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.

  

Meeting the Parents

I remember driving with my girlfriend to Onalaska, Wisconsin.  We took her normal route and I'll be honest and say that after Cresco I drove exclusively through towns and on roads I'd never driven before.  We eventually got into Minnesota and she pointed out her favorite little town called Spring Grove.  We continued on toward Wisconsin and drove beside a beautiful stream that runs through well kept farms on hillsides.  We eventually crossed the mighty Mississippi and soon after pulled into a driveway on Valley Vue Drive.

We walked into the house and I stood in a house I was a bit afraid to be in.

"Mom and Dad, this is Matt." Christine said smiling.

My girlfriend introduced me to her parents in their home.  I was welcomed very warmly because they are kind people and because their little girl loved me.

Many of you can remember the moment of being introduced to your girlfriend or boyfriend's parents.  Usually being introduced to the parents is a big deal.  You don't usually introduce someone to your parents unless you're serious about them.  Well, that girlfriend is now my wife and her parents are my parents-in-law. 

I thought of that moment when I read the passage below:

"He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white.  I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and His angels." Revelation 3:5

I will acknowledge his name before my Father and His angels.

Perhaps you do remember or at least can imagine the satisfaction of your significant other introducing you to his/her parents.  But can you imagine the scene Jesus Himself tells us about in Revelation 3:5?!

Imagine you walk into the throne room of God the Father.  Angels surround Him.  Flashes of lightning and rolls of thunder surround the throne.  Light brighter than you have ever seen emanates from God and His angels.  You walk nervously through the gates and into this court to stand before the Lord of all Creation.

"Dad, this is Matt.  You're going to love him.  I do." Jesus announces with a proud, wide, beaming smile and His arm around your shoulder.

Jesus Himself will acknowledge you.  All that you need to do is overcome. 

What is overcoming?  The one that overcomes is the one that holds on to their faith.  An overcomer is one that never abandons the winning team.  The one that overcomes is the one that confesses the name of Jesus no matter the cost.  An overcomer is someone like Stephen who acknowledged Jesus while being stoned to death and a moment later Jesus acknowledged him before His Father.

"He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches." Revelation 3:6

Hear this: Hold on to Jesus and He will hold on to you and He will never and can never lose His grip on you and one day He will acknowledge your name before His Father.

Be an overcomer.  Anticipate the honor Jesus has in store for you and hold on to faith today. 

David's Rag Tag Group

Before King David was king he was simply David.  David had been told by the prophet Samuel that he would be king but for a long time David was not actually king.  In fact, for a good chunk of this time David was in hiding trying not to be killed by the current king, King Saul. 

"David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam.  When his brothers and his father's household heard about it, they went down to him there.  All those who were in distress or in debt or discontented gathered around him, and he became their leader.  About four hundred men were with him." 1 Samuel 22:1-2

As I read this passage a few weeks ago I wondered why David was surrounded by such a motley crew.  This group of four hundred men could be described as a rag tag group.  These men that flocked to David was the Who's Who of Who's Not.  This group was as nobody as it gets.  David got promised that he'd be king and his army is a bunch of disenfranchised guys with credit card debt; meanwhile, King Saul had an army of thousands of paid professionals.

Why did this bunch of losers flock to David?  Why did the 'haves' stay with King Saul while the 'have-nots' gravitated to David?

Well, it's simple: those who's life is comfortable don't want a new kingdom and those who's life stinks want new management.

King David and King Jesus are parallels.  King Saul and king Satan are parallels. 

See, David was anointed king back in 1 Samuel 16 but didn't become king until 16 chapters later.  It took years for the nation to experience what Samuel had proclaimed in 1 Samuel 16.  Jesus, the Christ (which means Anointed One), is King but in this world it is a here but not yet here reality; we aren't fully experiencing life in King Jesus' Kingdom like we will will when the old king dies.  King Saul was still on the throne when David was anointed and Satan "the prince of this world" (John 14:30) still has some sort of reign now.

Who is most inclined to want a change of leadership in this world?  The ragamuffins, the downtrodden, distressed, the discontented and those in debt. 

"Then Jesus said to His disciples, 'I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven.  Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God." Matthew 19: 23-24

The people that most long for a new kingdom, the Kingdom of Heaven, are those most dissatisfied with the current regime. Those most comfortable here and now are most likely to be the most uncomfortable in the here after. The: poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5:3-6) most want the Kingdom of Heaven.

So, what can we learn from David's rag tag group?  What Gospel lesson is there for us in these two verses?

1) Proclaim the Gospel to the Outcasts of Society.

Everyone needs the Gospel, but the history of Christianity shows us that the Gospel spreads like wildfire amongst disenfranchised groups.  The people who aren't high on the hog here long for a new world order the most.  Reach out to those society labels weird or losers or a waste of your time.

2) Have a Holy Discontentment.

We are commanded to be content, yet we should have a holy discontentment.  I first heard that phrase from Pastor Matt Chandler and I'm stealing it, though he may have borrowed it, too.  A holy discontentment has a founded trust in Jesus but a deep longing to experience the fulness of King Jesus' Kingdom.

Be one of those that recognizes their indebtedness and is discontent with the current kingdom and flocks to King Jesus today.

A Month of Thanks

October is waning and the colors of the trees are quickly being relegated to being the colors of the ground; November is fast approaching.  With November comes one of my favorite holidays: Thanksgiving.

I really love Thanksgiving.  Christmas and Easter have much more meaning and much better meanings, but Thanksgiving occupies a warm spot in my heart.  Thanksgiving itself is a day of eating with people I love with no gifts, few distractions and many conversations.

Another reason I love Thanksgiving is that I love the feeling of being thankful.  I love how I feel when I am appreciative.  In past Novembers I have done and I have seen others do a daily list of things for which to be thankful.  This is an excellent exercise that helps cultivate thankfulness.  But this November I suggest trying something else.

This November will be a month of thanksgiving.

If you are a Christian I assume that you want a thankful heart toward your Savior.  If you are a Christian you want to be perpetually thankful to God for what He has done, and you should want this.  But how can we be thankful to the God we cannot see when we've ungrateful toward people that we can see?

"If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother, he is a liar.  For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, who he has not seen." 1 John 4:20

As Les Misérables says, "To love another person is to see the face of God."

Well, to be thankful to God, whom we cannot see, is difficult to do if we cannot be thankful toward people, who we can see.  To be thankful to another person is a way to be thankful to the God who made them and put them exactly where He wanted them to be in that given moment.

I think of the "Unforgiving Debtor" parable in Matthew 18.  We've got much for which to be thankful.  When we allow little inconveniences to keep us from being grateful to those around us it screams that we don't really appreciate the great, glorious reasons we have to be thankful for from God.  When we aren't grateful to the people around us it is because we forget to see the very image of our great God written on their faces and we forget the sovereign power of God that blesses us through His creations.

So, how thankful are you toward your wife or husband?  Your waitresses or waiter?  Your clerks?  Your postman or woman?  How have you shown them your gratitude?

November will be a month of thanksgiving. 

How will you show it to the people God has placed around you, many of whom are literally serving you?  Are you going to flash a big smile?  Are you going to leave a gift in the mailbox?  Are you going to (I know, this is a pretty radical idea) say "Thank you"?  I'm not asking for anything radical.  What I'm proposing is a month of a concerted effort to be conscience to the fact that you need to be thankful to so many people and then acting on that in a multitude of very small ways.  Smiles and "Thank yous" will cost you nothing, but I guarantee they will richly reward your soul and theirs.

November is fast approaching.  Will you join me in making November a month of thanks?  If so, think of how you will do this today.

Pillow Talk and Praying

Many reading this don't remember a landline phone let alone a party line.  The other day while discussing something in youth group a young lady made a comment that reminded me of growing up with a landline. 

The kids listened in disbelief as we told how calling a girl to ask her to homecoming was nerve racking for all the reasons it is for them and for the reason that mom or dad might just be listening with another receiver pressed to their ear with the other end flipped up so you couldn't hear them breathing.  The kids couldn't believe that anyone else in the house could listen in on their conversation if they simply had the gall to do that.

Then I talked about party lines.  Now, I never had a party line, but believe it or not when we lived in Missouri there were a couple of rural areas that still had party lines.  I told the students about my favorite Rock Hudson and Doris Day movie called "Pillow Talk".  They again listened in disbelief and laughed at the idea that you had to coordinate calling times with neighbors or that someone in another house could eavesdrop on your call.

What got me thinking about party lines was that one young lady mentioned that 1 Thessalonians 5:17 reminded her that God can always hear what we're thinking.

"pray continually," 1 Thessalonians 5:17

That got me thinking about how my conversations would be different if I remembered that God was on my party line.  The Apostle Paul urged us to pray continually (or without ceasing if you grew up with the K.J.V. in your head like me).  We should direct our thoughts to God always; but let's not kid ourselves, God hears all of our thoughts all of the time. God is on our party line 24/7.

How would your thoughts be different if you remembered that God was on your party line?

What thoughts would you quickly ask forgiveness for?

What thoughts would you all-together like to remove?

When we remember that God is on our party line we pray continuously.  Praying without ceasing isn't to have one's head bowed and eyes closed at all times; no one can or should do that.  Praying without ceasing is in part having a constant awareness that God can and does see and hear us at all times and we can take advantage of that and live in fear of that.

Remember that God is on your party line today.

Walls and Hurdles

I'm helping teach the adult discipleship class at Grace.  Getting to be one of the teachers for this class is a great joy.  Teaching adults is such a source of learning for me.  There is in that room a great wealth of wisdom and I, being a young man, often get much more than I could ever give.

I also learn so much from my time teaching that class because I put myself under the Word and under the guidance of great teachers.  Currently we are going through the book of Acts.  This means I learn from the teacher's guide materials written by a group led by Tim Keller and John Stott's commentary on Acts.

The book of Acts can be split into two main parts.  Part one is chapters 1-12 and highlights the growth of the early church and part two is chapters 13-28 and it follows the ministry of Paul.  We've just finished part one of Acts.

Throughout the first section of Acts we see God working mightily.  In this portion of Dr. Luke's book we see several cultural/racial walls and several hurdles placed before the church.  We read of God smashing through every wall and jumping every hurdle to grow His Church.

I've often said that much of the first twelve chapters of Acts can be summarized like this: "They can be Christians, too?!"  In the first part of Acts we see God at Pentecost bursting through the dividing wall of language to get His Gospel to His people.  We read as God sends people to bring the Gospel even to those the Jews hated: the Samaritans.  We read as God brings the Gospel to a seeking Ethiopian and a rebelling Saul.  We see God grant repentance that leads to life "even to the Gentiles" (Acts 11:18).  And we read as brave, maverick missionaries go to cosmopolitan Antioch to bring Christ to so diverse a group that when those who want to describe them place a label on them they call them Christians because Christ was their only unifying characteristic. 

There wasn't a type of person that the Gospel wasn't for and there isn't a type of person that the Gospel isn't for today.  This isn't a statement of universalism or one that speaks against the idea of limited atonement, it is plainly to say that God has ransomed every type of person in the world to Himself.

In Acts we see many hurdles jumped in the first twelve chapters.  God not only scaled hurdles in the book of Acts, but He used them as part of His master plan.  We see God scaling the hurdles of disease, injury, hypocrisy, selfishness, massive persecution, institutional unfairness in food distribution, stoning and beheadings.  Through all this mad raging of Satan and the other opponents of the Gospel Acts 12:24 tells us: "But the Word of God continued to increase and spread."

Walls and hurdles.

What walls have you set up in your heart that God must break through?  What barriers of culture or race have you erected in your mind?  What types of people do you have a hard time believing the Gospel is for?

What hurdles do you have in your life that you think are too difficult for God to scale?  What obstacle have you decided was a hindrance to your walk with God?  What prayer seems too big for you to pray?

Every wall can and must be broken down.  Every hurdle can most definitely be scaled and will certainly be used for His glory and your good.  Section one of the book of Acts tells us that God is in the business of hurdle jumping and wall smashing.  Join with Him is smashing the walls of division and praying for the hurdles in your life to be scaled and used for His glory today.

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.

Poison or Rocket Fuel?

When reading narratives in the Bible always be aware of how stories are arranged.  Authors when writing a narrative or a history have a motive or a lesson behind which stories go together.  It is easy to read Biblical narrative and simply think, "Well, that's how it happened."  It certainly is how it happened but there are many other good stories or vignettes that could have been shared.  Always ask, "Why did the author choose this story and why did he place it here?"

The book of Acts is Biblical narrative.  The book is completely historically accurate and Dr. Luke does arrange his stories in chronological order, but he writes about a huge segment of church history and includes only some of the stories that are bound to have occurred.

This all brings me to Acts chapters four and five and a bit of six (this will sound familiar to those who were in the most recent adult discipleship class at Grace Baptist or those who have been through Tim Keller's study on Acts ).  There are two vignettes placed side by side.  One ends chapter four and the other begins chapter five.

After praying for boldness this is said of the believers:

"All the believers were one in heart and mind.  No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.  With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all.  There were no needy persons among them.  For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles' feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need." Acs 4:32-35

Can you imagine what the community thought about these believers? 

Acts chapter six also tells us how the believers came up with a way to make certain that widows of all racial backgrounds were taken care of within the church.  As a summary to that section Luke wrote, "So the word of God spread.  the number of disciples in Jerusalem increased rapidly, and a large number of priests became obedient to the faith." Acts 6:7

Why does Luke mention that a large number of priest became Christians?  Well, it is Luke's way of highlighting that the actions of the Christians in living out their faith convinced the Jewish priests that this faith was a fulfillment of the Old Testament commands.  The nation of Israel was commanded to be doing what the Christians were in deed doing. 

As Tim Keller said, "Luke is saying that the power of the apostles' preaching was both backed by and enhanced by the practical sharing of the Christian community."

So, following the story at the end of Acts chapter four, Luke tells a story that seems quite strange and inordinately violent to many of us.

"Joseph, a Levite from Cyprus, whom the apostles called Barnabas (which means Son of Encouragement), sold a field he owned and brought the money and put it at the apostles feet.

Now a man named Ananias, together with his wife Sapphira, also sold a piece of property.  With his wife's full knowledge he kept back part of the money for himself, but brought the rest and put it at the apostles' feet." Acts 4:36-5:2

This man and woman seemingly wanted the adulation from doing what Joseph did but didn't want to make the same commitment (I mean the man even got a nickname out of his lifestyle).  The Apostle Peter later says that keeping some for themselves wouldn't have been wrong, but they lied.  They gave the pretense that they were making a bigger sacrifice so they could get the glory from others noticing.  Ananias and Sapphira were being hypocrites.

Peter confronted each with their lie separately and each lied again to his face and each dropped over dead on the spot.  Now, this has always struck me as a bit of overkill, pardon the pun, on God's behalf.  I've often thought that maybe he overdid it; not that God could ever overdo it, but it just didn't seem to me to match up to what I thought I might do if I were God.  But this is a powerful statement by God against hypocrisy.

As G. K. Chesterton was reputed to have said, "the greatest argument against the truth of Christianity is the lives of Christians."  Or for my dc Talk fans they may remember this quote from Brennan Manning "The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, then walk out the door and deny Him by their lifestyle.  This is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable."

Dr. Luke arranged these stories side by side for a reason.  I believe the reason is to tell us that how we live out our faith either helps the spread of the Gospel or hinders it.  Our lives can either be a living proof of the change the Gospel makes in the hearts of those adopted by Christ or our lives can shout that Christ's death doesn't change much at all.  Hypocrisy is poison to the church, whereas radical obedience to Christ's call to love the least of these and to trust Him with everything including our finances is rocket fuel for our witness.

Which is your life: poison or rocket fuel?  Does your life enhance the message of the Gospel or make Jesus out to be a liar?  Does your church live out the commands of Christ in a way that attracts people or does your church look like a white washed tomb?

Watch your life and in doing so watch your witness to a lost world today.

Happy 5th Anniversary

Christine and I have now been married five years.

Five years is a major milestone in that all the fives and tens seem to be, but overall we've not been married very long.  Yet in this short time we've had some major milestones and changes and many very ordinary days.  My alma mater's loyalty song says that Wartburg is the college of my brightest days, but my days with Christine Marie Ray have been so much brighter.

In our five years we've had:
two homes
infertility
two kids (one still cooking)
five funerals of family members
many weddings
some tough days
many great days
some ordinary days
some extraordinary days
some days in Bremer County
some days in Europe

We've done a number of things in our 1,826 days together (thanks Leap Year!).

On August 17, 2013 my bride walked down the aisle to a song I recorded with the help of some good friends.  That song was called "I Will Be Here" by Steven Curtis Chapman.  Five years later I understand that that song is the perfect wedding song.  Through all the good days and the bad the only real promise I can make my wife is that I will be here.  Jason Mraz's "I Won't Give Up" is the same idea.  It may not have sounded all that romantic then but today that's the best promise I can give my wife.  We've been to a lot of weddings since ours and I've heard a lot of outlandish vows and I think the ones we promised each other are ones we've kept well in the brief five years we've been together and ones we can keep for sixty years.

Christine,
I won't give up on us.  I will be here in good times and in bad, when the laughing turns to crying, I will be here.  I've been here to watch your beautiful body change.  I've been here to watch you grow in confidence and strength.  I've been here to watch the many ways you've forgiven me.  And I will be here for so much more to come.

I love you.

Thanks for putting up with me for five years.

To be continued,

Matt

"He who finds a wife finds a good thing
and obtains favor from the LORD." Proverbs 18:22

Happy Birthday Mom

Today (Wednesday, August 15th) is my mom's birthday.

One of the best parts of being a parent is watching your parents being grandparents to your child.  Though with all of Joshua's grandparents there are conversations about who is their parent and who gets to make the rules (they all hate to hear him upset and love to spoil him), we love watching them with him.

My mom is such a great grandma to Joshua, Adelyn, Nolan and Ian and I'm sure she will be to the two others on the way.  Grandmas only have to have their excitement tempered at times; you never have to coax more love for them out of her.

Mom, it is so great to watch you love my son.  Thank you for loving me so well all of my life and for loving my children.

I love you!  Have a great birthday!

Enjoy Your Children While You Still Can

So many people around me are having children or have young children.  A buddy and his wife just had their first today.  I talked with a friend due in November tonight and then saw another set of friends and their two little ones.  My wife and I have Joshua and one more on the way in February.  

This stage in my life is about having young children in the house, whether they're mine or my friends' kids or my nieces and nephews.

There are times when this seems like a pretty amazing stage of life and some when it's downright rotten.  Joshua has been what we call a crankybutt the last couple of days.  He's been angry and sad and frustrated for no apparent reason.  There are times, when he's screaming at me for no reason, that my mind races to think what I would be doing at that moment if I didn't have an angry child.  I remember times when we could decide to do something last minute and just do it.  We could stay out late.  We could go places without bringing half the house.  We could go to the bathroom... alone.  We didn't refer to ourselves in the third person.

But then I think about how darn cute he is.  I think about how he's given me my favorite name.. Dad.  I think about what a privilege it is to be the earthly father of a creation of God.  I think about how I get to model in that madness the love of the Heavenly Father to my child.

Parents of young children, we don't have that much time with them.  They grow up way too fast.

I recently saw a stat on Twitter that made me think about Joshua and this little one growing in Christine.  It said, "When your child graduates from high school, you will already have spent 93% of the time you will spend with them over the course of your life."

93% of my time with Joshua will be spent with him before high school is up.  Over 5% of that time is already gone.

We have to remind ourselves that children are a blessing from God.

"Children are a heritage form the LORD,

offspring a reward from Him.

Like arrows in the hands of a warrior

are children born in one's youth.

Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them." Psalm 125:3-5a

Parents, soak in this time with your children.  Take advantage of the time you have to point those arrows at a target.  Parent in ways that don't just teach our children morality, but that teach our children the Gospel.  Enjoy the good gift that God has given you and steward that gift well today.

Saul Didn't Become Paul

One common misconception, and one that I had for many years, is the Saul became Paul.  If you remember the story of the murderous man named Saul that became the Apostle we call Paul you may have heard that Saul's name was changed to Paul, but it wasn't exactly.

Abram became Abraham.  Simon became Peter.  Saul did not become Paul.

In the book of Acts we do meet this man Saul and in the book of Acts his name is also Paul and there is a point when he is only called Paul, but his name did not change. 

"Then Saul, who was also called Paul..." Acts 13:9a

See, Saul and Paul are interchangeable names but there is a great lesson to be learn from these names.  Saul is the Jewish name and Paul is the Greek language equivalent of the same name.  Saul is a very formal name and Paul literally means small. 

See, Paul didn't get handed a new name, rather he adjusted himself to reach the audience to whom he was preaching.  In Acts Saul begins to be referred to as Paul during his first missionary journey and is always called Paul thereafter.

The Apostle Paul was willing to be flexible in culture in order to preach the Gospel to many.  Paul had the freedom and right to continue being called Saul.  He was not divinely re-named.  Instead he chose to change a very intimate part of his very identity in order to identify with the lost souls he was intending to reach.

"Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.  To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews.  To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.  To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law.  To the weak I became weak, to win the weak.  I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some.  I do all this for the sake of the Gospel, that I may share in its blessings." 1 Corinthians 9:19-23

Do you see this?  Paul/Saul was so dedicated to being a part of God's saving lost people that he was willing to adjust his life in order to win souls.  He was willing to change his very name.  He was willing to change his very customs.  He was willing to NOT exercise the freedom he had if need be to win souls for Jesus.

Do you have that mindset?  Are you willing to sacrifice your preferences in order to share the Good News?  Do you become a slave to others on your own accord, disregarding the very freedom you have in order to approach those in need?  Do you immerse yourself in the culture of your neighborhood in the pursuit of gaining an open door to share Jesus' victory tale with them?

Saul did not become Paul.  No, Saul went by Paul for the sake of the Gospel.  Paul intentionally gave up a piece of his intimate identity to achieve the goal Christ set before him.

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize.  Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.  They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.  Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air.  No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize." 1 Corinthians 9:24-27

Our faith is about dying unto self and living for God and others.  How can you be like the Apostle Paul and die unto your self to share in the victory with Jesus today?

Worship is Warfare

Last night my wife and I read Psalm 119.  Psalm 119 is the longest chapter of the entire Bible and it's all about King David's love of the law.  It's hard to read Psalm 119 and not be convicted.  It's difficult to read Psalm 119 and think that King David had possibly just read Leviticus before he wrote this song that reads like a love affair with the law.  I read Psalm 119 and often wonder why I rarely have ever felt like David did about the law.

Instead of singing about the glories of God's law I find myself sinning.  I may not sing about my love for those sins, but with my actions I show that I love those sins more than I love the laws of God.  In fact, I have some pet sins that I could write a glowing song about.

How do I fight my passion for sinning?  How do I get to where David was when he wrote Psalm 119?

Well, there are many answers but I will argue that worship is perhaps the best way.

Worship, as I have defined it in the past, is anything that demonstrates what you value or desire.  But perhaps that definition is insufficient because there are many times when my worship fuels my desires more than it stems from my desires.

So, sin fighting worship is necessary because it pours gasoline on my desires for God and His ways.  In worship, and by worship I don't just mean singing, we declare the worthiness of God.  Sin fighting worship can involve prayers that declare the excellence of God.  Sin fighting worship can include reciting the wonderful, redeeming works of Jesus.  Sin battling worship may be singing words written by others and listening to ourselves sing them as a sermon to ourselves.

See, we always do what we prefer.  When we sin we do so because in either the moment or in the long run we had preference for what we did versus the alternative.  So, to fight this we must do things that help us see the surpassing greatness of the LORD.

Worship, gazing at the beauty of God, helps us prefer the best by reminding us what is the best.

"Taste and see that the LORD is good;" Psalm 34:8a

"One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek Him in His temple."  Psalm 27:4

Whether you do it in a sanctuary (and I hope you do as often as you can) or in your car or in your bedroom or boardroom, whether you do it out loud or in your head you need to worship to battle sin.

When we get to Heaven we will never sin again and we will never want to.  Is this because God will turn us into robots?  Most certainly not.  No, we won't sin because we will see God as He is and when we see Him rightly we will never be tempted to prefer anything else ever again.

"Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known.  But we know that when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is.  Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself, just as He is pure." 1 John 3:2-3

Friends, we won't see God perfectly as He is on this earth, but good worship is about seeing Him more rightly here and now.  So, worship with that Christ exalting hymn, read that mind expanding book on the attributes of God, sing that song that makes your heart burn with passion, walk in the woods and think about the Creator... do worship that helps you prefer God and His ways and by doing so deal a blow to the sin that wants to take your life today.

Senator Grassley's Response

A month ago I wrote an e-mail to my senator and published it on this blog. 

Because my e-mail to him was open, I want to allow his response to be open.  I have done this: 1) out of fairness to him 2) in an effort to show one way that communication with an elected can work and 3) to encourage people to do less social media commenting and more communication like this.

July 17, 2018

Dear Mr. Ray:

Thank you for taking time to express your concerns with separating families who illegally enter the United States at the Southern border.   As your senator, it is important for me to hear from you.

Obviously, I disagree with the policy and am working with my colleagues to write legislation so children and their parents aren’t separated.  

According to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), since early May, 2,342 children have been separated from their parents after crossing the Southern border. In April, U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered prosecutors along the border to “adopt immediately a zero-tolerance policy” for illegal border crossings. That included prosecuting parents traveling with their children as well as people attempting to request asylum but who were not entering through ports of entry. On June 20, 2018, after a great deal of bipartisan encouragement, President Trump signed an executive order that halts the policy of separating families.   It will allow families to be detained together. On June 25, 2018, it was confirmed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Kevin McAleenan that the agency is no longer referring for criminal prosecution all families caught crossing the border. However, the agency will selectively continue to refer cases to the Department of Justice for prosecution.  

On June 27, 2018, US District Court Judge Dana Sabraw ordered a halt to most family separations at the U.S. border and the reunification of all families that have been separated.   The court order specifically requires federal officials to stop detaining parents apart from their minor-aged children; reunify all parents with their minor-aged children who are under the age of 5 within 14 days and reunify all parents with their minor-aged children 5 and older within 30 days.   The order mandates that officials provide parents contact with their children by phone within 10 days, if the parent is not already in contact with their children.    This order does not stop the administration from prosecuting people who cross the border illegally.

However, while I am glad President Trump signed an executive order and children will be quickly reunified, the plain and simple fact is that executive and court orders come and go, but legislation provides a more permanent and long term solution. In response to this matter, I have cosponsored Senator Thom Tillis’ legislation, the Keep Families Together and Enforce the Law Act, which would keep families together while safeguarding the integrity of our nation’s immigration laws.   This legislation would require that children and their parents remain together during their legal proceedings. It includes provisions to ensure the humane and fair treatment of migrant children and families by setting mandatory standards of care for family residential centers.  In addition to keeping children and their parents together, this legislation would keep children safe by requiring children to be removed from an individual who presents a danger to the health and safety of the child, including situations in which DHS cannot verify an individual is the parent of the child, a parent with a violent history of committing aggravated felonies, a child who is a victim of sexual or domestic abuse, and a child who is a victim of trafficking.

The Keep Families Together and Enforce the Law Act also authorizes 225 new immigration judges and requires the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Attorney General to prioritize resolving the cases of children and families in family residential centers. Unlike other proposals, which incentivize illegal immigration by codifying   the “catch and release” policies of the previous administration into law, this legislation would keep families together while ensuring the integrity of our immigration laws. This is a practical, straight-forward solution to a problem we all agree needs fixing.   It reflects the American people’s humanity and respects the rule of law by permanently ensuring that families can stay together while their cases are pending. There is an urgent need to respond    and to overrule the 1997   Flores   settlement, a series of court agreements that prevent children brought into the country illegally from being held in custody even with their parents,    so I look forward to the bill’s rapid consideration.

I hope senators are willing to take action and I urge them to join Senator Tillis and many of their colleagues in cosponsoring the Keep Families Together and Enforce the Law Act and agree to let it pass quickly by unanimous consent.   Sixty votes are necessary to pass this legislation in the U.S. Senate so we will have to have good will of the minority party   to pass this bill.

Again, thank you for contacting me regarding this very important issue.   Please keep in touch.  

Sincerely,

Chuck Grassley                       

	COMMITTEE ASSIGNMENTS
CHAIRMAN,  JUDICIARY	FINANCE AGRICULTURE BUDGET	CO-CHAIRMAN, INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL CAUCUS

Life in Joppa

It was recently presented to me that two major characters in the Bible spent some time in the city of Joppa and had similar calls.  Peter and Jonah had a moment of decision in the city of Joppa.

"The word of the LORD came to Jonah son of Amittai: "Go to the great city of Ninevah and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.

But Jonah ran away from the LORD and headed for Tarshish.  He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port.  After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the LORD." Jonah 1:1-3

As you may recall, Jonah fled from the LORD because he didn't want to preach against Ninevah.  Why?  Because he knew the LORD (when in all caps means Yahweh) was a God slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.  Jonah knew Yahweh's character and he knew that forgiveness of sins was Yahweh's modus operandi and Jonah hated the Ninevites.  Ninevah was the capital of Assyria in modern day Mosul, Iraq.  The Assyrians were brutal oppressors of the Israelites and insufferably wicked.

Jonah did not like "them" and didn't want to share God's mercy with "them".

In Acts chapter 10 Peter was in Joppa.  To summarize: while in Joppa, Peter saw a vision from God.  In the vision God showed Peter a *sheet with clean and unclean animals and told him "Rise, Peter; kill and eat."  Now, Peter was a good Jew and refused (despite the fact that he was staying at the home of a ceremonially unclean tanner, but that is a different story for a different day).  The vision was repeated two more times.  While that was happening a Gentile, Roman centurion had a vision of his own.  In his vision an angel told him to go get Peter from Joppa.

So, men from the centurion named Cornelius came and got Peter to take him to a Gentile, Roman centurion's home.  Peter obeyed and went and preached the Gospel to Cornelius and his whole house and they were powerfully converted because Yahweh is a God slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Peter, like Jonah, had every reason NOT to go the right way out of Joppa.  Jews never went into the home of Gentiles because that was extremely taboo.  The Roman army was the oppressor of Peter's people.  This centurion was part of the system that robbed Israel of its freedom in the Promised Land. 

Yet Peter obeyed despite all the reasons to hate the "them" that he was sent to and he shared God's mercy with "them".

Christian, are you in Joppa? 

Life in Joppa is where the intersection of cultural taboo and Yahweh's call happens.  Life in Joppa is where our hatred of "them" is confronted with "The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness," (Exodus 34:6).  Will you run from the call of this unique God or will you follow His call to be a minister of the Good News?  Will you hold on to your dislike of them, even if it has some good reason, or will you go from Joppa and be a vessel of the message of God's abounding love and mercy?

Know yourself.  Who are the "thems" God is confronting you with here in Joppa?  Will you crucify your "right" to hate and submit to the very God who died to love them and save them?  Will you follow Jesus rather than cultural, nationalistic, tribalistic norms?

Rise to the call that life in Joppa presents you today.




*Some scholars guess the sheet in the vision was the sail of a ship in the sea Peter was staying near as he sat on the roof by the sea.  Interesting thought given what Peter did when he saw a ship's sail versus what Jonah did.