Slow Down...

This past week, our prayers were answered in that we received another foster placement to our home.  Our license and home have been open since July of 2023 but we had not been selected for a placement.  We have wondered why and sought out channels to facilitate a placement but to no avail.
When Amanda and I received the text last week for a baby with some medical concerns, we assumed we would not get selected as we had not been with previous, similar placement requests.
To our surprise, we were selected and the child came to our home this week.

Welp- it has been a hot minute since I was a "baby dad' and I am being reminded/reintroduced to all the fun.  I have changed my shirt due to drool and spit up several times already.  I had to change my entire outfit due to projectile vomit covering me from shoulder to knee.  I forgot babies eat on schedules and do not take overnight off.  I also forgot how much laundry a small human creates.

I also had forgotten how they impact your "pace".  I have had to just stop what I would be doing and hold a baby (suffering for the Lord here).  Besides staring at the precious face looking back at me, it has provided some good moments to reflect on my heavenly Father and His care for His children (even all humanity in His grace).  A few random thoughts from my "slow down" this week.

• God is intentional with His children- God does not treat us haphazardly.  He knows what we need.  He knows the "schedule" we are on in His sanctifying plans.  He knows our frailness and aptness to indulge in temptations.  He places people around us to aid us.  He does not let us continue in matters that are spiritually unhealthy for us for an extended period of time.  He is intentionally intimate.

• God is gentle with His children- While God is intentional, He is also gentle in His care or intervention in our lives.  We should not confuse the definition of gentleness as acquiescence or permission or inactivity- quite the contrary.  It has more to do with HOW God does what needs to be done rather than IF God proactively works or intervenes. Hebrews 12 reminds me that God is stern with us for our own good (in holiness) but still does so in an eternally gentle manner...even if that is not how we feel about it on our end.

• God provides for His children- Between the diapers, clothes, feedings, cleanups, baths, rocking, medicines, walks, alarms, and appointments, I was reminded that sustaining a human being requires A LOT.  The church and friends have been so generous to us (which is more than we deserve).  Even in the kindness of the county and church family and friends, it still pales in comparison to God's overarching, intrinsic provision in our lives.  God is not only kind enough to provide for our necessities (Mt. 6:26) but all we require spiritually as well (2 Peter 1:3-4).  When I spiritually vomit on myself...God's provision is enough.  When I submit to generosity for the Gospel or towards others...God's provision is more than enough.  When I am in great need during a temptation or trial...God's provision is more than enough.

• God is available to His children- I hope it never ceases to amaze me that the Father is not only accessible (due to the work of Christ) but inviting (Heb. 4:14-16).  Even when I do not feel worthy- He is available.  Even when I have given into temptation- He is available.  Even when I have been distant or self-reliant- He is available.  Even when I feel hopeless- He is available.  To think He is "all-everything" and "needs nothing" but still condescends to me...whew, I am spoiled (and so are you if you are a child of God).

I could go on but these are the random truths I have been meditating upon as an old man baby dad.  Whether the placement is for a week or for much longer, I am thankful for the forced "slow down".  
Friends, have you slowed down this week to spend some time with your heavenly Father?  
Amid the pace of your routine and schedule, are you giving yourself over to the most important part (or perhaps I should say person) of your life? 
Reply in the comments on social media or send me a text about one way you have been helped in your "slow down" time with God.

Serving together,

Pastor Paul

Packing the essentials…

It has been a very busy start to the summer with travel. From vacation to camp to now the

Mexico Missions Trip, My suitcase is meeting its yearly mileage quota.

Packing has never been a strong suit for me. My wife, being very detail oriented, begins the

packing process early giving herself ample time to make sure she has everything she needs. My

philosophy takes a different approach: wait until the day before, grab clothes from every drawer,

and hope you grabbed the right amount.

It is during this process that sometimes things are left and forgotten. The first rule of packing is

make sure you have the essentials…clothes, toothbrush, toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, etc.

Yet, when rushed, these essentials can often fall out of mind and to the wayside.

The same thing can happen in our spiritual lives as well. When we allow our focus to shift away

from responsible living with wise decisions, it can lead us to a place of missing and forgetting

the essentials of our walk with Christ.

What can lead to this happening? While it can take place in many different ways, one of the

obvious ways it happens is when we focus too much on the temporal. We amplify the things of

our lives that don’t have spiritual merit to the point where they squeeze out the time and focus

we should be giving to spiritual matters.

This can happen when we face difficult trials in our lives. We feel pressured and overwhelmed

which can keep us from mentally prioritizing the spiritual realities that we need to for our spiritual

health. We let our situations block out the life-giving connection that God desires us to have.

This can happen when we harbor sin in our lives. We resist spiritual accountability and truth

because it brings us to a place of conviction. We neglect the spiritual essentials because it

reveals the change and repentance that is needed within us.

So, we can understand some reasons why we might neglect the spiritual essentials, but what

are these essentials that we often neglect? Our daily Bible reading, prayer, church attendance

can all be recognized as essentials for our spiritual growth, and can be some of the easiest we

excuse when we fail to prioritize them to our own detriment.

The summer is always busy….and so is the fall, and the winter, and the spring. The calendar of

the modern American always seems to be full. We need to prioritize not missing the essentials

because of it. Maybe it will take some trimming within our lives, creating some margin. Maybe it

will take getting some things right in our hearts that we have been holding on to that are sapping

our spiritual desire.

Don’t be like me packing for trips. You don’t have to miss out on the essentials. It simply takes

proactive steps to ensure we are prioritizing what God has told us will lead to a flourishing

Christian life.

Serving Together

Pastor Derek

Easily Influenced.

Easily Influenced.

In my daily Bible reading, I have been working through the book of Judges. The incredible stories of God’s miracles are always amazing, but what continually shocks me is that the people of Israel continue to forget God, do what is right in their own eyes, or turn to the gods of the pagans in the land because they seem better. Every time this happens, God raises another nation to conquer Israel, and then Israel eventually turns to God once more and prays for deliverance. Every single time, God raises a judge and delivers His people. Then, the heartbreaking cycle repeats. The Israelites are continually influenced away from God, and God continually punishes them and then rescues them.  

Why do the Israelites remain on this seemingly ridiculous cycle when they can look back and see what God has done over and over? Why would they depart from God when they know that God blesses them and will punish the disobedient? How do the Israelites repeatedly get to this place of apathy, arrogance, and opposition towards God? 

One glaring issue that is seen throughout Judges is that the Israelites never fully removed pagan influence. This tracks back to the book Joshua. Joshua gains control of the land and then tells the tribes to continue to push out all the other people in the promised land, but they never do. The Israelites begin to intermarry, and slowly but consistently, they are drawn away from the one true God to worship the false gods of the pagans in the land. When they allow the influence to remain, they remain influenced. The purging of the land and the high call to purity by God may seem harsh when they are first received, but ultimately it was for the good of the Israelites. To translate into my life as a Christian, where am I allowing sin, or even simply unholy influences, to continue to hold sway in my life? We cannot live a life completely hidden away from temptation, and we are called to be a light in the darkness, so how do I operate in a fallen world while still attempting to keep my influences pure? 

1. Make the truth of Scripture my foundation and my filter. Jesus says that the man who hears His words and obeys is like a man who builds his house upon the rock. They are prepared to face storms and floods. If my worldview and belief system are based solely on Scripture, then I will be able to filter what influences are true and good and what is false and bad. Though other ideas or messages may sound appealing, I can spot the problem before I ever internalize or act on the idealogy. 

2. Know my community. Who am I letting in? The Israelites not only lived in the same land as pagan people but even intermarried with them. As they drew closer to people who worshipped false gods, they became more influenced to worship false gods themselves. Now, we cannot simply isolate ourselves from all people who are not Christians, but we must recognize who is influential in our lives and how they are influencing us. If the people that I respect the most, the people that I want to be like, or the people that I let my guard down around are people who are influencing me away from God, then I am making a mistake with my community. I am allowing influences to slowly eat away at my faith. On the flip side, if my core community influences are pushing me towards Christ, then they are helping me not only to grow closer to God but also emboldening me to point others to Christ as well. 

3. Know your focus. The Israelites became so consumed by their desires that they forgot God’s commands and God’s promises. Over and over, the people of Israel would drift toward what was right in their own eyes, even though they knew clearly that God had given clear commands to follow and promised to bless obedience and curse disobedience. Each time, the people would set their eyes on their desires and take their eyes off of God. Has my focus shifted away from God’s plan, God’s commands, and God’s promises? Am I letting myself become consumed by ungodly desires? Is there a person, possession, hobby, or goal that I am so consumed by that I can no longer see God?

The war between obedience and disobedience that the Israelites fought in Judges is a war we still fight today. Am I filtering my influences? Do I know who my community is and what direction they are taking me? Is my focus on God or any other desire? We fight these battles daily to remain faithful, and we take hope in knowing that God will remain faithful to us.

Serving together

Brother Tyler