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Stephen recently wrote this article for the Sacred Charge website giving a vision for prevailing faith, and it absolutely provoked my heart… so I wanted to share it with all of you. Enjoy and I pray it will exhort your hearts to believe as much as it did my own. — Karli
The body of Christ in every generation must stand at a similar crossroads. As we read of the power of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament and feel the painful disparity between what we find on those pages and what we have known in our experience, what will we do? This question confronts us both individually and corporately, and though we may evade its pursuit for a season, at some point we must turn and reckon with its probing force. While much could be written of the marvelous works Jesus performed in and through the apostolic church, only a cursory journey through the middle portion of the book of Acts is necessary to shine the light on the barrenness of Western Christianity in the 21st century.
In a mere five verses in the fifth chapter, we are informed that signs and wonders were so prevalent that those who were in need from the cities surrounding Jerusalem were brought to the feet of the apostles and the sick were even laid out in the streets in the hope that Peter’s shadow might fall upon them. The result was that multitudes of men and women were added to the Lord (v 14) and all who came found healing and deliverance in His precious name (v 16). In verse 19 of Acts 5, the apostles are miraculously freed from imprisonment by an angel. Acts 6:8 describes how Stephen, who was simply responsible for distributing food and not actually one of the apostles, “did great wonders and signs among the people.” After baptizing the Ethiopian convert, Philip was caught up by the Spirit and transported to a different city (8:39-40). In the next chapter a man who was paralyzed is healed through the ministry of Peter, followed by the remarkable account of the raising of a woman named Tabitha from the dead in the city of Joppa (9:36-43). The night before he was to be executed, an angel came to Peter in prison and escorted him out of bondage into safety (12:5-19). In a similar vein, Paul and Silas found themselves beaten and in shackles for the cause of Christ when suddenly a great earthquake shook the prison and released them from their chains (14:25-34). As the story continues to unfold we are told that “God worked unusual miracles by the hand of Paul, so that even handkerchiefs or aprons were brought from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out of them (19:11-12).”
Furthermore, Divine communication is riddled throughout the tale of the first generation of followers of Christ. Jesus appeared to Stephen at his death, to Paul at his conversion, and to Ananias with instructions to restore Paul’s sight (7:56; 9:5; 9:10 respectively). Cornelius the centurion was visited by an angel in an open vision, after which Peter was caught up in a trance while in prayer (10:3, 10). Agabus prophesied of a famine that would come upon the land, the apostolic mission to the gentiles was directed to go to Macedonia through a vision in the night, and the Lord Jesus appeared again to Paul in order to encourage his heart (11:28; 16:9; 18:9). The testimonies go on and on, and this is not even highlighting the astonishing power of the Holy Spirit present in the preaching of the early Church.
By contrast the sick in our midst almost always stay sick, regardless of whether one is ‘evangelical’ or ‘charismatic’. In other words, possessing a rhetoric which includes the power of the Spirit is not at all synonymous with the reality of it. Though profoundly grateful for what the Lord has done, at IHOP-KC alone over the last few years we have had the privilege of standing in prayer with four dear souls in their struggle against terminal cancer… each one of them glorified Jesus by loving Him well as they lost that battle and died. Not surprisingly we don’t find diseased and tormented unbelievers flocking to our churches as they did to the apostles and their followers. We don’t even have the opportunity to be miraculously delivered from prison because our witness is not powerful enough to evoke the resistance from the world to put us in fetters. While the diluted, culturally assimilated proclamation going forth from so many pulpits in the land may be effective at making ‘seekers’ feel comfortable, we know nothing of words so laden with heavenly power that thousands are cut to the soul and conquered by the glory of Christ (Acts 2:37). And though there seems to be more people than ever with the word ‘prophet’ in front of their name, few and far between are those men and women who truly stand in the counsel of the Lord and declare His word in truth.
This is not the context to develop either the biblical theology of healing or that of suffering (both of which we have the propensity to monumentally err on), or to try to unearth the causes of the absence of the Spirit in our utterance. Still from this juxtaposition at least one thing should be clear – we are missing something. And thus we arrive once more at the question posed at the outset: what will we do? Sadly the most common response throughout history has been the path of least resistance, accepting the way things are and explaining away the dissonance between the Bible and what we have known by putting the New Testament in a different category theologically. In effect this puts the book of Acts high on a shelf to be admired and applauded but never emulated or sought after. Yet as our generation stands at the crossroads there is another option. It is the difficult way, and surely the road less traveled, but the one we must embrace. In opting for this lonely path we are allowing our hearts to be torn over the vision for the fullness of the Spirit and daring to believe in what we have never seen. Instead of finding a shallow peace with the way things are, we elect instead to throw ourselves into the crushing tension of intercession where we contend in faith for the way God desires them to be. This posture is that which embodies and undergirds the fourth value of the IHOP heart-standards – Prophetic, or prevailing faith, as Mike Bickle has often said over the years. To prevail in our stand for the power of God does not mean that we are free from doubt, or that we do not grow weary, but simply that the slow passage of time without the answer we seek does not extinguish our tears and prayers for God to break through. In the end, our conviction in the mercy of Jesus and His passion to pour out His Spirit triumphs over the weakness of our own hearts and years of waiting.
For me the revelation of the Lord’s desire to release His power today and not just on the pages of history came like an avalanche as I discovered the writings of Smith Wigglesworth and John G. Lake during my college years. At the time I did not realize how deeply my heart was being marked by the vision for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, nor was I aware of how much my motivation for His power needed to be purified and how much the desire to see signs and wonders would be tested. Even in the ten short years that have intervened, I have found it increasingly difficult to avoid becoming calloused and to keep my heart soft and broken over our barrenness. Zeal is cheap, but endurance is costly. Yet through the pain of perseverance, I have gained clearer perspective on how we must contend for power from on high. Revival does not exist to cure the chronic boredom we wrestle with nor to enlarge our churches so we can finally feel a sense of significance in the landscape of ministry. In the Divine heart the unleashing of His miraculous might upon a city or nation is unto the glory of Christ and compassion for hurting people. Unless our hearts are aligned with these two purposes, we will likely not prevail in our faith and if revival does come we will almost certainly be crushed by the pressure that accompanies authentic power. God insisted upon this final heart standard in the DNA of this movement because He is so zealous for the exaltation of His Son and so filled with tenderness and mercy for the sick and the oppressed as they suffer. These currents in His heart are just as strong now as they were when the apostles turned the world upside down in the first-century. Let this be our confidence, and may His renown be our all-consuming aim as we stand at the crossroads. What will we do? We will take our stand and believe God for an unprecedented breakthrough of power and the full manifestation of the gifts of the Holy Spirit in our generation.
May our faith prevail…
First let me thank everyone (both known and unknown out there) again for your concern and prayers for Karli – it has truly been a great blessing and encouragement to our hearts. As you can see from recent posts there have been some slightly ‘better days’ lately for Karli but unfortunately these are often followed by hard ones. The first post that started off this series of updates on Karli’s health described what she has been going through as a really long, hard ‘flare’. So to use that as the reference point, I guess you could say that there have been some glimmers of hope that this thing has an end, but she is still very much in the thick of it.
Several times recently Karli has mentioned ‘the patch’. The patch is a tiny little transparent sticker that goes on Karli’s back that somehow holds a super-duper lot of medicine that slowly gets released into her skin and thus into her bloodstream where it is whisked to all of the parts of her body screaming for relief. The patch is our friend. There is definitely a ceiling on what it can do but it has definitely made a difference in Karli’s overall pain levels day to day. So praise God, from whom all blessings (including little drug-patches) flow.
In the March 10th post Karli mentioned that the new doctor she saw ordered x-rays of most of her major joints as well as some comprehensive blood-work. Both rounds of tests yielded some expected and unexpected results. We were shocked to discover from the x-rays that Karli has severe degeneration in her joints due to the disease process. Just kidding – we knew that. What we didn’t know was that in Karli’s neck there is a rare abnormality with a long name that has the potential to be very negative and very dangerous, specifically to her spinal cord. Please pray that if this is the case the Lord would heal Karli’s neck and completely eliminate this concern. The doctor referred Karli to an excellent neurosurgeon who should be able to assess the condition of Karli’s neck in a lot more detail. It will be three months before the first opening for an appointment, so until then we are just praying and waiting to find out more.
The unexpected/troublesome finding from the blood-work was twofold: some elevated levels related to her liver and some low levels of certain vitamins. Though the doctor has ordered more tests to find out greater detail about both of these, the good news at this point is that they seem to be treatable through fairly straightforward means. We will keep you posted (pun intended) when we find out more but for now you can just pray for Karli’s liver and overall health. The severity of the pain that Karli faces every day and the medicines she is forced to take to deal with that just take their toll on her entire body and cause lots of ripple effects in all sort of things you wouldn’t naturally think of…
Thank you again for your prayers – we are so grateful. For those of you who are local there are a few times a week where students have organized gatherings specifically to pray for Karli. If you would like more info about that just email me. Some of you have also asked about how you can support us. Probably the easiest way (and tax-deductible) is through IHOP staff support. Just write a check to the ‘International House of Prayer’ with a note included (not on the check itself) that has our name on it and send to:
IHOP Staff Support
3451 East Red Bridge Road
Kansas City MO 64137
Thank you to all who have expressed concern for Karli and remembered her in your prayers. While not a lot has changed since the previous post there are a few things to offer an update on. Probably the one clear positive thing has been the overall trend in Karli’s sleep. The medication most recently prescribed has helped bring some consistency to the hours when Karli is able to rest, particularly in aiding the process of falling asleep (which can be exceedingly difficult because of pain). This is definitely a good start and an improvement from weeks past but Karli is still waking frequently because of discomfort during the night and is not really feeling refreshed at all in the morning.
In general Karli’s pain levels have continued to be way beyond what her meds can control, particularly in her neck and back. Together with the cumulative effect of weariness from the last six weeks, this has still prevented Karli from being able to do much at all. The pain in her neck kind of ‘explodes’ exponentially with significant activity. Unfortunately some of the medication aimed at helping Karli to manage the pain and give her more energy has had some negative side effects as well. Please really pray that the medicine would not cause any adverse reactions in her body.
We will be seeing the doctor again on Friday so you can also pray that the Lord would move through that channel of help and give him some wisdom in how to effectively treat Karli’s pain. It would be awesome to find something that can actuallly address Karli’s pain without massive side effects. Ultimately Jesus can heal bulging discs and degenerating joints and that is really what she needs at this point. We continue to look to Him and put our hope in Him. Thank you for standing with us…
(FROM STEPHEN) Well, it has been quite some time since we have added to the seemingly countless words that pop up online each day. For those of you who have continued to check our blog only to find it unchanged, thank you for your commitment. Of course every blog has ebbs and flows, but this update will hopefully explain the silence a bit.
As anyone who reads this little chronicle of our family knows, Karli is the one who really keeps it running and she has been in a time of intense pain that began around the last post. As most of you know, Karli lives with chronic pain in all of her joints. The reason for this pain is a rare form of a bone and joint disease called SED (spondyloepiphyseal dysplasia) along with what is called precocious [unusually advanced] osteoarthritis, which effects every joint (from fingers and toes to the spine, etc).
A bone scan done in November showed abnormalities in almost all of her joints causing significant bone/joint inflammation. The doctor seemed surprised she was able to be up and around at all and has referred her to another specialist at KU in light of the results. We will see that doctor in March. In addition, we found out through a recent MRI that Karli has a bulging disc in her neck.
Over the last six months her pain levels have been consistently increasing due to various factors but particularly the worsening degeneration in her neck and spine. About six weeks ago a flare started (impacting all of her joints but especially neck and back) that Karli is still in right now. A ‘flare’ is when Karli’s pain levels are so severe that they surpass the ability of her medication to control in any significant degree and drastically impair her ability to function with any sense of normalcy.
Any time a flare happens it is really hard, but right now, we are in a place of crisis, and Karli needs Jesus to intervene. For the last month, Karli has been mostly bedridden and has not been able to sleep with any consistency at all. As all of you know she is amazing and has been so valiant in the midst of this, but the combination of the pain, immobility, and sleeplessness has been exceedingly hard in every way.
We wanted to post this to ask you all to please pray with us for the Lord to bring a breakthrough.
Ways that you can help:
- Pray, Pray, Pray – we need a breakthrough of power from on high. In addition to what I described above, Karli recently saw her doctor and he prescribed a number of new medications to help bring her out of this flare. Karli really doesn’t like taking medicine and often has very adverse side effects, so you can pray that she would be off them quickly and there would be no negative side effects.
- Finances - with mounting medical bills, both prayer for our finances and/or financial support would be a blessing in this season. You can support us thru IHOP staff support (see support information to the right).
Thank you in advance for your support and prayers. We are profoundly grateful. I will try to keep the blog updated with any reports and changes as I have them. Right now, our hope is that these medicines can help Karli rest a little and bring her out of the place of crisis her body is in physically. From there, the doctors seem to have more treatment options in mind. Regardless, our greatest need is Jesus, as always.
Suppose, hypothetically, that God was actually on the planet and chose to enter into the midst of the frey of the emotionally-charged political frenzy in our nation. Many people these days seem to quite confident of where He actually stands in the matter so it seems appropriate to get right to heart of the issue and imagine if He was a citizen right here in the good ole’ United States of America. Would God stride into the voting booth and punch His ballot short and swift for a straight-party ticket (making sure there was no hanging ‘chad’ to confuse the issue and skew the results, of course)? It seems such a perspective is the reigning consenus among the Church with only three weeks to go until the big day. Yet how can we possibly conceive of God – the living God- being a registered voter and taking part in this election? Isn’t a bit audacious to presume to know with such vigor what He would do, nevermind imagining Him actually doing such a thing to begin with? How absurd, right? Wrong. God – the Creator and Sovereign Ruler of all - was in fact a citizen of a little land on the other side of the world at a real point in history when religious and political tempers flared. And by looking at His life and what exactly He did we might just be able to tell a lot about what He would do in our present circumstances. Surely in light of the grave importance we have attached to political figures and their policies, Jesus would have left us a clear pattern to follow.
As we turn and behold the majestic life recorded for us in the pages of the Gospels we do in fact find an example to emulate that is unwavering in its consistency. After a flash of brightness beneath the shadow of a wicked king at His birth, Jesus fell into complete obscurity for the better part of thirty years. Emerging out of this silence into the tumult of the national spotlight, His first public act deeply offended the religious leadership of Jerusalem. To their outrage Jesus replied only with a riddle of sorts, seeking neither their favor nor their ear for His purposes. Though the bulk of His ministry was spent in Galilee, far removed from the locus of religious and political ‘power’ in the hills of Judea, the times He did return to Jerusalem His relationship with those in influence did not exactly demonstrate a desire to garner their support. Never did Jesus seek an audience with the High Priest, who was the most powerful man in Judaism. In fact it was not until the night before His crucifixion that their paths intersected. His sparse words seem to indicate that Jesus did not view the meeting as particularly important as opportunities for influence go. Similarly, His imminent death was also the occasion for His first encounter with those at the top of the political hierarchy. Pilate extracted a few sentences from Jesus, while Herod Antipas only a blanket of silence. Thus throughout Jesus’ brief sojourn on the earth leading up to the cross we discover not a single instance of appealing to the religious or political elite as part of His strategy to change history forever. There was no special counsel with Herod, no dinner with Pilate, no pilgrimage to Rome to talk to Caesar about really making some changes in the Roman Empire. All told it would seem He viewed their ‘power’ and ‘position’ as…irrelevant. Even after His resurrection when certainly an appearance in Pilate’s bedroom would have gone a long way for furthering support for His fledgling band of followers, Jesus chose to reveal Himself instead to the brokenhearted woman whom He had delivered from seven demons.
Perhaps Jesus’ actions fall into some sort of category of exception because He was God in the flesh…what about how His followers are supposed to act (besides being like Him, of course)? In terms of what their actual life was like, there is no figure in the New Testament whom we know more about than the Apostle Paul. His ministry turned the world upside down and radically changed the landscape of Asia Minor. Yet faced with the formidable task of advancing the gospel in the gross immorality and idolatry of Roman culture, what did Paul do? Did he rally supporters and lobby members of the Roman senate for an upheaval of their policies? Did he travel through the land getting signatures on a petition to be able to talk to Caesar? Not once do we find Paul ever doing such a thing. He simply preached Christ, and Him crucified – his single and preeminent issue and passion. And like the One he so loved, Paul’s only confrontation with political authorities was when his hands were bound in chains.
Vote as you will, but let us not be swept along in the momentum of a political current that ultimately leads nowhere. Biblically God’s winds of change do not blow from capitals and courtrooms, nor are they the least bit hindered by the resistance of wicked men. The greatest revival in history began in the city that crucified the Lord of Glory, and spread like wild-fire through an empire that worshiped their leader. My guess is that neither of the candidates in this election will soon seek to demand worship, but even if they surprised us all and did, America would not be disqualified. And regardless of who gets elected America will still be the recipient of God’s judgment, for no matter who the nation crowns on November 4th, men and women all across this land will lie down on their bed after turning off the news and give no heed to the glory of Christ and His infinite worth. My concern is not that men and women in the Church have voiced support for a particular candidate, but that in doing so they have demonstrated more commitment and more zeal than they do for the majesty and renown of Jesus. We are consumed with a host of things but not with Him, and it is this disease of Christ-less Christianity that threatens the future of our nation, not a movement to the left or the right of the political aisle. We must awake and return to our first love, curing the malady that now runs rampant under quaint country steeples and in the sprawling suburban campuses of mega-churches alike.
This morning I awoke to a distressing realization. You see, the morning and I have some very deep, long-standing relational brokenness and in general we get along much better if coffee is present to be a sort of arbitrator between us. On the one hand coffee represents the morning and says, “you see, I am not so bad, there are things about me to enjoy.” Yet coffee stands on my behalf and says to the morning, “your demands are too severe, I am not ready to experience you directly, please keep your distance.” And thus through the yummy coffee a sort of harmony is achieved whereas before there was only enmity and strife between sleepy Stephen and the early hours of the day. Yet on this morning I was faced with the alarming reality that while I had beans ready to be transformed into a steaming cup of dark liquid I possessed no filters to make this metamorphosis possible. Noah had risen particularly early, making the pangs of fatigue even more difficult to bear. Laying on the floor in the living room, face down, bemoaning my plight, I finally decided I would venture out to the grocery store to purchase a package of #4 cone filters. Now there are some people who roll out of bed with a sort of ‘cool’ disheveled look that does not necessitate a shower. I am not one of them. Yet bathing wasn’t a possibility so I threw on some clothes from the hamper of dirty laundry and covered my bed-head with a hat that I’ve had since college and rallied Noah for what was for him a rare pre-breakfast outing. So now the stage is set for describing the real purpose of this post. I was in the process of getting Noah back into the car after successfully acquiring the aforementioned #4 cone filters at our local “Price Chopper” when I heard someone singing, in an odd sort of way, “good morning, good morning”. I looked up and there was an older woman with curly white hair in a sort of run down maroon mini-van who was the source of the song. Though I didn’t recognize here, at first I thought she might have been someone from the house of prayer because I certainly don’t know all the faces of those associated with the ministry and it seemed quite odd to be leaning out of your car window singing to a stranger. Looking back I think this was a logical assessment of the situation. In the midst of my internal uncertainty she asked a question that cleared up the confusion concerning her identity.
“Would you be interested in some good literature?”, she said.
“It depends on what it is”, I answered with a smile, completely aware at this point that she was a Jehovah’s Witness.
“Do you believe in God”, she replied.
“I do believe in God.”
Quickly she added, “Why do you believe in God.”
“Because Jesus Christ came in the flesh”, I said, now very much trying to lead the conversation to the place I desired it to go.
“Yes”, she said with a smile, “and he is the savior of all.”
“But I believe that He is divine”, I said as I walked toward her car and nodded in agreement with her previous statement.
She shook her head affirmatively, “he is divine.”
Her agreement actually surprised me, and at this point it would seem that the two of us had much in common, yet that is precisely the great deception. In reality our belief systems, our lives, and our eternal fates are diametrically opposed.
“He is fully God”, I retorted, at last bringing to the surface the real issue she had been elusively trying to avoid.
“he is a god”, she conceded.
“No, He is fully God – He is Yahweh.”
“Yahweh is Jehovah”, she said, seeming to have some hope of reeling me back into to her logic.
“Yes, I know, and Jesus is Yahweh – He created all things.”
“Yahweh created with Jesus – he was beside him as a master craftsmen – but Yahweh is Jehovah.”
The subtlety of Proverbs 8 again surprised me, but I kept pressing the issue.
“He is Yahweh – Philippians 2 says that He has been given the name above every name and that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow and every tongue confess that He is Lord – that He is Yahweh.”
For whatever reason this seemed to be the last straw and she began to disengage, realizing I suppose that she was not going to persuade me.
“Would you like this”, she said as she held out the watchtower magazine once more.
“No – I don’t want it”.
And that was it. “Jesus is Divine”, I said one final time as she drove away with her ‘trainee’ in the passenger seat. As me, Noah, and about 100 coffee filters drove out of the parking lot I saw her van stopped at the end of long row of cars. If nothing else I hope our exchange at least caused them to retire from their efforts for the rest of the morning.
There is a very common sentiment in the body of Christ that theology is irrelevant, meaning it has no bearing on our day to day lives. I have much zeal to labor for all my days to see that destructive error purged from the Church, but for now I simply offer this little vignette as a living example to the contrary. This morning as I stood face to face with this woman, theology (substitute the phrase, “the truth about God”) was the only thing that mattered. The truth is that an absolute chasm exists between the true, living God and all other reality and the JW has tried to situate Jesus somewhere in between as a “god”. Yet Scripture knows nothing of such a designation – there is Yahweh and then there are the idols of the nations. He created all things alone, He alone reigns over all, and He alone is Savior (see Isaiah 45 – the passage Paul is quoting in Philippians 2). And thus an absolute chasm exists between that woman and I – it is the chasm between truth and deception, between Creator and creation, and heaven and hell – regardless of whether our language might sound similar on the surface. The truth of this must come to the forefront – the fact that she believes Jesus is the savior of all and affirmed that he was divine in some sense does not mean that she is ‘half-saved’ or will just kind of sneak in the door of heaven because she just had a little doctrinal error. She is not in any way regenerate (born again) and unless she is soundly converted she will be in the lake of fire forever. This is not because she didn’t read the right theology book and God is just so harsh, it is because Jehovah’s Witnesses have blatantly denied the very heart of the Gospel – that Yahweh Himself has come and given His life as a sacrifice on the cross. This afternoon in the prayer room I have been asking the Lord to have mercy on that woman I talked to this morning and all those who have believed the lie in this city. My hope is that I will see her again, and that our second meeting will be in the eternal city because during her days on the earth she joined Thomas at the feet of Jesus and cried “my Lord and my God.” Amen.
This is a first. Long have I stood on the shoreline, content to survey the burgeoning world of blogging from a distance. Karli has faithfully prodded me to jump in, encouraging me to overcome my reticence and contribute first to our site devoted to Noah and now to our family blog. I am still not quite sure it is for me, but I can perhaps divulge more of my reservations another time (if in fact there is another time). Tonight it is enough that I have decided to dip my toe in the water and offer some reflections on Noah that will hopefully transcend his beautiful little life and resonate in some broader veins that touch us all.
First, however, it is worth noting that I would have began this much earlier had it not been for the second heated conversation that Karli and I have had within the last ten days on the question called the theodicy in theological circles – that is, the problem of the existence of sin and evil in the world when viewed from the standpoint of faith in an all-powerful and all-good God. I will not here disclose the content of these exchanges but mention it only as a means of expressing my affection for my wife. While I think both of us feel we could do without our occasional debates (Karli complains in particular that it makes her head hurt), I love how spunky and stubborn she is. She cannot be content, anymore than I can, to settle for false conciliatory gestures. Instead it must be seen through to the end, whether that be a degree of harmony (as we found tonight) or mutual exasperation (as we found last week). Since the time we were dating I have enjoyed that about my Karli. And now onto the reason why this is called the Venable Three and not the Venable Duo…
In the study of physics there are two general types of energy: kinetic and potential. The former refers to the energy an object possesses when in motion. A plane traveling upwards of five-hundred miles an hour has a sizeable amount of kinetic energy. Potential energy on the other hand refers to that which an object has if it were to be in motion. As I reach back into the hazy matrix of my memories from high-school an image emerges of a large rock perched at the edge of a sharp slope, likely originating from a textbook now suffering the pains of entropy in a landfill somewhere in Maryland. It would only take a nudge and the boulder would tumble down the slope at a tremendous speed, and thus it has a very high quantity of potential energy.
Now I realize that employing a somewhat obscure reference from rudimentary physics to preface comments about my son borders on obnoxious (though I am a neophyte in the blogging world I am not without sensibility). Yet for better or worse, odd though it may seem, I have actually thought about this in reference to Noah. Right now his movements are small, limited mainly to our living room floor and under our dining room table. Although it surpasses precious, when he uses his little arms and legs to charge toward me he doesn’t move much except my heart. Yet when I look at him I see this vast bundle of potential energy bound up within his little frame. Unlike those of us who have been in motion for so long that we are at times wearied by it, even as one a few months shy of thirty, Noah stands on precipice of life, poised to tumble into the fray of the human experience. And while the utter depravity of man is so agonizingly real, the ripples of sin so devastating, there is still a quality about life that is nothing less than grand. Unfortunately the moments when this truth is lucid seem to diminish with the passing years, but still it remains.
There will be a day when Noah sees his first sunrise over the ocean, when he inhales the fragrance of autumn beneath spiraling leaves, and watches the bleak landscape of winter be transformed by the blanket of snow. I wonder what book it will be that wields the words that plunge into his heart and evince the great power of small black strokes on a page. What song will first reveal the mysterious force of music upon the soul? What story will evoke his first tears, or inspire impulses of magnanimity from his young heart? And most of all I muse upon the tale that will unfold between him and the Lord, and wonder at the way his heart will be thrilled and captivated by the beauty of Jesus. Noah gets to discover the great glory and the tremendous worth of Christ and experience in his own unique way the lovingkindness that is better than life, and that alone can satisfy our groping hearts.
For me this brings context to all the mundane sacrifices of parenthood. Through meal after meal, diapers, unwanted naps, dirty sippy cups, throw up in the back seat, and all the other things that go into being a “Daddy” or a “Mommy” we are stewards of the incredible gift of life that God has given our child, ensuring that all of the vast potentiality inherent in our little one slowly translates into actuality. Like us they will get to taste the twisting and turning adventure of existing in this age, replete with both dancing and weeping. And above all they will know the joy of falling in love with the One who upholds each breath along the way by His very word…
