Azariah's New Endeavors

  

Today Azariah crawled forward for the first time. Over the course of these past few weeks it has been such a joy to watch him develop and learn so many new things. It seems that his strength has doubled along with his curiosity and probably also the number of times he wakes up at night. I read in a Dr. Sears book that often times when babies learn a new trick, they wake up during there light sleep (which occurs nearly every hour and a half) to practice. Other then that, we're getting used to his smile filled with teeth, his developing mobility, parenting in the middle of the night, and refraining from sticking our fingers in his mouth (Ouch). On Monday, Joshua watched Azariah grab onto the top rail of his crib and pull himself up to his knees. Yikes! Today I lowered the mattress:) We love nearly every second that God is gracious to give us with our son, and hope that he allows us many more years of being parents. 

Tomorrow Linda and Molli (Joshua's mom and sister) will be coming into town. We're so excited to visit, but even more share in the joys that Azariah brings to our daily lives. 

Connecting the next generation with the Gospel: Part 1

News break: If you are not aware of the paradigm shift (an example serving as a model; pattern) in the culture of our young people today, you MUST wake up to it. The methods by which we reach young people with the Gospel message today has drastically changed from the way we reached them 20 years ago, 10 years ago, 2 years ago and may I even say in 2008. The one unchanging factor, and it will forever remain unchanged, is the truth of the Gospel message itself...that Jesus Christ came to save sinful people from the wrath of God. (Romans 5:6-11)

Let me get you thinking more specifically. If you were to survey high school and college students on the question: "Do you believe there is such thing as absolute truth", i am fairly certain a good majority of them would respond that they do not believe there is absolute truth. What this shift should tell us is that we must begin conversing with these young people about the Gospel in a very different way than we may have in the past. We have to first and foremost get past the huge roadblock that they don't believe in absolute truth.

This next example comes from Ken Cochrum, he is Campus Crusade for Christ's Vice President for Global Campuses. He oversees all of our college campus ministry work around the world, in some 150+ countries. Here is something he recently shared about, what he calls Generation F. "Facebook hit 200 million users this week, in 40 languages. That's doubled from 100 million just 8 short months ago. The NY Times graphed the progress, including the generational element. If Facebook were a country, it would be the world's 5th most populous nation, following China, India, the USA and snuggled between Indonesia (220 million) and Brazil (190 million).

The under-25's are the people that have never known a time when they couldn't know more about a subject than their professors could teach in a 45-minute lecture simply by exploring the top 10 Google hits. No wonder this group is a bit skeptical of leadership authority culture based on traditional currencies such as age, position or tenure." Whether this grasps you or not, the youth culture is changing...daily!

I will be continuing this series in the days to come with some specific methods that Campus Crusade and others have been using to reach young people in light of today's culture changes.

I end on a personal note: My son, Azariah, just turned 7 months old this past Sunday. He is really starting to enjoy when we read books to him. Since he was 1-2 months old we began reading to him out of "The Jesus Storybook Bible- Every story whispers His name". Through these simple, rooted in truth Bible stories, through prayer and by the grace of God, our hope is that Azariah will believe in the absolute truth of the Gospel from an early age and that he will love his friends and family well...in a way that will lead them to the foot of the cross of Christ!

Joshua

all six

Well, tomorrow's friday and things are great around here!

Two weeks ago we had a plumber out. He cut into our kitchen wall to remove a large piece of lumber that had gotten lodged in our pipes when the house was being built (???). Today two men, John & Carlos, came out to fix the gigantic hole in our kitchen wall.   We chatted for awhile. One was from Colombia and the other from Cancun, Mexico. Carlos saw our bible on the table and asked if I was a Christian (that's where the conversation began). I was so encouraged to hear about their faith in Jesus and their involvement in a local church, largely spanish speaking. They explained their effort (through their church community) to raise up disciples through their small groups, train them, and then send them out to start up their own small groups. It was so encouraging to hear how they make an effort to meet people in their neighborhoods, get to know them, love them, serve them, and get them plugged into these small groups they called "cell groups." John said, often times he doesn't even tell people he's a Christian, he just serves them the best way he knows how and prays for an opportunity to share Christ.  Isn't it awesome to know that God is raising up disciples from every nation, tribe and tongue to proclaim His name... the mighty family of God.

Well anyways, I hope you're encouraged. And here are a few recent photos of Azariah.

New Bran Muffin Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups wheat bran

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons baking soda

6 Tablespoons molasses

2 cups buttermilk

1 egg, beaten

3 Tablespoons butter (softened)

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 (or more) cups raisins (or other dried fruit)

1/2 cup sunflower meats (or other nut)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, grease muffin pans or line with paper cups

2. In large bowl, combine all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, wheat bran, salt, baking soda. Add molasses, egg, butter, honey, brown sugar, raisins & nuts. Stir until moist, scoop into muffin pan.

3. Bake at 350 for 19-20 minutes.

12 visitors, 28 candles, 4 plumbers & 6 teeth

Things have been going well around here. Over the course of the past few weeks we've had four of my parents and my sister come to visit us, along with a family from our Sovereign Grace Church in MN, who were here on vacation. We also had the pleasure of celebrating Joshua's 28th birthday with Mom, Terry and NAtalie at the Grand Hilton Resort where they were staying. We greatly enjoyed sitting by the pool and having drinks delivered to us upon request. 

Another exciting accomplishment for us all has been the arrival of six of Azariah's  baby teeth. I thought it was hard enough getting through the first two, yet God was only preparing us for the next four. It's been a growing process of many sleepless nights, tired days and fighting much sin that's come from my heart. Four have officially poked through, although his front two teeth are working there way through as we speak. Personally I kind of like his fangs.

Four plumbers you ask? Last thursday night we had plumbers at our house for nearly five hours as they worked to unclog a clog. Not just a clog however, a piece of lumber that was stuck in our plumbing, somewhere in one of our kitchen walls. They came back friday with a camara that located the lumber and then yesterday we had it removed. All that remains now is a nice sized hole in our dining room.

German Chocolate birthday cake at the hotel. Does Azariah look a little worried that he's going head first into the flames?

We also had ice cream cake at the office. One of Joshua's favorites!

And here's a picture of us with the Bydlon family after we showed them around our International Headquarters.

143 million orphans

When I read these numbers this morning in an article Joshua forwarded to me (CLick here to read article) I was first overcome with sadness, then with conviction, and finally with hope. What have I done to serve and bring the news of Christ to "the least of these?"

Matthew 25:34: Then the King will say...'Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundations of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.' Then the righteous will answer him saying, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink? And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you, or naked and clothe you? And when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the King will answer them, Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brother, you did it to me."

Another passage that came to mind after reading the article was Matthew 20:28: "Even theSon of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life up as a ransom for many."

I've found it so absolutely easy to continue through life taking care of myself, and neglecting the reality of the world around me. Business seems to be an epidemic in our culture that sends us spiraling into "me focused" activities, leaving little regard for others outside our boxes. I hope you also find the article hopeful as we can dream of how God will continue to use the church to reach out to orphans in the years to come.

In this article Tim Nelson of World Orphans lists five reasons the world can't ignore the plight of the orphan any longer. It's short and I encourage you to read it.

Thanks for listening to some of my thoughts. ~Rose