably even gave it)  We thanked God for these people, and closed in prayer that someday, someone might remember us as having made an impact on their life for God.

The good news is…I was way ahead of schedule.  We’ve got an “All Hallows Eve” party next week with pumpkin carving and what-not.   So you’ve still got plenty of time to ask the people/youth group/children in your life:  “Who is someone you’d like to remember, who’s gone to be with God?”

For my kids….it was Grandpa Nicol.  They knew his smiles, his laugh, and how much he loved baseball.  Then, they went through a short list of relatives they haven’t seen in a while….and I confirmed they weren’t dead yet. 🙂  Here are a few words that might make you thankful for someone…

Posted in Adoption Journey, Uncategorized

a blessed update.

Posted on by Wick

If you’ve been following our story, you know we’ve been all over the map so far emotionally.  God has been using the journey to transform our home, and stretch both us and those near to us in many great and uncomfortable ways.  In July of this year, after much waiting and prayer, we received a referral.  We were so excited to finally begin pursuing our daughter, and learning more about her.  Unfortunately, almost 2 months later as we were sending her first “package”, we were notified the orphanage had been lied to.  Her parents had come to bring her home.  This was great news, although difficult, as her family could actually care for her and had gotten through whatever obstacle had previously caused them to give her up.

Thankfully, we’d previously planned a little “family getaway” camping together.  It was great medicine.  Little did the world know of the news we received the first morning of camping…

I love to get up early when camping, with the sun.  To quietly tiptoe IMGP9111out of the tent (that zipper is evil), and grab a nice book.  I grabbed my phone to check the weather for the day, and saw I had an e-mail.  The title was “Potential New Referral“, and I knew I couldn’t open it without my wife by my side.  There was my dilemma.  We were camping (read “up really late with kids who didn’t want to sleep”), my wife was still asleep (read “a couple more valuable hours were left where our kids would actually rest”), and I was sitting in a quiet wooded morning with a good book.

But I couldn’t resist.

I quietly unzipped the tent, and crawled in next to my wife.  As the kids slept tight in their sleeping bags, we opened the e-mail together and saw the information and picture of this beautiful little girl who needed a family.  It was such a blessing to us, to begin to know the next part of our story.

But wait, you may be thinking, that was August 30th.  Why are we just now hearing about this?

It’s true.  My wife and I have had pictures, and talked personally with someone who has held this little one in her arms.  But it has taken an unusual amount of time to secure her medical records, etc.  Now that we’ve received information that she passes the conditions we’ve been approved for, we can finally tell you.  “We have a new referral.”  We’ve begun the process, and hope that in 9-12 months we can travel to bring her home.

Already, our children have prayed with brutal honesty, “Dear God, help us to keep her picture.”  They’re aware of the things we don’t like to mention aloud.  This is all taking place in the midst of a country filled with brokenness.  But from the midst of brokenness, we’ve been blessed.  We continue to move forward one step at a time to bring that blessing home.

There are more things we know, and obviously a picture….that we do not want to share online at this point.  If you know us, and want to connect….give a holler on FB or in person.

It’s a very exciting place to be, and so good to be learning about her, praying for her, and seeing that face as we trust in God moving forward.  Thank YOU for your continual support, love, and prayers.  Certainly there will be fundraisers coming up, and you can still give through our “Both Hands” project for tax credit.  $17k in 12 months seems dauntingly intimidating….but we look forward to looking back and saying “Wow….God made this possible….”

Posted in Uncategorized

final words.

Posted on by Wick

We’re trying to teach our kids about Jesus.  To go beyond teaching them “Jesus is your ticket to heaven”, and actually connecting their lives with the story of God bringing redemption and healing to a broken world.  Consistently pointing out, and calling forth the Love He is giving them, which is meant to transform the world.  The world of which He is already Lord.

But every once in a while, it seems a bit larger than we know how to talk about.  buskids

Enter, the helpful illustrations of Paul.  As he was writing to his “son in the faith” (1 Timothy 1:2), and trying to encourage him to live for Christ.  Even from prison, Paul was desperate to encourage Timothy to live out the good news that was found in and through Jesus.  Limited on time, and probably paper, he packed as much as he could into every message.  The outcome, is a bit of a scattered bag of metaphors, as in 2 Timothy 2:3-6:

“Share in suffering like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving in the army gets entangled in everyday affairs; the soldier’s aim is to please the enlisting officer. And in the case of an athlete, no one is crowned without competing according to the rules. It is the farmer who does the work who ought to have the first share of the crops.”

It almost seems like Paul is playing some really important game of “Catch Phrase”.  He can’t quite get the complete Truth of what he’s trying to say to Timothy into words, so he’s moving from element to element of that important Truth.  Instead of simplifying it into something really easy for Timothy to swallow and move on, safely in his pocket; with every phrase he breaks the chains of expectation and makes this Jesus-thing a whole lot bigger than in the previous sentence.

Imagine what our letters might be like, trying to communicate to our children through one final letter.  Knowing this will probably be the last thing we’re able to write before we die.  Given limited time/space/resources, trying to scrawl by candle light, one last effort to give them the Hope we have in Jesus Christ.  The book of 2 Timothy is an amazingly emotional letter, packed with encouragement and life for Timothy and the rest of us, as we peek in on what someone dying for Christ might say to their followers/children.

The good news is this:  You’re not waiting to die in a roman jail-cell.  Let that sink in for a moment.  Take a deep breath, and be thankful.

Now realize, you’re not limited to bouncing around between metaphors.  YOU are the living illustration.  Telling our kids about God’s love in their heart is awesome and needed.  But what is even more likely to transform their lives and connect them to God’s story, are parents & grandparents and extended family and close older friends who are living examples of the Words of God becoming flesh.  As we live out the prayer “Thy Kingdom Come”, and invite our children to follow us.  Not to “get their ticket to heaven” with us.  But to actually join us in the Kingdom and Lordship of Jesus Christ breaking through into our world by moments of genuine love, forgiveness, justice, and living sourced by His Spirit; denying the ways of a world of self-centeredness, and living together in Christian community…

May our days be filled with living out our “final words”…and may those who walk in our footsteps be blessed in receiving them…