Take This Road Lord? Really?

This is a guest post from my wonderful wife, Mandy.  She actually wrote it for her own blog but when I reviewed it I asked if I could post it on Seeking Things Above.  For those of you that have been following along on my journey, I think you’ll see why I wanted it over here.

Proverbs 3:5 (ESV)
⁵ Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.

Am I going to walk down this road?

I keep asking God this question.

He has told Tony and me that we are going to one day walk down this road. But, I have questions. My number one questions is…

Really?

I know – it’s a pretty deep question.

This road is the road that leads from a hotel in Ethiopia to an orphanage called Hannah’s Hope.

Really? Is that what you are calling us to do?

I keep questioning this because I have been positive in the past that God is telling me to do one thing, only to lead me in a different direction than I thought. Of course, it has always turned out better and I can see in hindsight what He was doing when I thought I was heading in the first direction. I am fully confident that if this is not what God has planned for us, He will use this to lead us where He really wants us to go. Until then I still ask -

Really?

You have a child that will not have any parents to take care of him and you want to place him in our family?

I don’t feel worthy of God allowing our family to participate in this awesome plan. But – Yes, Lord. Please use our family and be glorified through the entire process.

I’m pretty sure there will be some people who question what we are doing. We already have four kids, there are lots of kids in America that needs homes, our family is white and Ethopian babies are black.

Somehow, I think I can handle the critical comments better than the complimentary. What I don’t want is to be glorified for what our family has done for this child. This is what God laid on our hearts. He is clear in Scripture that we are to take care of the poor, and He put this adoption on our hearts at the same time. On all of our hearts. The kids started asking for a baby right when God started opening our eyes to this. They are so excited.

I am having a hard time getting excited over this. I just keep waiting for God to tell me this was just step one and He actually wants us to do something else. I want to be excited about adoption. I want to get frustrated with how long the paperwork takes because I just can’t wait any longer.

I will trust that God has a sovereign plan and this step is part of it. I can know that if He is going to lead us in another direction before we go through the entire adoption process, then all of this is just part of where He needed to take us first. It will be okay because God is in control. Not me.

Until then, I think I’m ready to get excited about starting this adoption process. I’m getting excited about praying for a child that may not even be conceived right now, and praying for his parents, and for our family that will see that the orphans and the poor are real people that we need to love and take care of. I’m getting excited because I know this child will be a way bigger blessing to our family than we will be to him. And, I’m getting excited about walking down that road to meet a child that God knew long before now and planned to place in our family.

This journey will take us down new roads. I’m ready to see where God leads us.

Really.

- Mandy

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Ignorance is No Excuse

Ignorance is not bliss. It can actually be quite dangerous. See if you can follow me as I point out two examples.

This weekend a verse came to my mind. It was not one of the very few that I have memorized (I am convicted to do much better at this). It was one that I probably heard quoted in a sermon sometime but I don’t know when. The gist of what I remembered was, “to whom little is given, little is expected and to whom much is given, much is expected.”

As I thought about this passage I thought about how much Christians in other countries have little but have to suffer much and how Christians in this country, that have much, suffer little. I started to find myself on my soapbox again about how God has given Christians much in this country and expects much, yet we give little compared to our persecuted brother and sisters around the world.

I went to look up this passage that I roughly remembered so I could write a blog post on this conviction I was feeling. I found the verses in Luke 12:42-48.

Luke 12:42-48 (ESV)
⁴² And the Lord said, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom his master will set over his household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? ⁴³ Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes. ⁴⁴ Truly, I say to you, he will set him over all his possessions. ⁴⁵ But if that servant says to himself, ‘My master is delayed in coming,’ and begins to beat the male and female servants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, ⁴⁶ the master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he does not know, and will cut him in pieces and put him with the unfaithful. ⁴⁷ And that servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. ⁴⁸ But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.

Imagine my surprise. What I thought I was remembering as scripture is not really there. Now I’m not saying that American Christians should not be convicted to do more to support their persecuted brothers and sisters. Actually, more than likely, our own time will come. My point is, I was making up scripture in my head based on some input I had received somewhere. That’s dangerous.

The second example of ignorance being dangerous comes right from this scripture that I mis-remembered (Roger Clemens taught me that word).

This passage talks about rewarding the faithful steward (v 43) and punishing the one that actively abuses others (v 46) and the one that knows God’s will for their life but does not act on it (v 47). However, the one that is ignorant of God’s will for their life is punished as well (v 48).

I’m going to assume that most of you are not purposely abusing and hurting others. However, how many of us ignore God’s calling for our lives because we prefer our own course? How many of us don’t know God’s calling for our lives?

I heard a sermon from John Piper the other day titled Holy Ambition. Do you know yours? Ignorance is no excuse.

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