The Day

Oh such tears of joy,

I’ve never known,

I can’t remember

It’s like a song, I’ve never heard

I’ve never sung, but know the words

lyrics by Baby Face

Today, we celebrated Joseph's Gotcha Day. The day, we held him in our arms for the very first time in China. I remember worrying so much about how small and fragile he was. Can you believe he gained 17 lbs and 7 inches in one year? He had hardly any muscle mass and couldn't even roll over on his back. Now he is running, jumping and swimming! God is so amazing! "The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy" (Psalm 126:3).

Happy Birthday To You!

Happy Birthday to You

Happy Birthday Dear Joseph

Happy Birthday to You!

Written by Mildred J. Hill, Patty S. Hill

I know I was not present at the birth of my children and able to witness them taking their first breath but the breath of the Almighty who gives life was there (Job 33:4). He could have chosen to let me carry them in my womb but instead He closed my womb and allowed another precious one to carry them.

Today, I celebrate their lives and praise God that I am able to witness each moment and every breath. "He settles the barren woman in her home as a happy mother of children. Praise the LORD" (Psalm 113:9).

The Motions

I don't wanna go one more day

Without Your all consuming passion inside of me

I don't wanna spend my whole life asking,

"What if I had given everything,

instead of going through the motions?"

lyrics by Matthew West

On Easter, we can get so focused on Easter clothes and Easter baskets that we really forget what we are celebrating. Jesus suffered, died on a cross, rose again on the third day and conquered death. Why? The wages of sin is death and Jesus paid our wages with His body and with His blood because the God of the Universe wanted to have a relationship with us. We could never have been good enough, gone to church enough, helped others enough to be able to come into the presence of the Lord. We are just not that good. Only through Jesus and his righteousness are we able to come to Him and have a relationship with God. "His unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into His own family by bringing us to himself THROUGH JESUS CHRIST. And this gave Him great pleasure. So we praise God for the wonderful kindness He has poured out on us because we belong to His dearly loved Son. He is so rich in kindness that He purchased our FREEDOM through the blood of His Son, and our sins are forgiven" (Ephesians 1:5-7).

Next year, I have decided that I am going to really celebrate Easter instead of going through the motions. On 4th of July, we go all out with fireworks to celebrate our freedom as a nation. Why should we not also teach our kids to celebrate Easter with the same enthusiasm because of the freedom that Jesus died for so that we would no longer be slaves to the law? "It is for freedom that Christ has set us free " Galatians 5:1. The freedom comes from when we realize we could never be good enough to get to heaven or good enough to serve Him and that "the wages of sin is death, BUT the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 6:23). So let's celebrate, with passion, all that God has done for us on Easter and every day instead of just going through the motions!!!!

What Can Wash Away My Sin?

Nothing but the blood of Jesus;
What can make me whole again?
Nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Oh! precious is the flow;

That makes me white as snow.

lyrics by Robert Lowry

Joseph saw his first snow today. Everyone had lots of fun until the snow ball fight because half of the snow worked its way inside their jackets and gloves. Of course, after the snow looks more like dirt, it is just not that fun anymore. The thing that draws you is the fresh, beautiful snow that has never been touched. You just can't wait to get your hands on it.

Then I remembered that God made the first man, Adam, from "the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7). That same man disobeyed God and brought sin into the world by eating of the one tree that they were not suppose to, the tree of life. "He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever" (Genesis 2:22). Basically, sin was brought into the world and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).

If that was the end of the story, it would be a sad story but God and his unfailing love provided a plan and that plan was Jesus. "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whosoever BELIEVES IN HIM will have ETERNAL LIFE" (John 3:16). This life on this earth is but a vapor but when we leave this earth, we will live forever in His presence if we accept His gift, Jesus, as Lord and Savior of our lives. Remember, it is a GIFT not something we did to earn it so that we could boast about it. "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith (in Jesus Christ)—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

If we could have done it on our own, there would have been no need for Jesus to die on a cross. But there was a need. The wages of our sin is death but JESUS paid our ransom with His life. "For even the Son of Man (Jesus) did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mark 10:45). "He himself bore our sins in His body on the tree (cross), so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness" (I Peter 2:24).

The Good News is "for just as through the disobedience of the one man (Adam) the many were made sinners , so also through the obedience of the One (Jesus) the many will be made righteous" (Romans 5:19). When we accept the Gift, we were made RIGHTEOUS BY THE BLOOD OF JESUS. "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as WHITE AS SNOW; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool" (Isaiah 1:18). So when we confess Jesus as Lord of our lives and acknowledge that He died for our sins, God doesn't see the "dirt", our sin, but only sees the "beautiful snow", the righteousness of Christ, that covers us and He can't wait to get His hands on us to use us for His glory.