Living in a Pattern

We are so surrounded by our culture that we don't even notice it.  The culture we live in is the air that we breathe.  It is nearly impossible to make a decision that isn't informed by or shaped by our culture.

Our culture, and perhaps cultures is the better word, forms patterns that we follow either willingly or blindly.  There can be positive aspects of culture and negative aspects.  There can ironically be counter-culture cultures and mainstream cultures.  But whatever culture or cultures we ourselves are a part of will have an impact in the way we live our life.

Merriam Webster defines culture as: the customary beliefs, social forms and material traits of a racial, religious or social group.
also: the characteristic features of everyday existence shared by people in a place or time.

Culture is everywhere.  Our own culture seeps into our D.N.A. so much that we can even live in multiple cultures and switch our very behavior based on our settings without even noticing it most of the time.

As Christians we are not to be primarily shaped by our culture.

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is... His good, pleasing and perfect will."  Romans 12:2

How do we make decisions that are not blindly shaped by our culture and instead make decisions shaped by God and His ways? 

We see in this verse that we are not to conform to the pattern of this world.  We are not to simply conform to the American pattern or the Iowa pattern or the jock pattern or the Millennial  pattern.  We are to do something different.

What are we to do?

We are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.  See, we are so engulfed by our culture that our minds must be renewed so that we see the world differently.  We must be in our Bibles and learning what God's culture is so we can transform ourselves into citizens of that culture.  Our minds have to be renewed, to be rewired to the cultural norms of His Kingdom.  Then we will be able to test and approve what is His will.

You follow?  We will have a hard time understanding what a normal thing to do in a situation based on culture norms is versus what is the correct thing to do based on what God wants until we commit our minds to the transformative effort of understanding His ways.

The Bible is our filter.  Through the leading of the Holy Spirit in the understanding of what the Bible says, we can make day-to-day decisions that are good, pleasing and perfect... a.k.a. God's will.

But how do we do this when we've already established that we breathe the air of our culture?

"We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." 2 Corinthians 10:5

Our minds think fluently in the patterns of this world and that is why we must slow down and take every thought captive.  We must arrest our thoughts until we put them through the filter formally described to find out if it matches the will of God or simply the pattern of this world.

For instance, buying a new house.  Do we want to buy this house to do as the rest of the culture does?  To move from renting to a starter home, to a larger home, to a larger home, to a larger home...?  Or do we purchase a new home that fits God's will or stay in our current home for the glory of God?  One line of thinking follows the pattern of our culture and the other flies in the face of that in pursuing God's will. 

Living like this might at times look very similar to the culture around you and living like this might make you look downright weird to the culture around you.  Do not conform to your culture alone, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds so that you can do the will of God today.

How to Help Foster Children

Christine and I have recently become certified foster parents.  We had thought about this since we were first married and finally began the process this Winter.  We want to share the love of Christ in a tangible way to children and their parents.  We want to show off the Gospel in the ministry of family reconciliation and/or adoption.

Right now we are very excited and a little fearful.  We have not gotten a phone call yet about taking a child but that day will come.  We ask for your prayers that we wouldn't make decisions based on pride or fear.  We don't want to pridefully think too much of ourselves and we know that:

"God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self control." 2 Timothy 1:7

Please pray for us.  Pray for wisdom and pray that we aren't controlled by pride or fear.  Pray also for our extended families and their worry about this life-changing certification.

The process of becoming foster parents is not a short one.  There are home studies, background checks, reference checks and a 10-week class (to name a few of the hurdles).  For ten Thursdays in a row we had a 3-hour class in Mason City (which is an hour away).  So, for ten consecutive weeks we needed a babysitter for Joshua for five hours.

We didn't have the money to pay for fifty hours of babysitting, so we relied on some amazing friends and family.  Marc and Becky Harken, Emily Walrod, Amber Drilling, my mother-in-law and my mom all pitched in to help us for free.  We cannot thank them enough.

To those of you that helped babysit, we want you to know that you have made a difference in the lives of children.  We haven't fostered or adopted or done respite care at all yet, but we never could have done anything without you.  What you did is a major work in answering our Lord's prayer, "Thy kingdom come.  Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven."

What Christine and I aren't looking for here is applause, especially since we still have yet to do foster care of any kind.  What we are doing in this blog is asking for your prayers and calling people to action.  We're encourage you to consider doing foster care.  And we encourage you to do something like what Marc, Becky, Emily, Amber and our mothers did.  Helping children in foster care can be something you can do even if you aren't taking in foster children yourselves.

"Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world." James 1:27

There is an enormous need in our country.  Please consider doing something in your community to help, because we're talking about children made in the image of God.  And finally, please pray for God to guide us in this and pray for the 437,465 children in foster care in the United States today.