Ever since the fall in the Garden of Eden humanity has been suffering from spiritual forgetfulness. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses is constantly reminding the people of God about what God has already done on their behalf. Throughout the Old Testament, we see God giving constant reminders of His goodness to His people. The people of Israel always seemed to forget the powerful plagues, the Red Sea rescue, the miraculous massacre of the enemies in the Promised Land (ie. Jericho), and etc. Sinclair Ferguson, in his small volume entitled A Heart for God, sums up the problem when he says, “God’s people – then, as now – were plagued by spiritual amnesia (p. 119).” 

I wish I could say that this problem has not continued beyond the Cross of Jesus Christ, but the gospel is too often jettisoned by everything from worldly living to super-spirituality. It is at the cross that we see the constant reminder of the penalty and punishment of our sin. The New Testament Christians from Galatia quickly turned from the Gospel of Christ to another gospel of legalism. You would think that in the age of grace, God’s blood-bought children would not quickly set aside the foundation of their faith. And yet, within about half of a century, early believers began to forget.

We often try to sugar coat the obvious fact that in the church today the gospel is soon set aside as yesterday’s good news. Perhaps, we should speak clearly about our own lack of focus on the gospel. Could the charge of spiritual amnesia be laid upon us? Ferguson goes on to remind believers that while our world is allergic to true commitment, the church is called to an eternal faith:

“God calls us to promise ourselves to Him in a lifelong commitment of faithfulness and obedience. He does not regard our failure here as a becoming modesty, or an understandable reticence. He has other names for it: disobedience, disloyalty, backsliding, faithfulness.” A Heart for God by Sinclair Ferguson, p. 118.

All of this leads me to one conclusion: Christians, including myself, are desparately in need of ongoing repentance. Repentance is not just something we are to do once when we first experience the grace of God in Christ. Repentance is to be an ongoing work of God in our lives, just as our faith. Repentance, in many ways, is a remembering of the gospel. It is recognizing our lost condition apart from Christ. It is reminding ourselves of the great work of God in substituting His one and only Son in our place. Repentance is renewing our commitment to live for Christ and love Him supremely. Repentance is remembering that we deserved everything but God’s mercy and grace. Because of all these gospel truths, repentance is removing ourselves from sin’s path and sin’s power. We continue to turn away from sin because of the gospel and the Holy Spirit’s ongoing work begun at regeneration.

What is the spiritual medicine for “Spiritual Amnesia?” Here is a good answer:

“Do not ‘forget Him.’ Live in His presence, and open the whole of your life to his will expressed in his word (‘observe His commands’).” A Heart for God by Sinclair Ferguson, p. 119.

Okay, this is the last one. Tim Hawkins is a very funny Christian Comedian. BTW – He will be in New Albany, IN/Louisville, KY area in October.

Okay, I promised another video by Tim Hawkins. Too funny for words. The Christian worldview can never truly believe that government is the solution to our problems. We must pray for our leaders and “Give unto Caesar, that which Caeser’s,” but Jesus Christ is the only answer for our broken and fallen world. Enjoy!

We came across the Christian comedian Tim Hawkins a week or so ago. He is very funny. You can check his material out on Youtube. I will post my next two favorite Tim Hawkins’ videos shortly.

Marcus Paul Weaver (August 24, 1985 – June 22, 2004)

My brother Marcus would have been 24 today. My family and I sure do miss him. I have posted a picture of him on his 2nd birthday and his 16th birthday. It is hard to believe he has been gone over 5 years now.

I am pretty sure that most people remember the quote attributed to an African proverb that goes like this, “It takes a village to raise a child.” Over ten years ago Hillary Clinton wrote a book entitled, It Takes a Village, that used this proverb as a foundation for its key principle advocating “a society which meets all of a child’s needs.” I find that this concept, while promoted by Clinton some years ago, is a pervading mindset in the church. Of course, the concept that the most important influence a child needs is that which comes from outside the family unit is not new. Our society has specialized everything from education, to the medical field, and even theology. The specialization is so refined that it is often questioned whether parents are best suited to raise their own kids. Now, specialization in a particular field is not necessary evil, but when certain specialists such as, educators, psychologists, and doctors begin to interfere or take on the role of a parent, then there is a problem. I also understand that when it comes to  children in dysfunctional and fractured family situations, they may especially need outside help and influence, but I am arguing for the need for Christian families to influence their own children as only they can do. 

My primary concern is not to issue an injunction against the society at large. Our American culture is what it is and I do not purport that change is altogether possible. What I am convinced of, is that the church in America has to be willing to cross the culture norms and be willing to create its own culture. The gospel demands this type of culture crossing and culture creating. In my opinion, the best way for a church to cross culture and create culture is by leading families to align themselves with principles from the Bible. Children’s Ministries and Youth Ministries that seek to take the place of parents fail to cross culture or create culture. Ministries that teach parental responsiblity and train parents to parent biblically will succeed. But, so few churches are doing this. It all starts with the Pastor. The pastor must espouse and exposit two key principles for families.

First, marriage is intended to be Christ-centered (Husbands are to love like Christ and lead with strength and a servant’s heart, Wives are to submit to their own husbands as to the Lord).

Second, parents are responsible for the well-being of their children (this responsibility includes physical, educational, emotional realms, but most importantly the spiritual realm; Fathers are to lead in training their children in the things of God, Mothers are to be primarily homemakers and train their children in partnership with the Father, Parents are to provide for, protect, nurture, and direct their children according to biblical truth).

I find that these two principles are not the norm in our society or within evangelical churches (particular Southern Baptist churches). The culture at large rejects both of these principles. Even the most responsible parents ultimately relinquish their responsibility to others within weeks or months of having a child and continue to do so until they reach the societal age of adulthood. Oddly enough, a current trend seems to be that parents are sometimes taking more responsiblity for their adult children than they did when their now adult children were young and at home. It seems apparent to me that many parents do not realize the weight of their responsiblity until it is too late. Now, I do not doubt that most parents feel the weight of their responsiblity to feed, clothe, and to train their kids to not be common criminals, but for the Christian parent the goal of parenting is not first and foremost educational or vocational success. It is not even the goal of the parent to train their children to be a good citizen or self-sufficient, but rather to train and plant the seeds which would fit them for entrance and citizenship in God’s kingdom.

After eleven and a half years in ministry in the local church, I have come to the conclusion that it takes a family to change the culture, because it takes a family to raise a child and culture creation takes generations. The bible does not advocate village based parenting. The Bible does not say, “Children obey the village.” Or, “Honor your Village.” God never intended villages to raise kids, but God has always intended that parents raise children. Villages (including government sponsored daycares, public schools, or even church schools) can all educate and influence children for good and bad, but villages can never replace parents. Btw – the Bible never advocates the church raising children either, but rather instructs the church to train parents to raise children according to the God’s Word.

Admittedly, parental neglect has often led to the necessity of government institutions that meet the needs of certain children, but this is altogether different than creating a society that seeks to meet all of a child’s needs. Children need parents. Churches need families. And, our villages need churches who are mini-cultures of biblical truth and family-driven methodology. It takes a FAMILY. Our village-driven mindset in the church comes from the world, not the Bible.

It is a fact that our minivan only seats seven people. You guessed it, that means Baby Andrew gets Seat #7. This is definitely a new development for us in regards to transportation. It is not that we did not expect or think about while we were pregnant with baby #5, but it is one thing to think about something and an entirely different thing to experience the reality of that thing. Since we are still in the hospital as of today, Sara and I have conversed about where kids will now sit. We have had a strategy session about the seating arrangement in our van. I have yet to draw a diagram or give out a seating chart to the kids, nor have I posted one in the van, although this thought has crossed my mind. What is most clear to me is that we have just right amount of seats for our family. Of course, this means that any further expansions in our family will necessarily result in the need for another seat. Just as a side, this also means that when my mom comes to visit, she can no longer ride with us, thus it take two vehicles to get to church, Evansville, etc.

I realize that this post may seem a bit odd, if you have never thought that your minivan was just barely adequate to transport your family, but to me it just makes good sense to think this thing out. The real question has to be, “What comes after the minivan?” Our friends, who have 6 children-and another on the way, are in a Suburban. I am not sure what they plan to do once they have their new addition, but I’ll leave it up to their dad to write a blog post about Seat #9. At the end of the day, I realize that this topic is probably just not that important to most people, but it is to me.

I do know that God has no trouble getting people from point A to point B. I am thinking now of God’s work of saving sinners from their sins. My life verse is “being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1:6   Jesus never concerns Himself with whether there will be enough room for His children. He always has enough room for His kids. He does know and has always known the number and needs of His children, and He will never lose them or leave them behind. Jesus can transport His children all the way from this earth to heaven. He has made arrangements, and there is a seat for each one who has been drawn by the Father and has believed on the Son. Jesus also teaches us,

“All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.” John 6:37-39(NKJV)

When it comes transportation,  I do not know what our family would do if we were to have anymore children. But, I do know that God gives His confident promise that He can handle getting all of His blood-bought children from this world to eternity with Him. 

Now, I need to go install another car seat…. in seat #7  :-)

Today is Day #6 in the hospital. Baby Andrew is still in the NICU, and Sara and I are staying in a family room here in the hospital. We are so ready to be home with Andrew and all of our kids. Andrew is steadily improving. He is off of the oxygen and his sole source of nutrition is Mama. That means the IV will go soon, too. We pray that tomorrow we will get a report of clear lungs and maybe even get the light therapy behind us, if his billyrubin numbers are down to normal.

We continue to see the hand of God in all of these circumstances. He has allowed us to minister to others here in the hospital, and has allowed us to experience more of Him and His power. His grace is sufficient.

God deserves the glory in each situation of our lives. I praise Him for allowing us the time and journey of this week. I know that my love for Sara grows stronger everyday. Our family is growing numerically, but also in faith. Our children are seeing Mommy and Daddy walk by faith. They are experiencing separation from us, but they are learning that God is faithful to His people.

Soon, I will look back to these days and see even more of God’s working in the events of this week, but until then, I am just trusting, and waiting, and looking forward to getting home with our son. And being together. All of us under one roof. All seven of us, and Wally too. (Wally is our dog.)

I can hardly believe that Sara and I now have our fifth child. It has been so different for us having little Andrew. All of the other pregnancies were so uneventful. They were amazing and miraculous, but we always got to hold our babies within hours of the delivery. Then with the other four kids, we brought them home after 2-3 days, at the most.

Now here we are on day five and Andrew is still in the NICU. I did not get to hold Andrew until day three, and Andrew did not even get to eat until day four. It has been extremely hard for Sara. Usually, she is starting to get settled in with the new baby, and all of us are together, adjusting together. Today, she broke down. Things are just not supposed to be this way.

Of course, we know that God is in control. God has seen fit to teach us trust and patience. God is working with our children and respective families through this. God is working in our church because of this time in our lives. And finally, God is surely drawing us closer to Him and his Son Jesus; as we draw closer our son Andrew. What a blessing this little guy is to his parents.

I now blog. To blog or not to blog. That is the question. This….. is the answer…..