We Need Each Other

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A Little After-Breakfast Hangout

Yesterday on the Gospel Coalition Blog-o-rama, Trevin Wax posted about how his third child revealed aspects of his first two children that he might not have seen before. You can read the full post here.

It's interesting because, just the day before, I was sitting at the table with my three children and pondered out loud to Garrett and Vivian, "You know, I think I enjoy Cora more because of you two than I would have been able to otherwise." What I was saying was that they are able to bring out different parts of her personality that I probably wouldn't have seen without them. Likewise, she brings out parts of their personality that wouldn't have been revealed otherwise. They're both so tender and nurturing toward her and I had never seen them display that behavior before. As a father, that is a real blessing to me.

This got me thinking about the Church and how much we need each other. We are designed by God to live in community. In the context of community, different aspects of our personalities are revealed that wouldn't have been otherwise. Also, we are able to experience the nature and character of God from another's point of view. Put another way, one person can be a Christian, but one person cannot be a church.

If we're to be all we can be, I need you and you need me.

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What Is Adoption?

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Image from  http://adoptiongiftsonline.com/

"What does it mean to be adopted?" 

This question was posed this morning on the Facebook page of my church, Garden Valley Bible.

At first, I formulated the Sunday School answer in my head. Being adopted means that someone chooses to love you forever and invites you to live with them. Generally, children are adopted because their biological parents cannot take care of them for whatever reason or they simply don't want the responsibility of raising a child. 

The post went further and said, "Please take a moment and reflect upon what you have today as His adopted son." This prompted further word study into the issue of adoption.

The Dishwasher of Forgiveness

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I have to tell you a story that touched my heart this morning as it reminded me of the forgiveness and grace we have received.

The Bird (Part 2): His Name Is Thomas

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Just so you know, that's part of the food that didn't make it in the front end..

Who cooked breakfast for a mockingbird nestling this morning? 

This guy.

Who was worried that the bird didn't want to wake up and eat this morning? 

This guy.

Who downloaded bird calls to his phone to try to wake up the bird this morning? 

Yep! This guy. 

Who finds this whole thing utterly ridiculous?

You. I'm sure.

By the way, his name is Thomas. I don't know why. I hope he's a boy. We have a tom cat that comes around begging for food. The kids call him Elizabeth. Must be why he's so mean.

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Four Reasons To Be Like a Child

Matthew 18:3 "I assure you," [Jesus] said, "unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

Jesus' disciples had been arguing about who among them would be the greatest in the kingdom. It's so easy to look at them and scoff at their silliness. Don't we do the same thing, though? Don't we judge our lives and the lives of others in the church by how much we've done for the kingdom? It's especially easy for those of us in public ministry to look at our accomplishments and think that Jesus has a special place reserved for us because of all we did for him.

Jesus turns this argument on its head when he says, "Unless you're like a child, you won't even ENTER the kingdom." The magnitude of this saying of Jesus bears investigation into the qualities of children that Jesus loves and how we should pray for grace to exhibit those qualities in our own lives.