In an essay entitled, “Petitionary Prayer: A problem without an answer,” C.S. Lewis tries to harmonize the two types of prayer recorded in the New Testament. On one hand the scripture instructs us to “pray according to his will” (1 John 5:14), on the other it tells us that “whatever we ask we receive from him”. The former he associates with the “weakest” of prayers, while the latter he says are those who come with confidence, those who are seeking miracles. This in turn became a very perplexing problem for Mr. Lewis, leading him to ask of more seasoned men: How shall I pray this night? After studying prayer, and those great prayer warriors throughout church history, it seems that this bridge is easily crossed. When we have spent time, quality time, agonizing time, relentless time abiding in Christ we slowly begin to think like Christ and to see the world through his eyes. It is at this point that the spirit begins to teach us what to pray, and for what to ask. Our will (read: our desires) begins to bend to his, and we find ourselves no longer concerned with the problems of this life as they relate to us, but rather with more serious matters; matters of discipleship and salvation. It is here that our prayers will be focused.

“How shall I pray this night?” Will not be a question that troubles me this evening. No, this night I know how I shall pray, “My lips will shout for joy” (Psalms 71:23), “they will pour forth praise” (Psalms 109:171), YES, “my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness” (Psalms 51:14). God is good, he always has been and whoever says otherwise has not known the same God I know tonight, and am knowing more every day. “He teaches me all things” (John 14:26), and is a “stronghold and a very present help in the times of trouble” (Psalms 9:9, 46:1).
Tonight, I will slip off to sleep with praise upon my lips. I will be drawn in to his bosom and comforted there. I will be reminded of his great goodness, and yesterday will be just another chapter in our lives. Perhaps it will be titled “this night I know how to pray”. Surely, these are not the end of our troubles, there is certainly more to come. The refining is not over, and deliverance from this body of death is still to come. But tonight we celebrate, we celebrate life, life that is being weaved together in its mother’s womb by the master weaver himself, and life that was weaved together just a few years ago. While we wait for a child to be delivered, another child waits thousands of miles away for us to deliver her. Scout, we love you, and we are fighting for you, but more importantly God is fighting for us all. Hold the line, Scout, don’t give up hope only b

elieve and you will see the Glory of God, and when it’s all said and done you will stand as a testimony of God’s faithfulness. You will have a new song in your heart, and together we will sing this song of praise to the world.

I suppose there are some people that to this point have not heard that Lori and I are adopting another child from China, her name is Scout, and before you ask, the answer is yes, she does have a special need; Down Syndrome. When we started this process for the second time we had no clue how God was going to provide for this journey, and still don’t. Man plan’s his ways but God directs his steps. We do know that God has given instructions not just to us, but the church in general, to care for widow’s and orphans. Our family has accepted that call. Unfortunately we sometimes ( no matter how hard we try) cannot understand the mind of God, His ways are not our ways, and thankfully so.

Our journey has taken a turn lately, and now we stand at a crossroads, a fork in the road that I pray is leading us to this precious little girl. You see, Lori and I discovered only a couple weeks ago that she is pregnant. Having said that, this complicates matters with the adoption. There are rules governing these things in the world of Adoption. Not that they view natural childbirth as being a bad thing, but that they have to be totally focused on the welfare of the child being adopted. What this means for us is that I will have to show a substantial increase in my own salary in order to continue this process.  I have no doubt that God can and will provide for this, I have no idea how, but I am doing all I can, and that’s all that can be asked of anyone, right? However, this new information (as you can imagine) has caused a considerable amount of stress and anxiety.  To complicate matters further, we had a significant scare last night believing that Lori had miscarried. Thankfully, everything is fine, the doctor checked her out this morning and we still have a heartbeat and a baby. For a moment though our little world seemed as if it was falling apart. We have been through miscarriage before as many of you probably have as well. The Doctor’s say its very common. The problem with that statement is that it doesn’t numb the pain. I could never know what it feel’s like as a woman to lose a child this way. I do know however what it feels like as a father. I am supposed to protect my children, to defend my children, to love my children, and to train up my children according to God’s prescribed word. Miscarriage does not afford a man the opportunity to defend, it is a natural process that only God can control. To think that as a father I couldn’t defend those children we have lost is exceptionally painful.

I think about the number of children who are aborted every year, every month, every week, and every day, and I wonder why? Scripture tell us that children are a blessing, and blessed is the man who’s quiver is full. Yet, in our society children are a curse, a hindrance to that amazing life we have all dreamed of, but will end up leaving us empty at the end of the day. At the end of my day, I come home to a house full of children that cant wait to see me. They jump into my arms and tell me they love me. That will never leave a man empty, instead he will be filled, filled to the brim and running over. Why, does a miscarriage cause so much pain for one person, and then at the same time another person can callously end the life of a child on their terms and feel nothing.  I don’t understand it, and I guess I never will.  The truth is that most women who are having this procedure are on their own. The men (who are half responsible) abandoned their responsibility the second that blue line appeared in the pregnant window, as a result that child, that precious little child has no defender on earth. Thankfully, they have one in heaven; God, defender of the fatherless. In His hands justice will not be miscarried.

As a church how can we abhor a procedure like abortion, a procedure that has happened roughly 60,000,000 times since Roe vs. Wade was enacted. That’s right 60,000,000 babies thrown in the trash. While at the same time turning a blind eye to the world wide epidemic know as fatherlessness. We promote the right to life as it relates to abortion, while a the same time allowing almost two hundred million orphans to sit and rot in an orphanage. We are hypocrites, plain and simple. If there ever was a miscarriage of justice it’s not in the number of abortion procedures performed annually but in the numbers of orphans waiting on the church to bring them home. If you want to defend the right to life, stop lining up outside abortion clinics with your posters, and line up at the orphanage with your family.  I assure you the problem there is much greater, and we are called to do it.

I despise technology; One, because I am forced to use it, and two because of what it’s doing to the culture. We are a nation consumed by and with technology. The mass marketeers know exactly what they’re doing when they brand these products to our children. Knowing that parents for the most part have allowed their children to believe that the world revolves around them; why not name our products after each customer? Rather than use their own name (that would be too costly), we instead will incorporate the term “I” into everything. By this we will continue to feed the ego and carry on the traditional teaching of their parents. Thus, we have the I-pod, the I-pad, and the I-phone. Seems it’s all about “I” these days, I must admit it’s a brilliant strategy and apparently a very profitable one as well.

Technology was supposed to set us free, make life easier and more efficient. We have instead become a slave of the slave. Technology is controlling us, everything from our attitude to our general disposition is now determined by whether or not we have unfettered access to these little devices that have connected us to the world. They are the new Tower of Babel.

Last night I watched as my eldest daughter had a near miss with an epic meltdown because she had lost her I-pod. Of course I reassured her that it was not lost, only misplaced. So we searched and searched, feverishly, frantically for this little rectangle shaped doo-dad that apparently has the whole worth of my daughters existence trapped inside.  I watched as her attitude slowly deteriorated into outright disrespect and rebellion, even going so far as to level false claims of thievery. Eventually we all quit looking and went to bed, only to rise again at 5:30am to start the process all over again.  Exasperated after having scoured every nook and cranny of the house for this hidden gem; I finally asked my daughter have you prayed about it? NO! she exclaimed. “Well why don’t you do that” I said. “Why should I, do you really think God cares about my I-pod”.  Ahhh, this was a statement not a question, But I answered it anyway. “No, but I know he cares about you, and every minute detail of your life, maybe if you ask for help he’ll give it to you”.  I don’t know if she ever prayed or not, but I did, it was nearing 6:30 and time for me to leave for work, if I didn’t find that I-pod the situation was only going to continue its downward spiral. I Sat down on the love seat and reached my hand down into the same crack I had searched at least a dozen times already, and what do I find, that’s right, her I-pod. The look on her face was a picture of relief, wrapped up in guilt and shame, as she quickly began to recall her baseless accusations and dishonoring attitude. I left for work, she went back to bed, and “all” again was well with her soul.

I am sure there are similar incidents as this occurring around the world at a rate that is climbing faster than our national debt. After having some time to reflect on, and process the whole ordeal, I began to think about a parable that Jesus spoke, the one about the man who had found the hidden treasure and then went and sold all of his belongings in order to buy that field so that he might possess the treasure. I thought about it in these terms: what if I knew there was a treasure hidden somewhere in a mans field, and I was given permission to search for that treasure as diligently as I wanted. How feverishly would I search that field over, in order to possess this treasure? The only requirement is that I seek the treasure. By doing so I am given the assurance that once I find it, I may possess it, and after searching so long and so hard for that treasure, what man in his right mind would then say, “you know, on second thought I don’t think I want the treasure”.  We are given the assurance in scripture that if we seek God we will find him, if we seek with all our heart, and I for one cannot think of anything of more value than the relationship I have with my Lord. It didn’t come easy though, and the truth is, I searched and searched to find him, and when I did I was ready to sell everything I had in order to possess him. He didn’t ask for that though, he simply asked for my life.

It is a wonder to think that this treasure is there for the taking and available to any who are willing to seek, It is a wonder to think that we will search harder and more diligently for all things beginning in “I” than we do for a savior. Perhaps it’s because at the moment we don’t realize we need it. There will, however, come a day when men wished they had searched as hard for him as they did their next high. Sadly it will be too late.

It is officially that time of year; a time to remember that dreadful creature that elicits so much fear from our helpmates. I can think of very few things that might cause the sort of reaction we see from our wives when they happen across that dreaded serpent: A mugger hiding in the backseat, or in the closet of their room; perhaps, or maybe their child standing to close to the edge of a cliff. I suppose there are other things that may bring the same fear and anxiety as this slithering little creature, however they are things that are usually associated with our children. A good mother would protect her child at any cost. My wife is a good mother.

Driving down these old country roads in the early mornings and late afternoons we are likely to see these creatures slithering across the pavement in front of us. As the enmity begins to build we find ourselves swerving across two lanes of traffic; not wanting to miss any chance we have at eliminating this great threat, and even-ing the score.  It makes sense that we should see them during the cool of the day, after all it was during this same time that our Lord walked with Adam in the Garden. Sacrifices were likewise made during the morning and evening hours, and Christ himself withdrew for solemn prayer before the sun would rise and after it’s setting. It’s almost as if these dastardly little menaces are still on the prowl looking for that promised son; appearing in the hours he is most likely to be found. Instead what he finds is the one to whom God has placed enmity within, and it usually ends in the demise of the slithering little trickster.

This happened to be the case yesterday morning at the Denton homestead. My son, Justin, heard the dog barking and like any good son went to investigate. What he found was more than he had bargained for; A long brown snake lurking in the shadows of the dogs pen, likely waiting to strike at the next unassuming passerby. Luckily, he was spotted by the trained eye of an eight year old boy and his faithful dog. Justin immediately reported his find to his mother, who hurriedly went for an unloaded pistol (though she didn’t know it) intent on meeting this threat with deadly force. They did manage to kill the snake, though not with a fatal shot to his head. Afterwards giving it a proper burial; the pond. Though I am sure they would have rather had a lake of fire, that wont come soon enough.

As usual I picked up the kids from my wife’s place of employment after I got off work. It was then that I had the privilege to hear the whole account again from the perspective of a trained eight year old snake assassin. It may have been slightly different than his mothers account. When we arrived home Justin immediately made a b-line for the final resting place of this once ferocious beast. When I asked what he was doing his response was “making sure it’s still dead”.  Secretly I think he may have been relishing a bit in the victory over his enemy.  But I must say, I am proud; proud of the fact that this little boy has his eyes open, realizing that there are things lurking in the shadows, waiting for an opportunity to strike and to destroy, and that he is willing to put himself in harms way to protect the ones he loves. One day he will understand, spiritually, how important it is for a husband and father to lead with their eyes wide open. When that day comes I pray he is still just as willing to place himself between the enemy and his family, eliminating the threat with extreme prejudice. Whether idols, lust, pride, hatred or any other number of sins. I pray he will confront them all.

As I sit and reflect on this whole incident, I cant help but think about Eve, and how she likely didn’t understand what all this meant, and how it wouldn’t be until generations later that all of what was spoken would be realized. Mary, being forced to watch as that terrible serpent makes another grand appearance, working through men to accomplish his will. Watching, as he is crushed by the weight of mans sin and pierced for our transgressions. The pain she must have felt, the bitter agony she must have been in as she watched it all unfold. The promised son fulfilling his father’s will; standing in the gap and shielding his children from that fatal blow that would strike him in his heel. Yet, He overcomes, the poison injected was not nearly enough to prevent our Lord from crushing his head. Victory is our cry, and like my son, we can visit that place where this battle was won, we need only to remember that blessed empty tomb.

Wonderstruck, shocked, mortified; three words that can be used to describe the feeling I get when I think about the sheer audacity of man in our approach to worship. Every era, has in some way left it’s imprint on the church, whether it be the Romantic era, the Modern era, or what we now know as the Post-Modern era.  However, it is this last era that will perhaps cause greater and longer lasting damage than any other era in history. I shudder to think of what era may come after this; what misconceptions, misunderstandings, or misguided information will our children and grandchildren be faced with regarding the church, but more importantly; the worship a HOLY GOD.

No longer does the church address sin as it was in scripture. Instead we cover it; with grace. Grace is the new blood, it is the new and living way in the church. Grace has become that pure and spotless animal we now sacrifice on the altar of indifference.  Instead of worshiping now with clean hands and pure heart, we are worshiping in open sin and rebellion, all the while teaching our children to do the same. We mock God with our sin, taunting Him with it, knowing that as soon as he confronts us; we can pull that ever-loving grace card from our pockets and rub it in His face.

The problem lies in the fact that no longer do we make a distinction between the lost and the saved. This idea of tolerance has led us to extend unending grace to the sinning saint before ever demanding that they repent. Therefore, the average Christian now believes that they are welcome to sin as much as they so choose, so long as they ask God to forgive them, and yet my bible says that God will not be mocked. The truth is every born again believer knows this is wrong, we simply don’t know how to stop. We are grace addicts; sinning more that grace may abound; foolishness. We know the disparity exists when we see a flood of people at the altar asking to re-commit their lives or to be baptized for the 4th time. Something is wrong with the teaching.  I have gone back and studied the messages of some of the great teachers of the gospel throughout church history and the common thread I found was a call to repentance. Living in sin; a believer knows something is wrong, the holy spirit tells them. Often times when that is not handled properly and the sinner then told to go to God and ask his forgiveness, but never told to repent, this can lead to frustration, exasperation, and degradation of the sinner. Until months or years later we find them at the altar asking again to be saved.

Then their is the lost; how does the church deal with the lost of our society? We coax them in with some form of entertainment, make all kinds of unrealistic promises, knowing full well that we could never fully know the mind of God and what his purpose is for every professing believer. What are the implication’s of telling a lost soul that Jesus loves them and has a wonderful plan for their life only to discover that his plan was to show that person how much they must suffer for his name? Then there is the overwhelming condemnation of the lost world lavished upon them by all us well meaning Jesus lovers. I’m not saying that we overlook sin in their case, but the bible says they are condemned already; what business do we have condemning the lost? We are not expected to extend unconditional grace upon anyone lest their be repentance, we are however, expected to have compassion. Jesus himself looked at the multitude and had compassion. Compassion feeds brokenness. If as a church we are lacking in anything it is brokenness, perhaps it is because we are missing compassion.

This day is dreadful in so many ways, how in the world does a husband show his appreciation for the mother of his children, in a way that truly reflects how grateful he his. I have come to the conclusion that this is impossible. Sure I could buy her flowers (and I have), I could take her out to eat (I’m actually doing the cooking), or I could always just buy her something really great. But what could the mother of four children possibly want that she doesn’t already have; another child. That’s right, what this amazing woman wants more than anything else in the world is another child, and God is giving us two. Which is why I am not buying her something really great. Well, that and the fact that we got a fortune cookie that said we shouldn’t overspend at the moment, frugality is important. Yes, it actually said that, and this happened before we found out she was pregnant. The second child is coming by way of adoption, which will bring the grand total to 6 children. Be fruitful and multiply-that’s what I’m talking about. I love these crazy kids and so does she. But for all the joy and wonder that children bring into our lives there can sometimes be a cost far greater than the monetary value others might place on having multiple children.

The truth is when we’re not being consumed by God we are being consumed by life. Sometimes it can be painful to make the sacrifices we must in order to stay in sweet fellowship with the Lord. However, it is far more painful if we don’t. The demands that our wives have on them is sometimes unbearable, and I sit in amazement as I watch my wife performing the world’s greatest balancing act: Work, chores, children, husband, ministry, family, and friends. We all have our needs and somehow she is meeting them all; and doing it all while she is prego. If you ask her though, she is doing none of them well…phooey. She does the best she can, and that is always well enough. In fact, sometimes I think she has an invisible plane parked out back; she truly is a wonder. Yet in all the Chaos, sometimes it’s her needs that get overlooked and this is to my shame. Lori, has always had a relationship with Christ that I envied. She would get up early kneel beside the bed and pray, or wait until very late at night after all the kids were tucked neatly into their beds and kneel beside her chair with her bible in hand and Gods word in her heart. Yes dear, I was watching. Lately, however she doesn’t seem to have that same energy she had back then and with all the goings on in the Denton home things don’t appear to be letting up anytime soon. Having even confessed that as of lately things have been hard for her. Her days have been dry and the land parched. This is no longer a week of days but a season of them. Therefore I pray, I go to war for her. Yes me and God have gone round and round about this matter and still the season goes on. At first I was a little perturbed, that is until He spoke. Yes, he spoke to me concerning my wife and I listened. As a result I decided to let God do God things and for me to do man things. Oh, you wanna know what he said? Well, in my pleading God revealed to me that he was creating in her an even greater thirst, but to do it he had to take away the little to give her a lot.

Here is the most amazing thing about my wife, she always knows where to find the water. This isn’t our first rodeo, I have witnessed all this in the past, and each time I have watched as she pulled herself up by her flip flops and (as we used to say in the service) “drove on”. Desperately seeking the living waters that Jesus promised for all those who would ask. If we were honest, I think we would all say we have experienced these seasons before. The tenacity in which she searches for this treasure is absurd, and I am left once again in her dust. She is running as if somehow there were a crown at stake. She truly is my helper, my love, and my life. She is for sure a remarkable woman, wife, and mother. We love you Lori, Happy Mother’s Day.

This day is madness; madness because we have narrowed down the celebration of these wonder women in our lives to a single day. In fact you could say it’s almost criminal.

If only my brain was some sort of electronic device capable of recording every thought in perfect illustrious detail and placing it in its proper context while utilizing perfect spelling and punctuation. That would be great, I could simply just hit save and print. I would call it Microsoft word brain. Even now as I write, auto-correct continues underlining the previous sentence and I for one see nothing wrong with it, I click ignore, and still it remains. Truthfully I have no earthly idea what I’m doing, but I have something to say and perhaps this is the only forum where others might listen.  Now it’s just a matter of transferring all that information from my brain to my fingertips. I have tried this before and it just never seemed to work out. In fact, my thoughts always sounded better in my head. It was only after putting pen to paper that it looked and smelled like stale cheese. Who am I kidding, right? Nobody uses a pen and paper anymore. Everything is electronic now, (which by the way has made us a very lazy society) except our brains, but I do hear they are working on that.

Sometimes I wish I could turn it off, but then in the midst of my tossing, my toiling, and my turning it hits me; the answer to that problem that’s been bending my mind for weeks and evading capture. Finally I rest; thankful I hadn’t turned off just yet. This is a constant process for me as I ponder incessantly on so many of life’s great mysteries: Theology, philosophy, love, life, joy, and sorrow just to name a few.  In each of these categories there are an infinite number of possibilities to investigate.

Elohim; Creator God, in all his glorious splendor has created a world, a universe so complex that when we feel as if we’ve made our last great discovery, along comes something new. We will never discover all of what God has created; some things are to remain hidden until their appointed time. Never the less it shouldn’t keep us from trying. Of all the great discoveries in the physical and non-physical world today, we should note, that again they were only discoveries. God creates…man discovers. Take numerology for instance, something entirely existent in the non-physical world, and has always been there just waiting for man to discover it so that it may be put to practice and proved in the physical world, where observation is the key to understanding.

However I do understand that whatever I have to say must be relevant and practical, People in general have very little time, not because we are actively engaged industry, but instead we are consumed by technology; Facebook, twitter, Pinterest and the countless other apps that promise to give us some respite from the daily grind. Gone are the day’s men made tireless efforts to discover and uncover the hidden secrets of Elohim. Yet, despite all of this, God is still a consuming fire.  Think I’m wrong, put your phone down for moment, close that app, turn off the computer and television and walk with me.  Where? You ask. To a place called creation, it’s not far; in fact we can see it from your porch.  Now look, you see how blue that sky is? Have you ever asked yourself who colored it? You see then how the sky has no end and no beginning; a subtle reminder of God’s eternal nature. Or what about the birds nesting in your rafters, you see with what ease they fly,  Who taught them and how?  You see the mountains in the back drop, way off in the distance? Sure you do; what are they made of and how is it that the molten hot stew inside does not consume it”?

Standing in the shadow of creation we are reminded of how small and insignificant we are in comparison.  We are surrounded by it. Where can we go to hide from this ever present reality that God is a consuming fire? Should we run to the caves; we are in it. Should we seek shelter in the sea; still there, we are in it. Should we take to the sky, we are over it and under it. We are utterly consumed by God whether we like it or not.