Together for the Gospel

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of once again attending the Together for the Gospel conference in Louisville Kentucky. It has certainly been a great source of both encouragement and instruction to me and I thank the church for sending me. For those who are interested, I wanted to post a short video clip from it to give you an idea of the kind of teaching that we are blessed with. This excerpt is from Thabiti Anyabwile on what it means to truly be together for the gospel in our local churches.



Rev. 7:9-10 (ESV)

I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, [10] and crying out with a loud voice, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"

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Full Circle

After three years of patiently waiting and praying, and then a subsequent three months in the hospital, this past Sunday my wife and I finally had the privilege and joy of dedicating our new baby girl to the Lord. What made this event all the more special was that Dr. Loren Stark, the previous pastor at this church, was able to be here to do the dedication for us. This was very appropriate, not only because I started out in ministry with him, but also because Loren and his wife had themselves adopted a son through, as it turns out, the same agency who "happened" to contact us about Emma.

Furthermore, as mentioned in the previous post, three years ago the Lord used a sermon by Dr. John Piper on adoption to convict/call us to pursue special needs adoption. Well, last week I was returning home from the Together for the Gospel conference in Louisville KY and guess who "happened" to be on the same flight as I was... John Piper. As a result, I was able to personally thank him for his ministry and let him know about how that message in particular had played a significant role in leading us to adopting Emma.

Looking back, things have certainly come full circle. It has been amazing to see how our heavenly Father has been weaving all of these stories together for His glory. Unfortunately, this is something we often overlook or simply fail to consider. That in everything, both big and small, God is working to bring about His purpose/design in our lives. In fact, the sovereignty and providence of God are biblical truths that we desperately and daily need to take comfort and assurance from. Ravi Zacharias has recently written a book about this called The Grand Weaver. Here, in part, is a brief description of it from his website.

How differently would we live if we believed that every dimension of our lives--from the happy to the tragic to the mundane--were part of a beautiful and purposeful design in which no thread were wrongly woven?

As Christians, we believe that great events such as a death or a birth are guided by the hand of God. Yet we drift into feeling that our daily lives are the products of our own efforts. This book brims with penetrating stories and insights that show us otherwise. From a chance encounter in a ticket line to a beloved father's final word before dying, from a random phone call to a line in a Scripture reading, every detail of life is woven into its perfect place.

In other words, we do not live on a planet that came about by accident, or share in some coincidental experiences or meet each other in chance encounters. God is in absolute control of everything that happens in this world. So that along with comfort and assurance, this truth should also lead us to a profound sense of gratitude and trust.

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28 (ESV)

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Why Adopt

To begin with, in terms of an update, our newly adopted daughter, Emma, will be having surgery in the next couple days to install a pacemaker. We were obviously hoping this wouldn't be the case, but are thankful for the care she is receiving and ask, once again, for your prayers. The procedure itself is fairly simple and we should, Lord willing, be going home in about a week.

One of the question we are always asked when we tell people our story is why would we choose to adopted a baby with Down syndrome. I've written a bit about this in the past but have recently come across a video that points to what I believe is the most important reason. God really challenged us with the need to adopt three years ago when we listened to a sermon by Dr. John Piper. Here is a five minute video that sums it all up:



Romans 8:15 (ESV)
For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!"

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