Best of 2018

Below is a list of the best posts from each month of 2018 on this blog.  Now, they might not actually be the best, but it's my best try at a best-of list.

January- Little Children and a Chumbawamba Faith

February-Papa's Prayers

March- Bedtime Discipleship

April- Not Cut Out to be Alone

May- A Full Cupboard

June- The Cult of the Way We've Always Done Things

July- Worship is Warfare

August- Poison or Rocket Fuel

September- Living in a Pattern

October- Pillow Talk and Praying

November- Meeting the Parents

December- Gifts for the Naughty List

Bonus from Remembering Grace-The Lord's Prayer- Part I and The Lord's Prayer- Part II

Thank you for reading this year whether it was just this once or every post.  Thank you for helping keep me accountable to my study of and reflection in the Word in 2018 and have a great 2019!

Gifts for the Naughty List

“Have you been a good little boy?”

“You better watch out, you better not cry.

You better not pout, I’m telling you why.

Santa Claus is coming to town

He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice.

Gonna find out who’s naughty or nice.

Santa Claus is coming to town.

He sees you when you’re sleeping.

He knows when you’re awake.

He knows if you’ve been bad or good.

So be good for goodness sake.”

Every December children around the world who believe in Santa Claus are on their best behavior.  In one of the great parenting wins in history someone created a character that children loved yet approached with a measure of fear.  The benevolent Santa Claus is a jolly man on one condition: be good.

Good little boys and girls get presents under the tree and in their stockings. 

Boys and girls on the Naughty List get coal and no presents.

Kris Kringle, a.k.a Father Christmas, has helped parents raise good boys and girls for at least the period between Black Friday and Christmas morning for years.  Yet, should Christians utilize Santa as a behavior modification tool?

I say no.

Why should adults advent with the Gospel yet make their children advent as judiaizers?

Santa says earn it.  The Gospel says you couldn’t earn it and don’t have to.

Santa says be good and get a gift.  The Gospel says you get the best gift of all  time in spite of your actions.

“For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 6:23
 “But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8
 “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith… and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God… not of works so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9

The Gospel is all about gifts for the Naughty List.  Does your Santa Claus tradition preach a different Gospel?  Is the Santa you have for your children an anti-christ?

Now, I’m not saying we should never teach our children through the use of rewards.  Rewards are also a big part of Scripture.  We are not to follow the philosophy of Immanuel Kant and pretend that the rewards of Heaven don’t matter and shouldn’t matter, but we should follow our Emmanuel who did speak of Heavenly rewards (Matthew 5:10-12).  We, as parents, should teach our children to behave well.  However, in a time so holy to Christians as Advent shouldn’t we spend more time teaching our children about the free gift of salvation? 

I’m also not advocating that Santa Claus have no part in your children’s Christmas tradition.  We don’t/won’t lie and teach our children that Santa Claus is a real person, but we will let them enjoy him the same way they enjoy Curious George and the Berenstain Bears.  What I’m asking you to do is to consider whether you want your children to advent soaked in a works based system or a system of loving grace.

It may be too late for this year to make these changes but Advent is here.  Spend time anticipating Christmas and all that is included in it.  In all your adventing honor Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.  Remember Christmas is about the Greatest Gift ever being giving specifically to those of us on the Naughty List.  Advent soaked in grace today.

Christmas Letter 2018

Another year has come and gone in the Ray house.  Merry Christmas and wishes for a Happy New Year from our family to yours.

When we wrote our letter in 2017 we couldn't imagine how 2018 could be more exciting.  Last year included the birth of our first child and a trip to Europe.  But as the expression goes, it's as if God said "hold my beer" and gave us even more this year.  He has truly blessed us with more excitement along the path of our adventure with Him.

From the time we began dating we had discussed doing foster care and/or adoption.  Well, God gave us a gentle shove this year into our dream.  At the beginning of 2018 we took ten weeks of classes to become certified foster parents. 

While we waited for our license to become official foster parents life continued.  Joshua celebrated his first birthday in May.  It was an incredible time because his cousin Adelyn was being officially adopted at the same time so we had a Birthday/Gotcha Day Party for the two of them. 

In June life continued to race along and even picked up the pace.  In early June Christine's brother Mike married Becca and Joshua got to be part of the ceremony.  Then later in June we found out that Christine is pregnant with our second child, a girl.  Christine is doing well and is due February 16th. 

This July we got to go to the first ever Ray Family Reunion.  It was near 50 Lakes, Minnesota at two beautiful cabins.  The weather was perfect and the cabins were filled with some of our favorite people in the world.  Hopefully this will be a new tradition for our family.

As we said before, life continued to move along at the Ray house while we waited on being licensed for foster care.  Christine continued to work PRN at the walk-in clinic as a BSN-RN.  This coming April Fools Day will mark Matt's tenth anniversary of being at KWAY Radio. We also did become licensed foster parents early this Fall.

On the day of the mid-term elections we thought our vote was the most important decision of the day.  We were wrong.  At 2:45 that afternoon we got a call about a little girl.  By 3:45 that afternoon Matt had her in his arms ready to go home.  We had said no to several other placements but this one was right for us.  We've had this beautiful little girl with us since and will have her for who knows how long.  She is just now 16-months old and Joshua is 19-months old and they really starting to be good friends (and like other siblings occasional foes).

2018 has been an exciting year at the Ray house.  A reunion, pregnancy, birthdays, a new sister-in-law and new children were some of what made our year thrilling.  2019 looks to be no less interesting for our clan in Waverly, Iowa.

In our year filled with toddlers and an embryo it is not lost on us that at Christmas an embryo, an infant and soon after a toddler changed our world forever.  Because Jesus was born as a human, lived as a man, died, was raised from the dead and lives for us today we can have confidence that happens in our life in this year or the next is in His control.

Merry Christmas!  Our Savior lives!  We hope you had a wonderful 2018 and will have a fantastic 2019.

(We cannot share too much online about our foster daughter.  No photos or name.  But if you come see us you are more than welcome to come and snuggle any of our kids.)

A Verse for Elders

As many of you may know I am an elder at my local church.  As such I paid special attention to Acts 20:13-38 where Paul addressed the elders of the church at Ephesus.  This is the only recorded speech to Christians in the book of Acts, so Dr. Luke put it in there for a very special reason.

I read this passage again this last week as I prepared to teach on this chapter for adult discipleship class and there is a lot that stood out.  But one verse was especially poignant.

"Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.  Be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood." Acts 20:28

The first thing that jumped off the page is that the first person an elder is required to watch over is himself.  Elders, or any other in any other church office, are not super-Christians.  Elders are not immune to the cancer of sin metastasizing in their flesh.  Elders must watch themselves first.  Elders must remove planks from their own eyes.   Elder teams must remove planks from each other's eyes. Men, this will help keep us humble and healthy enough to do the task.

Secondly, elders are to keep watch over the people of their local church.  Keeping watch implies activity.  Keeping watch over others requires work.  It requires knowledge of others.  It demands the elder be in the pen with the sheep not sitting gazing with binoculars from afar.  Elders must be in relationship with those they are charged with watching.  Is every elder able to do this for every member?  No, that is why elders are always multiple in the New Testament.  If your church has just a single pastor-elder then you should recommend that you remedy that and get your pastor the help of at least one another elder.

Lastly, the most heavy words that I read in this lone verse: Elders must "be shepherds of the church of God, which He bought with His own blood."  The task is to look after a possession not your own.  The job is to oversee people bought through the death of Jesus Christ Himself!

In 1656 Richard Baxter wrote these words in his book The Reformed Pastor:

"Oh then, let us hear these arguments of Christ, whenever we feel ourselves grow dull and careless: Did I die for them, and wilt not thou look after them?  Were they worth my blood and are they not worth thy labour?  Did I come down from heaven to earth, to seek and to save that which was lost; and wilt thou not go to the next door or street or village to seek them?  How small is thy labour and condescension as to mine?  I debased myself to this, but it is thy honour to be so employed.  Have I done and suffered so much for their salvation; and was I willing to make thee a co-worker with me, and wilt thou refuse that little that lieth upon thy hands."

Elders, our task is a difficult and noble task.  Elders, our task is beyond our doing perfectly, but let us do it full bore.  I have failed in the position several times, including recently, but let us never fail because we love our Lord too little and think too little of His blood.  Elders, keep watch over yourself and all the flock that the Holy Spirit has made you overseers.  And elders, let us not forget whose flock it is and who's blood bought it today.