I believe...Part 1

I am sitting on a train to Cambridge right now meandering through the beautiful countryside from town to town. I just finished reading a little booklet on the life and ministry of Charles Simeon titled, Simeon, by Max Warren. Simeon was a faithful pastor in Cambridge for 54 years where he died in 1836. This book has some amazing insights into the pastor and believer that Charles Simeon was; one of which I will share with you that has had an impact on me this morning as I sit on the train bound for the very streets that Simeon walked in faith for the Gospel.



Writing to a distressed believer he says, "....There is another thing that I would suggest...namely, that you are too much occupied in looking at yourself, and too little in beholding the Lord Jesus Christ. It is by the former you are to be humbled; but it is by the latter that you are to be "changed into the divine image" (2 Cor 3:18). You want a greater measure of holiness to warrant your confidence in the divine promises; when it is only by apprehending those promises that you can attain the holiness you are seeking after (2 Cor 7:1). You must learn to "glory in your infirmities (so to speak), that the power of Christ may rest upon you". You are nothing, and it discourages you; but you must be content to be nothing, that Christ may be "all in all."



What a profound statement about how we are to view ourselves in light of the mercy and grace of our holy God. I have my headphones on listening to some music while working on some of seminary classwork, and the song that seems to compliment so well the profession of gratitude I wish my life more readily reflected is a song by Andrew Peterson called, The Good Confession (I believe). I have listened to this song at least 5 times as my heart wants to jump out of my chest proclaiming the very anthem of this song, I BELIEVE...HE IS THE CHRIST...SON OF THE LIVING GOD...MY LORD...MY SAVIOR! I am more and more convinced that I could spend the rest of eternity proclaiming this truth and never adequately speak the gratitude of my heart to my God who saw fit to wash clean the filth that is and was my life apart from Him. I am including the lyrics that are speaking so powerfully to me today and hope you find time today to google, itunes, or myspace this song and take it in for what it is, a anthem of the majesty of the glory, grace, and love of God the Father. What is your life dying to cry out? Is it true gueniue gratitude to a God who loves you so much He sent his Son to die on your behalf paying the penalty for sin forever that you might be made right in the eyes of God? Is it your status? Is it your pride? What is your heart dying to cry out and what is stopping it? I beleive, He is the Christ...Son of the Living God!



The Good Confession (I believe)
was a boy, just nine years old, I heard the call and came. They buried me beneath the water, then I rose again. Well, you know my dad was a preacher man. I walked the aisle and I took his hand. He said, “Son, just do the best you can, and say the words, ‘I believe he is the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
Through the years I barely fell; I mostly dove right in. I drank so deep from the shallow well only to thirst again. Well, I sang the hymns at the summer camp, then I rocked and rolled with a lousy band till I heard a song that took my hand and led me home. And I believe he is the Christ, Son of the living God.
All I know is that I was blind but now I see that though I kick and scream, Love is leading me. And every step of the way his grace is making me; with every breath I breathe, he is saving me. And I believe.
So when my body’s weak and the day is long, when I feel my faith is all but gone, I’ll remember when I sing this song that I believe. I believe he is the Christ, Son of the living God, my Lord, my Savior. Oh, hosanna, I believe.



All Glory forever belongs to the One who sits on the Throne FOREVER! Amen and amen

The Old Course

Today was a great touristy day! We got the choice between going to St. Andrews, where many consider to be the birthplace of golf. The setting was breath taking even if you were not a golf fanatic. I thought much about my family today who love golf so much (Dave and Tommy) as well as two friends particularly (KWas and Damon). It was very cool to walk the course and to see the Old Course up close. Two of our professors got on and played the Old Course, quite expensive, and Dr. Magnuson shot an 82....WOW! Enjoy the pictures and know that the sights and sounds of the North Sea crashing in the shore just to the right of the 1st tee box will not fully appreciated by looking at these photos. Tomorrow we set off for Cambridge!



St. Andrew's, The Old Course: Bridge on 18th Fairway

#1 Tee Box Sign (left) and #18 Green (right)

This is the pro tee box at #4 on The Old Course

The view looking from 18 fairway to 18 green

Samuel Rutherford's tombstone, a Scottish theologian and author, of whom Spurgeon said, "When we are dead and gone let the world know that Spurgeon held Rutherford’s Letters to be the nearest thing to inspiration which can be found in all the writings of mere men".

An old Abbey in St. Andrews torn down after the Reformation (center) and the beach where the running scene from Chariots of Fire was filmed (right).

Edinburgh

This unassuming marker in space 23 of a public parking lot is the place were John Knox, one of the leaders of the Protestant Reformation; some consider him to be the founder of the Presbyterian denomination. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Knox Knox's hero was John Calvin. Rumor has it that Knox did not really want anyone to know where he was buried because he didn't want a shrine or a big deal made of him personally, rather a big deal made of the great God that he believed in.
Just a cool set of phone booths!

This is Edinburgh Castle, it was quite and amazing site, and even to this day in part of the castle grounds there are working military operations. There is A National War Memorial on the grounds where the names of all the Scottish men and women who have given their lives for their country are listed in book after book in this Memorial. Obviously out of respect no photos were allowed in the Memorial, but it was still quite humbling to set foot in those halls.

Scotland is (insert scottish accent)...waaaaaay kewwwl

Today marked the end of our longest stay in any one place, we departed London and headed for Edinburgh, Scotland. The train ride was awesome and beautiful as we passed the wonderful English countryside and headed for Scotland. However before we left London, we had the privilege of worshiping at East London Tabernacle Baptist Church. There wasn't anything spectacular about the church, though it was one of the intentional church plants of Spurgeon. The thing I have most enjoyed about worshiping at two different churches here in England so far is they don't look exactly like our churches in a couple of really great ways. First, they more closely resemble what I picture the universal church looking like as men and women from every tongue tribe and nation are in the very presence of God worshiping Him forever. These churches are very culturally diverse and every thing about that feels right to me. We are so white middle class in our church in a community that radically not! What a joy it was to anthem the name of Jesus with my brothers and sisters in the Lord, to whom there is neither slave nor free, Jew nor Gentile. Second, when the worship service is over no one is eager to leave. There literally were very few that left immediately after the service as this time was devoted to fellowship and meeting guests. We are so quick to slip out the doors of the church and talk about where we will go eat it seems that all too often we rob the Lord of the message He is stirring in our hearts. We don't give proper time to let the message sit and linger having it's full effect on us at that moment. It was a joy to watch the body of Christ reach out to visitors and members alike after the service.
After we got to Scotland, the view out my window is what I am standing on in the picture below. Me and two friends, Drew and Matt, summitted the top of Arthur's Seat and took in the views of Edinbourgh and an awesome thunderstrom that literally blew right around us. Pictures never do justice for the experience of climbing this ancient volcano. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur%27s_Seat,_Edinburgh




Please continue to pray for Randy and Ana as they should now be in Alabama with family preparing for the funeral and burial of Randy's father who passed away 2 days ago. Randy and I are in the same extension center and he and his daughter flew out this morning to be with his family after the passing of his father who was ill.

Blessings
Stephen

Prayer Request

Please pray for my friend Randy and his daughter Ana who are on this trip. Randy's father passed away last night in and while it was expected I can only imagine the emotion going through Randy, Ana and the rest of their family. Randy and I are in the same extension and he was the person I knew best on the trip. Here are a few things to pray for please:

Randy's father was not a believer to Randy's knowledge, his mother is praise the Lord but there are emotions involved there too about eternity. What a sobering reminder that being a good person will never be good enough, He is the only way to the Father.

Randy may be doing part or all of the ceremony which would be difficult, but my encouragement to him today was at least he would have full confidence that the full gospel would be presented for God's glory.

Randy and Ana will have a long day of travel ahead of them tomorrow. Randy was very grateful for the relative ease he had with the airline and their willingness to get him and Ana home. Pray for safety and smooth connections all the way to Alabama.

Ana, Zack, and Courtney have now lost their first grandparent, so I am sure that will not be easy for them. Randy has a large family so there are many children and grandchildren that will be dealing with the loss of a loved one over the next several days.

Thank you for you prayers, more updates tomorrow!

Blessings

Canterbury and Dover

Today we went to the historic Canterbury and Dover! It was the most beautiful day trip we have done yet on scenery alone. The pictures below will never do justice for what we saw, but I felt inclined to include them anyway! If I understood correctly the Canterbury Cathedral has been in use in one form or another either as a monastery or a cathedral since the late 6th century! Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury, was murdered by 4 of the King's Knights in this Cathedral. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Becket

The above picture is one of the Cloisters at the Cathedral, the presence of cloisters usually indicate the one time or current residence of a monastic order. The architecture is beautiful and I thought picture worthy. The town of Canterbury itself is a very wonderful town full of great cafe's and tourist shops...a place that my wife would love!
Dover is only about 15 miles from Canterbury and it sits on the English Channel. The train ride over was amazing and the views are even better. This photo was taken from the walk up to the Dover Castle looking out into the English Channel. This is the port at Dover and what is not pictured here is a cruise liner in the right of the photo at port. There was a wonderful breeze and the mere sight of ocean was a treat for me. I love the ocean, the sounds of the ocean, seagulls swarming overhead, and the breeze coming off of the Channel.
Dover Castle as it is now was built in the 1180's though the sight of Dover Castle has protected continental Europe for some 2000 years. We were denied access into the tunnels because of some poor communication but I think you will find the read interesting to say the least, http://www.dover-kent.co.uk/defence/tunnels.htm After we finished looking around and exploring at Dover we jumped the train back to London.

A wonderful day of walking and experiencing history.

tomorrow...

I have an early train tomorrow so I am going to try a 2 for 1 post tomorrow. Today was a pretty good day! The first pic is me on the other side of the Thames River looking back at Big Ben and Parliament and the second picture was taken from the top of Regent's Park near Primrose Hill looking at the beautiful London skyline at sunset. Pictures do not do it justice but nevertheless there they are!

On this Cross in the Road

Much of the classes I am taking this summer deal with our spiritual forefathers in a sense, and today gave me an opportunity to walk the streets, sit in the churches and cathedrals, and praise God for men that loved the Lord Jesus enough to be martyred for their beliefs. I hesitate to even begin to list some of the men I am talking about that walked the halls of various colleges and universities in the historic Oxford system for fear of leaving some out, nevertheless; John and Charles Wesley, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Hugh Latimer, Nicholas Ridley, Thomas Cranmer, John Wycliffe and many others.


For obvious reasons, today was nostalgic as I sat and ate lunch with our group in the historic Eagle and Child Pub where C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien would regularly go to discuss theological matters. However today the most valuable place was a very simple cross in a road in the heart of Oxford where three men were martyred for their faith. I am including a link so you can read more about their stories. I am including an except from the story but urge you to take 5 minutes to read their stories: Speaking of Cranmer who was the archbishop of Canterbury,

"He (Cranmer) had believed, with a fervor that many people today will find hard to understand, that it is the duty of every Christian to obey the monarch, and that "the powers that be are ordained of God" (Romans 13). As long as the monarch was ordering things that Cranmer thought good, it was easy for Cranmer to believe that the king was sent by God's providence to guide the people in the path of true religion, and that disobedience to the king was disobedience to God. Now Mary was Queen, and commanding him to return to the Roman obedience. Cranmer five times wrote a letter of submission to the Pope and to Roman Catholic doctrines, and four times he tore it up. In the end, he submitted. However, Mary was unwilling to believe that the submission was sincere, and he was ordered to be burned at Oxford on 21 March 1556. At the very end, he repudiated his final letter of submission, and announced that he died a Protestant. He said, "I have sinned, in that I signed with my hand what I did not believe with my heart. When the flames are lit, this hand shall be the first to burn." And when the fire was lit around his feet, he leaned forward and held his right hand in the fire until it was charred to a stump. Aside from this, he did not speak or move, except that once he raised his left hand to wipe the sweat from his forehead."

Article Link: http://justus.anglican.org/resources/bio/269.html I am sure there are better articles for this that are a more full treatment of this, but this one is brief and will give you a little bit of history! Enjoy!

Again I am flooded with these questions in my mind like would I be willing to defend the faith at the price of my life? Would I be willing to recant my recantation and honor my Lord in the end should I have chosen foolishly? I like to believe that the Lord will sustain those who are truly His to the very end, Praise God! I was also just reminded of how grateful I need to be for the men and women that have stood for the faith generation after generation to as Paul told Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:1-3, " You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus." In addition to that, the passage in Timothy where Paul implores Timothy to guard the good deposit of the Gospel...today I was privileged to walk one of the many streets of those who heeded Paul's advice to Timothy to preserve the riches of the Gospel of Jesus Christ our Lord.

The architecture was amazing and with every church and college I walked in I said to someone near to me, "I wish my brother was here....he would love this!" He is an architect for those who may not know. Oxford truly was breath taking on many levels and I am glad that I had the opportunity to walk the cobblestone roads of Oxford, England today praising my Father for His sovereignty in preserving the Gospel through faithful men. The picture I am posting is a picture of the actual pulpit where John Wesley and C.S. Lewis gave several sermons in St. Mary's Cathedral. Arguably Lewis' most famous sermon he preached from this pulpit was preached June 8, 1942 titled, "The Weight of Glory" if you are interested in it you can google it and download it for free.



One last note about the location of the pulpit; it is not the focal point in the church, in fact it is off to the side. In many Anglican and other denominations the Eucharist table is central whereas in almost all traditional Evangelical churches today, even bad ones :), the pulpit is central in the churches. The reason for the dispute is based on what is seen as most important for the church. In traditional evangelical churches the proclamation of God's Word is the most common means by which the church is edified, sanctified, and the most common means of grace extended to sinful man. However, in churches where the Eucharist table is central it is usually so because the common thought is that is what is most important to the church. Many believe that the means of grace, that being the receiving of God's grace comes through receiving of the Lord's Supper. This is part of the doctrine of transubstantiation whereby the bread and wine are believed to literally become the actual body and blood of Jesus while retaining there bread and wine qualities. Many believe, though I disagree, that it is in the receiving of such elements that God dispenses his grace to man.

Romans 10:9-17, "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, "Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For "everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?" So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ."

Blessings,
stephen

Look Kids Big Ben....Parliament

So today we had the privilege of starting our day seeing more of beautiful London including Big Ben and Parliament. In fact, not only did we get to see Parliament, we got to go inside Westminster Hall and the Hall of Commons on a short tour as well as have a meeting with a couple of guys that work at Parliament discussing the church, the world, and politics. It was very interesting and beneficial conversation.

I had no idea that William Wallace was put on trial in Westminster Hall as well as many others. The ceiling in Westminster Hall is 1000 years old, it is wood and is still beautiful. I was wishing my brother could have been inside there with me to see it, it was quite remarkable.

After Parliament we hopped on the tube and headed for Wimbledon. I don't follow tennis at all and didn't grow up playing tennis but it was quite an amazing experience. Today was the women's semifinals and various other doubles matches. Sadly, the group I was with decided they wanted to leave early and not worry about trying to get on Center Court or Court 1 where the professional matches were being played. However, some others that I got separated from did eventually get tickets both to Center Court and Court 1.

I came back to my room, changed and went for my first London Run in beautiful Regent's Park. Then it was back to the run to change and get a bite to eat. Not a lot to report from today but it was really amazing to get to go inside Westminster Hall today.

Blessings

Another Day of Firsts

Today did not hold quite the unusual excitement of yesterday but it did bring about a day packed with lots of activities. This morning we walked the British Museum which is arguably the best museum of world history in the world. The Brits were and have been for centuries purest when it comes to preserving history. Many of the collections in the British Museum come from countries all over the world, some dating back to at least 6000 B.C. (that's old). Many of these countries are trying to get their artifacts back from the Brits but the Brits do not want to give up easily what they have worked so very hard to preserve even when these other countries would not. One of the main items of interest to evangelicals in the Museum is the Rosetta Stone (not the DVD series on languages) but the original Rosetta Stone. The significance can be found at the link provided: http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/aes/t/the_rosetta_stone.aspx Basically, the Rosetta Stone shows the preservation and complexity of language all the way back to at least the 4th Century A.D. The Museum itself if magnificent and enormous and one could spend literally hours in there, but we only spent about 2 and 1/2 which was plenty for me.

Then on we went to the British Library which is also home of 2 highly important pieces of history for evangelicals. There are no known surviving original manuscripts of the Scriptures. However what we do have is Codex Sinaiticus which is the earliest complete copy of the Bible. http://www.codex-sinaiticus.net/en/codex/default.aspx It was fascinating knowing what precision the scribes aspired to in copying the very Word of God...the Logos. Also the Codex is crying out the glory of God for all to see that come into the room that speak or read Greek. The Codex is opened to John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word was with God (communion with God), and the Word was God (deity, Trinitarianism)." Also in the Library is Codex Alexandrinus one of the three earliest copies of the Bible, it like Sinaiticus receives it name from the location it was recovered. The third Codecies is Codex Vaticanus. If you care to read more on Codex Alexandrinus you can do so here: http://www.bl.uk/onlinegallery/sacredtexts/codexalex.html Praise God for the preservation of His Word!

Next on the whirlwind day was a quick bite to eat at a Pizza place, then some of us in the group moved on to Hyde Park to play lawn bowls...it was awesome...very British feeling. It is basically like boccie ball...it was a lot of fun though I did fall to the soon to be pro Dr. Magnuson 15-10. We ended our night with a trip to London's historic district where we took in some great people watching and the group that went with saw Jersey Boys about the band the Four Seasons and the chronicles of their story. It was a good show and an even better Theater, The Prince Edward Theater. We had dinner at a Wagamamma (a recommendation from Kym) in the Theater Distinct and it was fun and different. http://www.wagamama.com/ After the show we caught the Tube back to our stop and walked the rest of the way back to our home sweet home for the week.

Many Blessings! Stephen

Speaker's Corner

Today was a most unusual day, both in London and for me personally. This day was unusual in London from the stand point that Speaker's Corner only happens once a week on Sundays in Hyde Park in Central London. It was most unusual for me because what Speaker's Corner is...let me explain. For a number of years, there have been radical Muslims engaging in debate over who is the One true God with what I will call a group of "radical" Christians. This debate has been started by these "radical" Christians and their street preaching against the beliefs of the Koran. For most the term radical Christians will elicit a picture in your mind...some accurate and some not so accurate. Those "radical" Christians at Speaker's Corner today very much love the Lord and want very desperately for the Sunni Muslims in Central London to love this same Lord and God through the worship of adoration of the Son, Jesus Christ. The "radical" Christians at Speaker's Corner today use a polemic method of sharing Christ, that is to say where an apologetic is a defense of the faith; a polemic is an offense of the faith. These "radical" Christians were quick to point out that Speaker's Corner is unique and this method is most likely not transferable in every Muslim environment. Literally in Hyde Park today as thousands fled to the grounds to hear Dave Matthews opening for Bruce Springsteen, there were Muslims clerics and "radical" Christians alike proclaiming their beliefs from step ladders, hence the name Speaker's Corner. There was shouting, debating, points, counterpoints, and even a few fists thrown by angry Muslims (though none of those punches were thrown at our group), all over the issue of who is the One true God. There are groups that go to Hyde Park every Sunday to engage in this open air preaching debate and part of the design is to draw a crowd and engage willing listeners in evangelism opportunities. You need not look far because if you did not engage a willing participant in one of the opportunities, one of the willing Muslims would engage you in conversation. One of the most helpful things I heard in going to Hyde Park today was the conversation you enter into when it is heated is not as much for the person you are debating rather for the those who are casual observers of the conversation. It is about what you say, but is also about how you say it. I am posting a link to an article about Speaker's Corner from Christianity Today, 2008 http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2008/june/21.34.html Whether you agree with the method or not is not the point of this post. Learn what you can learn from this post and the article and ask yourself what are you willing to do for the name of Jesus Christ to be anthemed on this earth?

Before I tell you what I learned I want to take you on a little journey through my mind as we sat in a pre-meeting about this excursion/adventure that we had no prior knowledge of before it was announced. Before we left to walk to Hyde Park I ran the gamete of emotions; fear and excitement, hope and inadequacy, spiritual warfare and spiritual victory, etc. We had been told that though unlikely, violence was a possibility and, we were told that some Muslims would be very nasty to us personally. It was kind of a prepare for anything type of let's go get'em pep talk! The skies were overcast and even spitting some rain and I found myself in my flesh thinking, "maybe I will pray for rain so this thing might get canceled." I have never in my life thought about doing anything of this nature in this manner. I have shared my faith before and I have witnessed to friends and others, but never gone out looking for confrontation of sorts. Then, as I was thinking about the reality that the victory is the Lord's forever and ever and I as a child of the King can claim this victory I was reminded of at least three things: First, this was not and never would be about me, this was about the Lord and what He wanted. Second, instead of praying for rain in the flesh, I was reminded that I was to pray for fruit walking in the Spirit. Third, I was reminded of one of the verses that I have been memorizing this summer: Matthew 10:28, "And do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul, rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell." So literally in a worst case scenario, the worst that could happen to me is I could be killed for my faith. While that would be and was a little difficult to think about I was reminded of the words of Paul, "for me to live is Christ and to die is gain!"

Today was a most unique experience indeed! I am glad that I had the opportunity and I am glad that I engaged in conversation today with a Muslim man named, or as they say in London a man called, Hussein. Pray for him, that the Lord would open his heart and his mind and he will come to know without a shadow of doubt that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. I am posting 2 pictures from today so you can see Hussein to be reminded to pray for him and one of the crowd gathered at Speaker's Corner. May God receive all the glory and honor forever and may the seeds planted today in the hearts and minds of those who engaged in conversation and those who only observed bring about fruit that glorifies our God and King! Been outside YOUR comfort zone lately???












Blessings

Stephen

Who will pray for them?

I was listening to a lecture for one of my seminary classes recently and was reminded again of the power of prayer, and yet was left to wonder as well. The story was being told of a young man in his 30's that came to faith in Christ and when the pastor had visited with this man about being faithful to follow through in obedience to Christ in baptism; the pastor asked if there was anyone the young man wanted to call to come witness his public profession and obedience in baptism. This man without hesitation said, I would like to invite my aunt. The pastor probed, why your aunt, our of curiosity. The man told his pastor that he knew that from his birth this particular aunt had prayed that this young man would come to faith in Christ and that she had faithfully prayed for him and shared Christ with him over the course of his life.

As I listened to this story I immediately thought of those people in my life that might have prayed for me; prayed that I would come to faith in Christ and live for his glory. However, I thought more immediately about my family members and wondered who is and has been praying for the salvation of my children. I count it my responsiblity and my privilege to both pray for my children and to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with them as often as possible. In fact, my children can recite the gospel when prompted by questions with remarkable clarity. However, I believe that while they profess a love for Jesus and desire to live forever with Him in Eternity knowing that He died on the cross for their sins and rose again to pay the penatly of death forever; their salvation will prove itself over time as they come to know more about Him. I do not in any way want to discount their ability to profess Jesus as Lord now, but I also believe I will continue to share and reshare the story of the finality of Jesus paying the penalty and satisfying the wrath of God in the face of sin as often as I get the chance.

I pray that I do have family members that are reguarly praying for the salvation of my children just as by writing this I consider it my privilege to pray for the contiual saving work of Christ in the lives of my family members. I am remeinded today of my need to pray for Carter, Kendyll, Ella, Ryder, Lexi, and new babies yet to be born as well as those God has placed in the lives of those children to lead them closer to the truth or by omission of that truth no closer to it.

I believe that while diffcult beyond measure to think about, it would be a great honor to have a child preceed me in death if I knew he/she was secure in their salvation because of the fruit of their lives or the bearing out of it over time; than it would be to have a child out live his parents with no assurance of salvation from that child. I don't think this is my age talking as I am not a child anymore; I think this is the call of a parent to lead his children to Christ if the Lord allows. In my house I pray that it will not be from a lack of effort, and I pray the Lord would allow me the privilege of pouring the truth of His Word over my children as often as I can. I pray too that God would allow me to baptize my children when their lives have shown sustained fruit bearing over time for His glory!

John 14:6, "Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

John 6:44, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him."

My prayer is that the Lord would draw my children, and all of my family to saving faith in Him that is not content to say yes I believe but a faith that is active and pursuing the face of the glory of God in Christ Jesus daily.

Draw them Father....draw them!

The Power of Prayer

For any of you that still get updates that I have updated our blog....I am asking you to lift up a friend of ours to the Lord. Katie Rowe was airlifted to UAMS in LR over the weekend with intense head pain and swelling on the brain. Katie and her husband Jason are expecting their 2nd child as Katie is 27 weeks pregnant. Praise the Lord, as of right now the baby is doing very well and the doctors are trying to find a the exact cause or causes of the swelling. Please pray for her, and Jason too. Thank you ahead of time: you can read her updates here: thedavisfamilynwa.blogspot.com

blessings
stephen

Days like THIS got Jerry McGuire Fired!!!

This is not a post about my family per se but indirectly it certainly is. You remember the scenes in Jerry McGuire where Jerry has an epiphany about what is wrong with his business and the world around him and decides he is going to be a change agent. He stays up after many hours and crinkled pieces of paper on the floor and pounds out what he believes is to be the new mission statement for his sports agency firm. This manifesto would be his downfall professionally at least as we look at it from a carnal perspective. What I am about to write I don't fear will get me fired but I am feeling like Jerry did that day and let me assure you I don't even have an office goldfish should I get the boot.


Many Wednesday mornings you can find a group of campus ministers gathering over grocery store donuts and coffee for prayer; prayer for the campus, the students, and one another. I have been involved in this group since coming to UBC 5 years ago, and I have enjoyed getting to know the other laborers and sharing fellowship and prayer with them. This morning was different for me, and what I am about to share with you I share as a testimony to my own frustration personally as well as part of what I think is wrong with the church in general all too often. I am frustrated at myself because I don't' understand why I am so stubborn to learn the things God is trying to teach me and I am frustrated at the church because all too often our evangelical churches look this way too.


I am going to use an example of something that was shared this morning with the group to explain part of my frustration. I haven't decided where I land on this opportunity yet so please understand I am taking as objective an approach as I can. To make a long story short, a federal grant has been awarded to John Brown University to help combat against the staggering numbers of failed marriages in Arkansas and specifically in NW AR, a task force from JBU has been charged with making a difference with this grant money...great so far right? This group from JBU is hosting marriage enrichment seminars as well as seeking to provide pre-marital counseling on college campuses and other wonderful ideas. The problem as I see it is due to the fact this is federal grant the separation of Church and State will prevent this group from mentioning the only thing that can be our hope in marriage...CHRIST. I understand the material for these conferences will be Biblical no doubt but the name of Christ will never be mentioned. I feel like, and I am not speaking only to this grant as I will address in a minute, that we putting a band-aid over a fatal wound. These failing marriages don't need new principles they need Christ whether they are Christians or not. The bottom line is Christ can salvage any seemingly hopeless situation by His blood. Christians are getting divorced for the same reasons non-Christians are getting divorced; Christ is no long or never was central to the marriages. News Flash: there are days that I don't wake up and "feel" like serving my wife, but Christ in me reminds me that I am to love my wife as Christ loves the church and gave Himself up for her (Eph. 5).


Let me elaborate a little more, we do this with evangelism all the time, especially those of us who are relationally driven. We say that street evangelism or a "cold call" type of evangelism is not for us because we find it more effective in relationships with people, but the reality is all too often in the midst of the relationship we never share Christ. We either loose contact with the person, loose interest, believe that we are not good enough, or one of my favorites we hope that just by the way we live they will see Christ and follow too. This is not evangelism and certainly not what Christ has called us to. Matthew 28 makes clear that we are go and make disciples of all nations (including the one we live) not only baptizing them in the name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit but also teaching them to obey ALL God has commanded. I do not want to make a blanket statement about everyone because there are those who do relational evangelism very well and I love the thought of relational evangelism but I am willing to admit that all too often I fall short of being obedient in the those relational evangelistic opportunities.


So what now? Well I have given a lot of thought to this...practically all day, and I have come to realize that I have no idea what now. I just know that once you look in the face of God and get a glimpse of Him from the Scriptures to turn back into your old ways is sin. I know that the answer to fixing marriages isn't going to found apart from the proclamation that Jesus Christ is Lord and must be the center of the home. By the way, I don't think the guys at JBU that are at least doing something would disagree, I am just praying that we as the church and as the called out ones would be more relentless in our proclamation of Christ. Practically speaking maybe that comes to pass at this pre-martial conference with Christ following adults interacting with young engaged or seriously considering couples working on this conference material with an opportunity at the end of the conference to say to them, hey these principles are great but they aren't the glue to my marriage and if you would like to talk more about that then let's meet for coffee and I will tell you. I know with confidence that Christ is what makes me acceptable to God as it pertains to my sin and we as His children have a lot of work to do to be Matthew 28 children.


This applies to my family in so much that I pray we are intentional about all the we do in word and in deed, not putting our hope in the thought that someone might just watch our family and notice a difference. I believe full well that God can and does use good example as a platform for the Gospel but it is not the Gospel in and of itself. I pray Tamara and I are building and leaving a Godly heritage of intentionality for our children not to mention boldness that will prayerfully produce obedient children with a God-sized reckless abandon for the Gospel and for His glory.

Kenya and Martin Update

There is much to report on as we still can't seem to figure out how to update you on a more regular basis....I say you singular because I am all but positive that due to our irregularity in updating our viewer base has disappeared. If you are the faithful one, well done and thanks for checking back. Truthfully, I have ambitions to write more frequently but as you can tell it escapes my mind more than the thoughts are flooding that hollow space. I would like to write on a wide variety of subjects but have yet to do so. In the meantime, here is a simple update on our family.

I have obviously returned from Kenya and it was an amazing trip. There are simply too many stories to tell to do this trip justice in one blog entry. I will point you however to a blog about our trip that our church has compiled from all the team members who have submitted journal entries from our experience. You can find this blog at www.ubcfayetteville.org then click on the link for reach and then missions blog and follow this link to our trip. Here are a couple of takeaways from the trip personally; first, this trip was a complete confirmation that I was were I was supposed to be during the time and life of the Kenya political situation as there were no hospitals or medical facilities open in the area we were serving in and we were there to do a medical missions trip. This confidence I had in being there, confidence from the Lord, was our security while we were in country. There was political unrest, rioting, looting, and demonstrations happening all around us but we were not fearful because our God protected us and we felt His protection and your prayers. Secondly, this trip was a long time coming for me as I have felt led to be a part of one of these trips since Fellowship North started going in 2003 when I still worked in NLR, being there and standing in places I had long dreamed about felt like home, don't worry Mom I don't have plans to move there! However, this like my story of baptism was another step of obedience and obedience felt good. Lastly (for now), the Sunday morning worship experiences we had were awesome as we experienced the same God being worshiped in a different language. Many of the Kenyans have very little but worship God congregationally though He is the only thing they need and rightfully so, while so much of our Western culture has everything we need and more yet we worship God like He is just another thing. God, forgive us for that! Revive our hearts to worship you in spirit and truth as you truly are. I pray God gives me opportunity to go back soon.

Tamara was an amazing source of strength for so many while I was gone, which by the way if you have not noticed she is pretty amazing! Tamara is doing well and staying busy with her "part-time" job. It is fun for me to get to see her enjoying this new adventure and all the challenges that come with it. She is an amazing woman, wife, and mother and I am grateful for her in my life.

Cooper got a major haircut this week and we are still grieving the loss of his curls, though his hair was so thick he barely had any left anyway. However, we are holding out hope that they will return. He is really intrigued with the things of God right now which makes for some amazing conversations. Since it is the the role of the Father to evangelize his own home as well as to lead his family, I count this quite a blessing. Please pray for us as we continue to teach them about the wonders and majesty of our great and awesome God.

Jackson has gone through a little attitude phase but the boy has my heart 99.9% of the time. He is so precious and sweet. He loves school, his big brother, baby sister, reading, eating, and playing with cars. God knew what He was doing when he gave us this little one who loves to snuggle and be loved on.

Kate is learning so much and almost every time she hears a door open she screams at the top of her lungs...DA DA! Honestly, what could be better than that? However, when things aren't going just like she wants it she is looking for Ma Ma. She is so happy and easy going for the most part and is wielding a mouth full of teeth. She loves her big brothers and is changing before our eyes.

We are so blessed with our family and friends and thank you all for sharing in our lives and allowing us to share in yours. God bless and please update us when you have time.

Stephen

48 Hours and Counting

Well, in about 48 hours from now, I should be picking up Stephen at the airport! Please, God, let their plane be on time and everyone be on it!! I can't wait to see him!! As everyone knows, he's been in Kenya on a medical mission trip for the last 2 weeks. I'm so glad he had the opportunity to go and that they were there in a time of such need. Now we are a family in need - NEED OF DADDY BEING HOME! Everyone is feeling much better, which means a lot more energy and in need of daddy wrestling!

Why is it so hard to successfully scratch your foot? It never seems to fully solve the itch... sorry, a little sidebar.... Can you tell, I have an itching foot?

While in Kenya, Stephen and the team have had the privilege of serving over 2000 patients and sharing the gospel along with basic human items like food and water with them. I can't wait to hear their stories!! I know it will be incredible to see God's hand at work ...

So, please be praying for their safe return, and for rest upon his return, and for his energy level to enable him to play with the kids considering how excited they are going to be to see him. Yeah, I might never let him out of my sight again! I do not see how military wives do it - you are incredible.

Well, hopefully the next post will be telling everyone he is home safely!

Milestones....

We have already established that I (using Chris Farley quotation hands) "am not a good blogger", maybe I don't "blog with regularity' and perhaps I am a "slacker" or am "too busy" nevertheless here is a recent post with the recent news about what is going on in Martinville.

Kate is walking...that's right I said it...she is walking!!!! It has been so fun to watch her start walking although I will say that she is not walking exclusively, only when she wants to. She has been walking a few steps here and there for about a month and half but today she was walking around more and more. She is so happy almost all the time and when she is not she has developed a steady new routine of a full body flail usually resulting in her head on the nearest hard object followed by a nice cry. Kate is also laughing a lot, waving, and saying bye bye every time I leave. She also blows kisses to me when I leave which is so special for me as a daddy.

Jack is doing really well and is doing really well in his speech therapy with Ms. Dee. She comes by his Mother's Day Out class and works with him while he is already there for school and he is really talking well. He continues to be a walking testimony to us of God's provision and blessing as each of our children do. His sense of humor keeps us all cracking up and he still loves his brother more than life itself. Every day that he has school he asks me, "Tay Tay gonna be der? Thomas gonna be der?" He loves being in Mrs. Jennifer's class who was Cooper's teacher last year.

Cooper is a great protective big brother and loves to take care of Kate. They have a special relationship and she still lights up like a Christmas tree every time he comes around. Sometimes she will only do things when Coop is around, like tonight at dinner, she would only eat her apple sauce when Cooper gave it to her. Recently, Tamara and I had our first parent teacher conference with Cooper's preschool teacher, Mrs Lineberger, who he loves. It was a proud parent moment as we sat in little kid chairs in the classroom that Cooper spends Tuesdays and Thursdays in and heard someone else brag about how well our son is doing in class. We picked Mrs Lineberger because some of our other friends had her as a teacher last year and she always shot straight with them about their son's behavior and performance in class. Cooper is doing really well, is playing and including all the kids in the class, and he is learning a lot in preschool. He knows how to spell is name and write his name and Mrs. Linberger said he is the first one to come sit down when it is show and tell time. She said that he loves to read books in class and also loves to dig for worms on the playground. We left there feeling great about his time in preschool and great about how well he is doing in preschool.

Tamara is doing some work doing what she loves to do, picking stuff out for houses. She picks everything from bricks to fixtures. She is working hard and doing well and she seems to be loving every minute of it. We are nearing our 7th year anniversary and are looking forward to the beginning of year number 8.

To date, I don't remember a fall that has been this busy with a full work load and new ministry strategies at work, seminary classes, and trying to be the best husband and dad that I can for my family. I am excited about an upcoming opportunity that God has provided me. I will be leading a group of college students to Kenya this Christmas break. We leave December 31st and will return January 12th. We have been fund raising, praying, meeting, and getting ready for whatever the Lord wants to do in and through us during our time in Kenya. Please pray for us as we continue to raise prayer support and finances to go on this trip. We hope to see as many of you as possible over the holidays and catch up in person.

Love to all
the martins

Big Squirken Birds and the Like

This has been one crazy summer to say the least. I have found myself doing something I swore I would never do in the summer....enroll in summer school classes. However the difference is this time around I am actually going to school because I want the education whereas before I guess i liked the thought of the education but my retention seemed only for the grade not for the education. I know that at times this summer I have found myself reverting back into that pattern with one of my classes. (this next sentence is where I will justify myself for this last sentence) Let's be honest, I have 3 kids 4 and under and a wonderful wife that are very patient and supportive of my scholastic endeavor but I have found it most difficult to balance my work, school, and family this summer. I also was asked to perform a funeral this summer, the first one I have ever done entirely by myself, of a former high school student from when I was at my last church. The week I spent in NLR for the funeral was immensely challenging and immensely rewarding as I was reminded over and over again of what God has called me to in ministry, relationships, as well as being able to give some sort of support for a dear family grieving the loss of their daughter. All that to say, that week I was in NLR for the funeral I ate, slept, and breathed funeral putting me far behind in the school scene but I felt confident that is what the Lord wanted me to be doing that week so I fought the rest of the month to catch up and still haven't fully caught up. This is what I have discerned from this summer, God knew that I would be overwhelmed, busy, stressed, and crazy this summer and He knew that I would do that funeral so I will trust that the things that I learned or didn't learn, as this case may be, He will use to glorify Himself.

Okay, now that I have that intro done I can address the title of this blog post. If you have kept up with my family or heard me talk about Cooper much then you would probably recognize this as another classic Cooper story. Yesterday he wanted to tell me a story he made up so of course I was excited to hear it as I am with all his made up stories. The story went something like this...first, image my 4 year old with his dramatic facial expression talking with his active hands...okay back to the story, "me and my brother were outside the other day and this big squirken bird sprayed us with water...." My first question after laughing at whatever a big squirken bird is, was how big is a big squirken bird? "Well....the big squriken bird was about ummm ummm ummm 60 feet tall." Classic, I loved it! I have retold that story several times and have been cracking up at the thought of the big squirken bird.

We went swimming today at a friend's pool and if was so much fun. I love how much Cooper loves to be in the water, and now how much Jack is loving being in the water. A couple of weeks ago Jack was not really interested in getting in the water but now he loves to jump in and swim to me with the biggest grin of accomplishment on his precious little face. I was so proud of him and he knew it. Cooper has begun taking his floaties off and swimming between Tamara and I and that has been fun to celebrate with him about his little fish accomplishments.

Sweet Kate! Kate is crawling now and she loves it. She hasn't fully abandoned that prayer crawl yet and is actually doing a partial bear crawl/regular crawl. I guess the point is she is mobile and enjoying her freedom to move it...she likes to move it move it...she likes to move it move it. Kate still loves her big brothers and they love her too. Jack occasionally gets frustrated with Kate when she wants to play with his toys and his, "no no kate....no kate...no no kate" falls on deaf ears. I don't say this lightly but it is a good way to describe it, Kate's other new "trick" is waving. It is really cute because if you ask her to wave she will wave and she has this look on her face like...Mom...Dad, check this out, you see that.

Tamara is staying busy. I know some of you reading this are saying, thank you Captain Obvious for telling us that Tam is staying busy. Tamara always finds something to stay busy with, making curtains, combing through mountains of house plans, analyzing the market, or doing any other things that you can think of to keep her busy. Tamara is doing some work for a good friend of ours helping him do a little of this and a little of that and she is enjoying it. She is like Jose Oquendo...a real utility player. I married over my head but again thank you Captain Obvious!

We are looking forward to football season and seeing as many of you as possible. Let us know what is going on with you and your families. We miss you all and love you.

Stephen

Don't Call it an Update

I remember in the summer of 1990 I was on the way to Colorado to do some backpacking with my cousin and my uncle as was our tradition in the summers; we stopped to get some supplies at Wal-Mart and my cousin and I went nuts with our spending money. To make a long story shorter, I remember buying the tape single for LL Cool J, "Mama Said Knock You Out" which is the inspiration for this post as the opening line of LL's song (that's right we are on first initials basis) is "don't call it a comeback..." I will pause a minute before I get back to my point as I know many of you are still singing the rest of the line in your head....ok good. Anyway, Don't call it an update is the title for this post b/c it has been almost 2 months since I posted anything.

First things first, Jack is doing really well, his ears are so much better as is his balance which is a plus for the rest of his body which was daily getting bumped and bruised because of what we now believe was the amount of fluid in his ears. I can only laugh about it now because I feel terrible that my poor little buddy would "bonk" into things almost daily as if someone had slipped something into his drink....Uncle Dave....just kidding. We are daily amazed at how well Jack is formulating words and making us laugh with his sense of humor, timing, and silliness. I have no idea where he would have gotten such antics.

Kate turns 10 months tomorrow and continues to be the sweetest and easiest of our babies. She is so loved by her brothers and pretty spoiled by her parents. She is "crawling" which looks more like as Tamara has coined it a prayer scoot. She puts her hands together and pulls her legs around wherever she needs to go but she is mobile.

This has been an incredibly busy summer for our family. I am taking 2 summer classes through seminary which has been challenging as I am taking Elementary Greek and a Leadership class. The Leadership class has been really good reminding me of what is required of me as a leader and challenging me to continue to refine my character daily for the glory of God. Greek, cue the sad song, is the hardest class I have ever taken in my life, but enough of that talk.

On a more serious note, we got one of those phone calls no one wants to get last Saturday, a good friend of mine called to inform us that another of my former students was killed in a tragic automobile accident. She (Rachel) was about to start her sophomore year at the U of A and her brother (Kyle) is going to be a senior. Their family is very close to one another and I have been close with them since having all three of their children in the ministry I used to lead in NLR. Two of the pastors, real pastors Ginny, were out of town so the family thought of me and asked me if I would do the funeral. I didn't hesitate, so we packed up the car and headed for NLR on Sunday afternoon. I won't say too much else about the funeral for time sake but I will tell you a couple of things I learned.
1. The family had an amazing perspective on the loss of thier youngest child and little sister, believing the Lord is going to use this for His glory as others decide to trust Christ with their lives as Rachel did.
2. God provided me with the strength to proclaim the Gospel at this funeral, I am an all or nothing type guy so I was concerned that my emotions might make it difficult for me to make it through the service. However God used those emotions to proclaim His truth and for that I am and have been grateful.
3. I realized again how short life is and how we have a responsibility to live each day as if it is our last never knowing and prayerfully never fearing when the Lord will call us Heavenward where He is preparing a place for His children...for me.
4. This funeral has made me realize that God has gifted each of us and that we must use our gifts to glorify Him. The purpose of our spiritual gifts, for those who are in Christ, is to glorify Him.
5. Tell those you love that you love them regularly, don't assume they know or don't need to hear it. Thankfully the last conversation Rachel and her dad had prior to her accident ended on both sides with I love you.

Those are a few things that I have realized over these past few days in LR. I was blessed to have been asked to do this funeral and thankful to God all over again for speaking through me and not having to rely on my abilities.

I of course have a Cooper story related to the morning I was getting ready to go the church for the funeral service. Oddly enough, the suit (singular) I have I purchased for another one of my former students that died in an accident several years ago is a little big on me now as I have lost some weight in the last year or 2. Anyway I had to buy some suspenders to keep my "britches" up. I came out after getting dressed, I had on my suit pants, dress shirt, tie, and my suspenders. Cooper, my little encourager, says, "you look nice Daddy." I thanked him for being sweet and then he said, "I like your farmer things!" in reference to my suspenders. God knew that in a moment when my heart was heavy I could use something to make me laugh and be grateful for my children.

I pray I never have to experience the loss of a child, but if I do I pray that I would have the perspective that God would be glorified even in that the most horrible of circumstances. God willfully gave up Christ, his Child, to ransom His children from the pit of sin and death, so maybe the lesson God wants me to learn is simply, I need to love Him even more than I love my children. I know that needs to be true but it is times like these that I need to be reminded that the only thing I am promised in my life with Christ is life with Christ....everything else is icing on the cake so to speak. May God receive all the glory and honor forever and ever, Amen

Sweet Jack

Though I wish I were writing to share funny stories with you, today I write to you as a father who is asking for prayer for Jack. There is nothing that is life threatening but next Tuesday, May 22, he will have tubes inserted in both ears and have his adenoids removed. Jack has been in early intervention therapy for most of his life due to his premature arrival. He still goes to speech therapy once/week and he loves Mrs. Wendy very much. The Lord has been so faithful in so many ways as we have been blessed to have Jack as part of our family. You don't have to spend much time in our home or with Jack to know what an amazing blessing he is. All that to say, the speech therapy that Jack has been in has been completely paid for by DHS, and when Jack turns 3 he will be transitioned into another program. He has been finishing up his therapy with Mrs. Wendy and with that comes testing his progress, he has done very well in most of his progress reports. He has failed several parts of his hearing tests over the last several weeks, and Wendy said that sometimes fluid can build up in the ear and cause the minor problems Jack is having. Wendy recommended we send him to a audiologist to be tested so Tamara took him today and in fact he does have some fluid that doesn't seem to be draining which is causing some of his hearing difficulties. When his ears were tested bypassing the fluid he passed the tests with flying colors.
I realize that I am probably belaboring the point a little bit about this, but I am asking the Lord for protection over Jack, wisdom for the doctors, and faith for Tamara and me. I know this is so minor for all that Jack has been through and the Lord has been so faithful and I believe full well that He will continue to be faithful. Pray too for the post-op as he has certain things that have to happen before he can come home, and once he is home he is supposed to avoid major rough play for 2 weeks....2 weeks are you kidding me we can't go 5 minutes at our house. Pray for us.

God Bless,
Stephen