I remember sitting in the dark in our little duplex in Austin, TX back in 1999. I was a sophomore in High School and my dad had just left my mom to pursue another woman who he assumed would make him happier. Mom wanted us to still have a relationship with dad, so we moved to Austin to follow him as he followed her. I love Austin, but at that point, I was just mad.

We started going to this church called Bannockburn Baptist Church. “Cool,” I thought, “We’re going to a church named after the field that Scotland won their freedom in the Academy Award winning movie, Braveheart.” Yeah, I was a dork, but that’s neither here nor there.

My youth pastor, Charlie Harrisberger, was quite the God-send. He took me under his wing and really became a father figure to me. I can honestly say that his influence shaped me more than any other man in my life. He began to give me books by Piper, Tozer, Sproul, Edwards, etc. and really challenging me to pursue Christ, and it was in the midst of that that our story picks up.

I sat alone in that dark duplex, 10:30 at night, reading a Piper sermon called The Depths of Christ’s Love: It’s Lavish Benefits, that changed my life forever. It was about 2 warring tribes in Rwanda, and a man losing His son in the process of trying to save the life of a child from the enemy tribe. In the wake of the disaster, he clothes, feeds, rescues, adopts and gives everything He owns (which is surprisingly substantial) to this enemy child.

It was illustrating that the power of the gospel for us is in our adoption. I woke up this morning thinking about this and the profound impact it made on me as a 16 year old boy. Now 11 years later, I have often thought about this obscure sermon that Piper preached so many years ago. How it impacted me then, and still impacts me now. How it was really the first front that the Lord used to move my heart to displaying the gospel through adoption… to follow His example.

I don’t know a whole ton of 16 year old boys who want to adopt. I think that can tend to be a girl thing. My 6 year old wants to adopt. It’s not unique to girls, but for a boy, that’s pretty weird. But I distinctly remember thinking, “I can not be the same. I want to adopt.” And I began praying that the Lord would send me a wife when the time was right who would have a heart for adoption as well. I’m so glad He did.

I’m so glad that God had given Amanda a heart for children and orphans and to respond to the call to take care of the fatherless through adoption before we ever met.

I’m so glad for that night in 2005 at the Frank Irwin Center in Austin, TX when Steven Curtis Chapman challenged an auditorium full of people who called themselves Christians to actually live out their faith through adoption, and all the conversations that sparked then. The passion it ignited in us as a married couple. And the journey it got back on track.

I’m so glad for meeting Aaron Ivey back in 2008. How he has become such a dear friend and fellow worship pastor, and reminds me what it means to be a man of God. Who displays the gospel with his life and reminds others to do the same. Who does the hard work of obedience, not for the sake of legalism, but out of a righteous heart to see the glory of Jesus Christ known in all the Earth. And who challenges me to do that through adoption.

I am so glad for moments that I can look back at and see time and time again how the Lord has been bringing us to this moment for the last 11 years and reminded that it is He who will carry it through to completion. And He will… for His name’s sake.

we are now a month in since a massively devastating earthquake hit haiti, bringing untold death, poverty and unprecedented needs that seem so insurmountable and discouraging. and yet even as the dust settles, only a month later, people have already begun to move on, forget and stop caring, giving, acting and advocating. as the church, we have to be the ones to keep the momentum and serve the poor and devastated in haiti. so i would really like to encourage you to check out HELP (help end local poverty). this is such an amazing organization led by one of my good friends, chris marlow, who has definitely risen to the occasion and is providing an opportunity to help haiti with something so simple as just buying a shirt or two. i just got 3 today, and let me tell you guys, these shirts are absolutely some of the coolest shirts i’ve ever seen! though it’s a high quality fabric with an uber awesome design, the best part is that every penny goes to help with haiti relief. so do yourself a favor and do haiti a favor and go buy a shirt.

while you’re at it, check out their official website, and follow them on twitter at @ChrisMarlow and @helpendpoverty.

thanks guys! let’s be a people of compassion and a people of redemption together.

i was recently asked the following question, after God was gracious to supply a new guitar to replace my stolen one. i was praising Him for his goodness and received this question… if you have ever had a question like this, i hope my response is an encouragement to you…

question:
“So, God buys you a new guitar, but destroys Haiti? Or is God only responsible for the good things that happen? I’m not trying to be rude, I’m genuinely interested in hearing an explanation. I’m sure you’ve heard that question before.”

response:
bro, i totally get this question. it’s hard for me to grasp how haiti’s disaster could have happened under the control of my God who so loved the world that He gave his only Son to save those who were lost if they would only believe in Him and make Him their Lord (john 3:16). hurricane katrina, the tsunami a few years back… all of it. i will say this…
God gives good gifts to His children in the way that a good father gives good gifts to his kids that he loves. and he works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. because of this, every good and perfect gift that i receive, i know is either directly, or indirectly from Him (matt. 7:11, james 1:17, romans 8:28).
my home. my family. my health. my income, friends, church, talents and job. everything good is from Him. this is called grace, whether general grace ( like the sunrise shines on the just and unjust alike) or specific (“because I belong to Christ, i receive a blessing…”)
God is good. there is no evil in Him. there is mercy. there is love. there is justice, grace, compassion and holiness. and because there are all of those things, there is an utter hatred for all things evil… particularly sin.
so in the same way that there is general grace (good things that come to all people because God is good), there is also a general wrath, or judgement being poured out on sin (romans 1:18-19, 3:23, 6:23). every many has sinned… from the time the first man and woman, adam and eve, ate the fruit in the garden. i’m a sinner, you’re a sinner. americans, chinese, africans and australians are sinners. and because of our sin, there is justice, and therefore consequences. on the specific and personal level there are two forms of this consequence. 1. either Jesus took the blame for us and paid the penalty on the cross, and we receive His grace, OR 2. we pay the penalty ourselves for eternity in hell. however, on the general scale, i would say that because all creation is subject to the effects of our fall and our sin, we have an imperfect world that we live in as a consequence. people murder people. children are molested. wars happen and thousands die. punks take over planes and run them into a couple of buildings and thousands die. tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes happen and thousands die. all creation is subjected to futility because of sin (romans 8:20).
i don’t think people should be asking, “why did this happen to haiti?” as much as we should be asking, “why doesn’t this happen to everyone everywhere, because we’re all sinful.”
crazy dudes like pat robertson ask the question, “what did the haitians do to deserve this.” people with a right view of their own sin ask, “why doesn’t this happen to me? i’m just as sinful as they were!”
and it’s in moments like this that we look at our lives, and our sin and repent… remembering that we are not inherently good. we are inherently evil and unless we repent, our fate is worse that that of many of those who died in the haitian earthquake. our hope is no longer in ourselves or our own righteousness, but our gracious and compassionate savior Jesus, who loved us enough to give himself up for us on the cross. and not even just that, but that He was God and the grave couldn’t hold Him, but he defeated death, and therefore defeated sin so that we could be saved. there is grace even in situations like this earthquake, where beauty will come out of the ashes, and there will be strength arising from the despair and there will be gladness from all the mourning because many will take this moment and realize that they need a savior and that nothing other than Jesus will do…
i pray that you are one of them…