February 19, 2017 - Adoption

February 19, 2017

Adoption

Being home for more than two months was unexpected, but I was privileged to witness a beautiful ceremony at Bristol Baptist, my church.  It’s hard to believe that was two weeks ago!

My pastor, Dave, is a cool guy.  When I first met him, I honestly did not know what to think of him, because he didn't seem like the preacher type.  The first time he stood up to preach, I was hooked.  In the 2000s Bristol Baptist went through a church split.  Those things are difficult.  I was a deacon and vowed I would never go back to that church again.  When I moved back to Ennis in 2008, my mom convinced me to visit one Sunday. 

That Sunday Pastor Dave was preaching from First John, my favorite book of the bible.  I was hooked that day.  I learned that Dave goes into a lot of detail when preaching.  It is always salvation and our relationship with God.  And he takes forever to finish teaching a book of the bible.  It took almost a year for him to teach from First John, a book of only five chapters!  He took two years to teach the Gospel of Mark.  In August, I told my Bolivian pastor, Percy, how my pastor teaches.  He was in Matthew chapter 5 when I left and I said I bet he isn’t out of Matthew 10 when I return for Christmas.  He wasn’t!

I soon became friends with Dave and his wife, Tracey.  They have become my brother and sister.  They have two beautiful girls, Hannah and Heather.  Hannah eventually went with me on mission trips to Lithuania and Nicaragua, and helped me entertain my foreign exchange sons, Hans and Artur.  Both of those girls became my nieces, as much as the daughters of my brother, Tony.

Not long after I returned to Bristol Baptist Church, I learned that Hannah and Heather were adopted.  Both have contact with their birth mothers, but Dave and Tracey are their real parents.  Adoption is something special. 

Soon Dave and Tracey had two other kids in their house, Hayden and Nevaeh (Heaven spelled backwards) who are somehow related to Tracey, but I’m not sure of the relationship.  I have watched these two kids grow from toddlers to beautiful children in Dave and Tracey’s home.  Any time I go somewhere, like Germany, Brazil, or Bolivia, Hayden asks his uncle Mark if he brought him any coins.  I always make sure that I do.  They are my nephew and niece.

Sunday, February 12, we celebrated the adoption of Hayden and Nevaeh.  Several told stories about them, we saw a video of the adoption, and we ate a yummy meal.  That little country church can make some yummy meals. 

I discovered Sunday that Tracey knew when she married Dave that she couldn’t have kids.  She was afraid to tell him.  He shrugged his shoulders.  He loved Tracey and that was all that mattered.  God had prepared her a husband that would be a godly father of four adopted kids.  And they are both such awesome parents!

But why is adoption so important?  Isn’t it better to have kids of your own?  First, I say if you can have kids great, but if you can’t you can adopt.  What is a better way to give an unwanted child a good home?

The bible talks about adoption too.  In a quick bible search I discovered dozens of verses on the subject.  In Ephesians, it says “He predestined us for ADOPTION as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.”  In John, it says, “To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become CHILDREN of God.”

When we are born, we are children of this world, and this world belongs to Satan, until we are redeemed in the last days.  God sent us his son, Jesus, to die in our place, not only on the Cross, but also in Hell itself.  If we believe in him, such a simple thing, he adopts us into his family.  Imagine that!  The God who spoke the Milky Way into being, adopted me!

I am an adopted son of God.  If you are not, it is an easy thing to remedy.  Write me and I will tell you how.

For my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, for we are that since we are equally adopted, write me your favorite verse on adoption.