I just took Gracie outside for her afternoon walk. Oh my goodness! It’s incredibly beautiful today. The sun, though a bit hazy, is bright, the air smells of fall … drying leaves, fields ready for harvest, and the sound of geese overhead. The tips of the leaves on the trees are beginning to turn ever so slightly. The breeze seems to announce that it’s ushering in change … change we know to expect almost like clockwork, but still refreshingly new each year.

When I was a little girl, my Dad would take me down to the metropolitan park on the west side of Cleveland. We’d walk along the trails and look for beautifully colored leaves, peer at the clouds overhead through the towering trees, skip stones in Rocky River, wade through the water on the fjord across the river. I have amazing memories of our fall walks together. Father and daughter together where we could talk, laugh, and love. Such a picture! Such a precious time this daughter has cherished all her life.

Even though my Dad is gone, the seasons still change. Time goes on. The seasons come and go like clockwork, but still bring with them memories of a childhood that was a precious gift to me by God Himself.

I wasn’t born to my parents—I was chosen by them. My biological parents’ rights were severed by the court systems when I was nearly two years old. My parents saw me and fell in love, took me home to raise me as their very own. I became their daughter and they became my parents – parents who spared me from a lifetime of pain and suffering that would have been mine if God had not intervened. You see, it was all God – I had no choice. I simply grew into my new family, bore their name, adopted their customs and behaviorisms, and became every wit there’s. As I grew to adulthood, there was never a question about whose daughter I was – I was my parent’s daughter.

This is such a perfect picture of how God becomes our Father. When we are born, we are abandoned and orphaned because of our sin—fatherless and illegitimate children. In His great love and mercy, God chooses us – not because we have anything to offer Him, but because He wants children upon whom He can lavish His love. He takes us as His own and spares us from a life of pain and agony that would have otherwise been our destiny if He had not intervened. It is all God – we have very little say in it. Our part – our only part in the entire equation is to make ourselves available to Him, to submit to His sovereign call, and to come to Him as broken vessels needing to be made new.

We are powerless to become His child on our own volition. The Spirit draws us, He calls us, He reaches down to rescue us, and we submit. Just like my Mom and Dad. I was too young to come to them and ask them to take me as their own. But when they reached out, I became part of their family just like we become part of God’s family, bearing His name, growing to resemble Him more and more as we mature, taking on His character as we spend more time with Him.

Isn’t it amazing how God calls us to be His own by drawing us and stirring in our hearts? Isn’t it amazing how He spends time with us—one on one—to nurture us and teach us and lavish His love on us? Isn’t it amazing how seasons come and go even in our relationship with Him … we have seasons of unexplainable joy as well as seasons of unbelievable pain. Yet, He’s right there with us through it all, being our Father in His steadfastness and committed way. Even when we mess us, He never abandons us, but He woos us back into right relationship with Him.

Oh, yes! I love fall because it reminds me of my Father’s love for me through the changing seasons of life. The fresh, fall winds lead me to yearn for the day I will be changed, in the twinkling of an eye, and forever be with my Father in His house, to bask in the Sonlight, and to walk along the streets of glory breathing in the winds of eternal life that have enraptured my soul.

© 2008 Jan Ross
All Rights Reserved

Labels: adoption, fall, Father's love, God, Jan Ross

I know it was for me because as I was driving I was asking God to keep me on the right path...to show me where to go, what to do...I was praying that He give me a sign. I hadn't "heard" from Him in a while. I was shocked when that rainbow just fell out of the sky. I really do love it when He does that.

Rainbow in the soybeans field!

Labels: God, rainbows, sockrma18

Labels: baptism, Becki Hansen, God, sockrma18

As I've been in prayer about what to post here and searching my heart for something relevant to share, I was reminded of the recent political forum that was hosted by Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church. I had almost talked myself out of posting this because it is controversial and it may bring about some angry feedback, but the fact is that this is a Christian blog and therefore, I hope that both those of us that contribute here and those who may read this will carefully consider what I believe that God has led me to say.

I was pleasantly surprised by the forum in general. My hope was to watch it with an open mind and listen to what each candidate had to say and try to sit through it in it's entirety without changing the channel or turning the television off completely. The questions that Pastor Warren posed were, I believe, relevant and timely, especially for those of us who want more than just the normal political jargon from the candidates that the media notoriously supplies us with.

The Associate Pastor at my church sent out an e-mail today about the forum and he posed one additional question that he (and now I) would have liked to hear an answer on from Barak Obama. Following is one of the questions that Warren posed to Mr. Obama in the forum.

Now, let’s deal with abortion; 40 million abortions since Roe v. Wade. As a pastor, I have to deal with this all of the time, all of the pain and all of the conflicts. I know this is a very complex issue. Forty million abortions, at what point does a baby get human rights, in your view?

That should be a simple question for someone who claims to be a Christian to answer, right? Apparently not.

Well, you know, I think that whether you’re looking at it from a theological perspective or a scientific perspective, answering that question with specificity, you know, is above my pay grade.

Considering the following that Obama has, I have to wonder if even Christians are undecided about the time that life begins and when a person is given human rights. How is that possible? Has God not made quite clear that all life is valuable and precious? Two passages of Scripture testify to God's perspective of human life.

First, Genesis 1:26-27 describes the Creator's intention in creating human life. God did something distinctive in human being, his most valued creation. He created men and women "in his own image." This fact makes human life distinctive and highly valued. In Genesis 9:6, God first forbids murder because people bear God's image. Though His hand is visible in every aspect of creation, no other part of that creation is a replication of His image. In Colossians 3:10, Paul affirms the sanctifying work of God in renewing his image in us through Christ.

The second truth that sets human life apart as distinctive is that God sent his Son to die on our behalf. In this way, he demonstrated his love for us (Romans 5:8) and, at the same time, demonstrated the value he places on human life. Jesus became human and lived among us (John 1:14) and he died to reconcile us to God. God regards human life as precious.

How then can anyone, especially a Christian, simply say that knowledge of the time when a human being is entitled to right is "above my pay grade?"

Labels: Barak Obama, Cindy Price, God, human rights

On the way to practice last night "At the top of my lungs" by Philips, Craig and Dean was playing. We sang....loudly as we do...and I was happy that God was reminding me to be thankful that I have three beautiful children to chase around, that I have a new(er) car in which to drive them, that I have been SAVED and He has a purpose for me. Fast forward about 4 hours and as we were headed home after all the chaos mentioned above, God AGAIN played that same song on the radio. I see a pattern here....God was telling me something. Then, this morning on the way to work as I pull out of the driveway, that same song AGAIN was playing. I know, you are probably thinking I listen to one of those radio stations that overplays certain songs, but I'm here to tell you that is not the case. God wanted me to listen...to really hear the words. This is what He was wanting me to hear:

"At the top of my lungs I will sing HALLELUJAH. You're the one who made me, the one who gave me this life I live! Forever more, I love you Lord."

So that made me think...."Ok, Becki, get a grip. What else is God wanting you to hear?" (yes...I talk to myself)...

..."can't be silent. I think of the mercy you’ve shown me. My lips began overflowing, how great is your love. Such gratitude for all that you do... ...Let my love be loud, a sweet joyful noise only for you. I lift up my voice. I lift up my voice at the top of my lungs..."

God is telling me to lift up my voice and PRAISE HIM. For all that He alone has brought me back from and through this blog I am able to do just that.

What has God brought me back from you ask? Here's is the part I don't want to write about. My childhood was bad. Could have been worse but it was bad. My parents were in a physically abusive relationship, they divorced when I was 5. I have many memories of that abuse. At age 6 my father moved 3,000 miles away. I was abandoned by him in nearly every sense of the word, but as an adult, I have forgiven him (we do not have a relationship but I forgive him). At around age 8 I was sexually abused by a close family member. I acted out in inappropriate ways through my teenage years....I was filled with rage and entitlement with a complete lack of self esteem. I tried drugs and alcohol in an effort to sooth my rage, anxiety and fear and I know now that by the grace of God I never became addicted to either. I had repressed the abuse memories until around age 27 or 28 when it all came flooding back to me. My marriage ended because I was such a complete pile of pooh and unable to fix myself or forgive anyone around me. I finally met a man who brought me up close and personal with Jesus two years ago and God has restored my feeble and broken soul. I have learned so much about how and why things happen. My favorite verse -- Romans 8:28 -- reminds me every day that God will work all things for good for those who believe in Him and are called according to His purpose. I believe that God has been pushing me to share my STORY....which is no longer my shame....in an effort to heal me and help others. I will follow His lead and do as He has asked me to do. I will write what He wants me to write. I will be the REAL me...the one who has gone through unspeakable things and lived to tell about them. I will be ok because God is with me. I will not only survive, I will thrive.

** NOTE ** As I was trying to publish this, I started to have serious computer problems, it wouldn't fully publish, etc. The devil was messing with me! HA! :0

Labels: forgive, God, praise, sockrma18