Scripture
I believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of the 66 books of the Old and New Testament. The Bible is the very Word of God without any mixture of error and is therefore our only authority in all matters of faith and conduct (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:21; Matthew 5:17-18)

If you cannot accept the Bible as the sole authority on spiritual matters, it would be next to impossible to try to examine the other areas of my faith with seriousness. The Bible is simply that important and really becomes the foundation from where we find all of our answers and beliefs in Christianity. I am well aware there are many critics of the Bible, but I for one believe it to be absolute truth and the Word of God, given to us as a gift so that we have the opportunity to learn about the message of Christianity and the Bible as a whole – which is Jesus Christ. But, why? Why believe a book that was written centuries ago? Why place my entire self and beliefs taught from a book, and not in myself? I am a smart individual, I do listen to logic and reason. Is it possible I can have these attributes and have belief in the Bible? Yes. I’ll try to explain why and how I’ve come to the realization that I can depend on the Scriptures and have no doubt in its integrity.

First, I must make it clear that just because I’m a Christian with the statement of the Scriptures used above, doesn’t mean that other religions agree with me. There are many false religions in the world today. In fact, we must remember that the type of faith system we are examining is the only true, correct religion. There are many different religions and cultists (Jehovah Witnesses, Mormons & World Mission Society to name a few) that abuse the Bible and its Integrity by adding and taking away from the Word, as well as mixing in human-created doctrine. I cannot stress more the importance of tampering with the Bible. In John’s Revelation he makes this point ever so clear in the last few versus of the text itself:

¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, ¹⁹ and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share inthe tree of life and inthe holy city, which are described in this book. (Rev. 22, ESV)

It is God’s word, it doesn’t need any further explanation and its message is clear, and it doesn’t need to be altered by religious means. It stands for itself, and only the 66 books of the the Old and New Testament were inspired by God. With that said, once we believe that this Bible is the only true word from God, we have to understand what it means for the book to have been “inspired”. In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, he makes an important statement on the authentic inspiration of God’s Word:

¹⁶ All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, ¹⁷ that the man of God may be complete,equipped for every good work. (2 Tim. 3:16, ESV)

Some would argue the legitimacy of the Bible by defining the type of inspiration used by God to write the Bible. From my studies, some critics have argued that maybe the Word was given to the apostles by “thought inspiration” meaning that God just gave them general ideas and the apostles wrote these ideas on paper. This cannot be true because the then it would leave the inspiration of the words open for debate, and we know it to be that each word and letter was inspired by God. Others argue comically that maybe God used a dictatorship type of inspiration where he simply put the apostles under some sort of trance to write down His words in almost a robotic fashion. However, we know that none of this can be true because each of the writer’s of the Bible clearly have their own thoughts and personality shown in the writings of the Old Testament and New Testament gospels. The inspiration comes clearly from the Spirit  as direct inspiration from God and were quite literately “breathed” out by God through the work of the Holy Spirit that was in the hearts of the apostles. It was through this action they were moved by the Holy Spirit and wrote the Scripture as we know it today. Paul helps explain this better in the following passages:

¹⁰ these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God. (2 Cor. 2, ESV)

²⁰ knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation. ²¹ For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Pet. 1, ESV)

The writer’s themselves proclaim over 4,000 times that source of origin came from God from making statements like “Thus says the Lord” or “The Lord has Spoken” (Isa. 1:2).  So as to stress the point further, not only was the Bible divinely inspired by God, it contains no error.  The 66 inspired books were written by 40 writers over a span of 1,500 years and yet they are infallible. Scripture cannot be broken (John 10:35), does not contradict science, inerrant, true in every part, and every word of God is pure. (Ps. 119:140 NASB). It can not be in error because God is truth, (John 3:33) therefore God cannot lie.

The most eye-opening evidence of the Bible’s truth comes from its overall message which is Jesus Christ. I will be doing a blog post later that will examine this further with more specific evidence geared toward that topic, but for the time being I will say that everything that was prophesied in the Old Testament about the coming Messiah was fulfilled in the New Testament through Jesus Christ. Most Jews tend to turn a  blind ear to such passages like Isaiah 53 which speak clearly of the prophesy of Jesus on the cross. Jesus himself clearly made it known that He was the one fulfilling prophesy after his resurrection when he spoke to the original eleven:

⁴⁴ Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you,that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, ⁴⁶ and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, ⁴⁷ and that repentance and^[c] forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24, ESV)

Not only was he proclaiming in this verse that the Old Testament was talking about him, his resurrection itself was prophesied by Jesus himself 3 times in the New Testament alone. For reference of one of the last times he did just that, go back a few chapters to Luke 18:

³¹ And taking the twelve, he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written about the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. ³² For he will be delivered over to the Gentiles and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon. ³³ And after flogging him, they will kill him, and on the third day he will rise.” ³⁴ But they understood none of these things.This saying was hidden from them, and they did not grasp what was said. (Luke 18, ESV)

Jesus was known to quote Scriptures he was either fulfilling or teaching by constantly stating “Have you not Read” etc. In fact, one tenth of the recorded words in Scripture that came from Jesus were taken from the Old Testament. Jesus himself quoted the Old Testament 180 times of the 1,800 versus of written scripture that details what He said. Jesus was very specific in fulfilling Scripture to every last detail as well. Consider in Matthew’s gospel when after Judas betrayed him, Peter drew out his sword and Jesus made him put it back:

⁵¹ And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. ⁵² Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. ⁵³ Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? ⁵⁴ But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” ⁵⁵ At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. ⁵⁶ But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.”Then all the disciples left him and fled. (Matthew 26, ESV)

I could go on and on, but since Jesus is the center of the message of the bible, you will have to wait until a later time to hear more evidence on Jesus specifically. The authority of Jesus himself showcases the authority of the Bible and vice versa. As well, there are the simple things. Some argue that the writer’s of the book just made everything up. But consider Luke. When writing his Gospel it was of his nature and of the people of his time to carefully investigate the facts and research. From his gospel:

¹ Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, ² just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, ³ it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, ⁴ that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. (Luke 1, ESV)

Bear in mind, when the writer’s of the gospels were writing the Bible. Why would the writers risk being ridiculed for lying and making all of this up? Most of the gospels were written anywhere from 30-90 years after Jesus’s resurrection, in the span of their own lifetime. Some of Paul’s writings can be recited as early as 20-30 years after the Death and Resurrection of Christ. Not to mention the fact that there was over 500 eyewitness accounts to Jesus’s resurrection, most of who would have been alive when these gospels were being written. Wouldn’t these eyewitnesses have called out the writers for their deceit, had this message not actually happened? And think about the overall message for a moment. If the writers were making this up, why would they write a book that pretty much damns most of the human population to hell? It doesn’t seem like a popular message that one would want to take part in. These very people who wrote our scriptures became martyrs of their faith. Their persecution and death was not just based on something they believed, but something that they saw – Jesus resurrected from the Dead!

The authority of the Bible is powerful and it is a book we can trust, and its message is true. I’m only hinting at some of the evidence here, but I invite you to try to prove that anything in the Bible is in error and is contradictory to itself. If you do so, I promise I will get back to you with an answer. Even though Christians know the Bible is absolute truth and without error, some will refuse to believe. To trust it,  it must be a work of the Holy Spirit. God designed it in such a way that evidence alone can’t cut it to convince the unbelieving, because natural man cannot believe. This is why Jesus spoke mostly in parables because it aids the unbelieved.  To the Non-Christian the truths of the Bible can be considered foolish, unattainable through wisdom, incomprehensible, and unfashionable. No means of human reason can convince you that this is truth. You have to step outside of reason and wisdom to believe it is true. You must be as an innocent as a baby to fully comprehend. From Scripture:

²⁵ At that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children; ²⁶ yes, Father, for such was your gracious will. ²⁷ All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him. (Matt. 11, ESV)

Further:

¹⁴ The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵ The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ¹⁶ “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Cor. 2, ESV)

It’s crazy to think that God made it work this way. But it was by design. It is not my job, nor do I have the authority to help save those that are completely lost and unable to belief in the Bible’s truth. But if after looking at this topic, you feel that something does make sense – and you can believe this truth – please consider reading the Scriptures for yourselves. I was so naïve for many years in this area and tried to live out a life worthy of God without being in the Word. It just doesn’t work. If you don’t believe the Bible to be true, I challenge you to study it word for word, chapter by chapter. The more you read it the more you realize that the Bible does speak truth, it does not lie, and that it is perfect. The Bible can’t save you, but its message and confidence you put in Jesus can.  I read very little of the Bible before I was saved, and now that I’m in the Word daily I am amazed at how perfect this book is. Most of you know me personally. I am not crazy, I have sense. Yet, from studying it I can not deny the authority it has on my life.

I look forward to hearing your input and dwelling onto more topics in the future.  If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments below.

I wanted to start by showing part of the church’s constitution that I attend, as its Statement of Faith aligns perfectly with mine. I’ve replaced “We” with “I” to make it a bit more personal. This might seem a bit mundane, but I feel it is important that I showcase this, as I will use it as a foundation for the rest of my posts and will be something that I reference back to continually on various topics.

Scripture
I believe in the verbal, plenary inspiration of the 66 books of the Old and New Testament. The Bible is the very Word of God without any mixture of error and is therefore our only authority in all matters of faith and conduct (II Timothy 3:16; II Peter 1:21; Matthew 5:17-18)

The True God
I believe that one true, eternal God exists as a triunity of three Persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; equal in every divine perfection, but executing distinct but harmonious offices (Matthew 28:19; II Corinthians 13:14).

I believe in God the Father who is, perfect in holiness, boundless in love, infinite in wisdom, and measureless in power. I believe that He concerns Himself mercifully in the affairs of men, that He hears and answers prayers, and that He saves from sin and death all who come to Him through Jesus Christ, His Son (Isaiah 6:3; 1 John 3:6; Psalm 147:5; Revelation 19:6; John 3:16).

I believe in Jesus Christ, God the Son, preexistent with the Father, begotten by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary; sinless in His nature and life; infallible in His teaching; making atonement for the sins of the world by His substitutionary death on the cross. I believe in His bodily resurrection, His ascension into Heaven, His perpetual intercession for His people, and His literal pre-millennial, pre-tribulational return (John 1:1, 14; Matthew 1:18-25; I Peter 2:22; Acts 1:9-11; I Thessalonians 4:13-18).

I believe in the deity and the personality of the Holy Spirit. He is the agent of the New Birth, who at the time of salvation permanently indwells and seals the new believer (Romans 8:9; Ephesians 1:13, 14) and baptizes (places) him into the body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:13). He further ministers to the believer teaching (I John 2:27), interceding (Romans 8:16), guiding (Romans 8:14), filling (Acts 4:31), and imparting spiritual gifts (I Peter 4:10; I Corinthians 1:11).

I believe that the gifts of healing, tongues, and other revelatory gifts served a unique purpose in the apostolic church and are not in operation today (Hebrews 1:1-2; Hebrews 2:4, Acts 5:12).

Creation
I believe the Genesis account of creation. I believe that man came by direct creation of God, not by evolution, and that the days of creation were literal twenty-four hour periods (Genesis 1; Genesis 2:7; Colossians 1:16, 17).

Angels
I believe God created innumerable, sinless spiritual beings known as angels. They serve as God’s ministering messengers, advancing the cause of the Kingdom of God (Matthew 26:53; Psalm 148:2-5; Hebrews 1:14).

I believe that a number of these holy angels were led away into sin when they followed Satan in his rebellion against God (Matthew 12:24; II Peter 2:4; Jude 6).

I believe in the personality of Satan, that he is the unholy god of this age, the originator of all the powers of darkness, and he is destined to the judgment of an eternal justice in the lake of fire (Matthew 4:1-3; II Corinthians 4:4; Revelation 20:10).

Man
I believe that man was created in the image of God; that he sinned and thereby incurred not only the physical death, but also that spiritual death which is separation from God. I believe that all human beings are born with a sinful nature, and, in the case of those who reach moral responsibility, become sinners in thought and deed by choice (Genesis 1:26; Genesis 3:1-6; I Timothy 2:14; Romans 5:12).

Salvation
I believe that eternal life is offered by God as a free gift to man and that man can in no way contribute to this gift through good deeds or religious sacraments (Ephesians 2:8-9; Titus 3:5; Romans 5:12).

Eternal life can only be received as a repentant person exercises saving faith in the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on the cross and in His resurrection from the dead (Romans 10:9; I Corinthians 15:14; John 1:12).

I further maintain that the new birth is the instantaneous impartation of life and not a process, and that all those who are truly born again can never lose their salvation; they are eternally secure (John 10:27-29; I Peter 1:5; Ephesians 2:8; Romans 8:35-39; Ephesians 1:13-14).

Christian Maturity
I believe that a Christian’s life should be characterized by a progressive growth in Christ-like character and conduct (Titus 2:11-14; Philippians 3:10-17; Ephesians 2:10; I Thessalonians 4:3).

This progressive maturity results from a partnership between the triune God and the dedicated, disciplined Christian (John 15:1-4; II Corinthians 3:18; Romans 6:11-19; I Timothy 4:7).

I further maintain that each believer is individually responsible before God to reach his own convictions, beliefs and practices (II Corinthians 5:10, Romans 14:13-23).

I also believe that full maturity will not be complete until the glorification of the Christian at the rapture of the church (I Thessalonians 4:16-17; Philippians 3:20-21, I John 3:2).

The Church
I believe that the universal church is a New Testament institution, a spiritual organism, composed of all regenerated people from Pentecost to the Rapture, with Christ as its head (Acts 2:1-4; I Corinthians 4:13; Ephesians 1:22-23; I Thessalonians 4:14-17).

I believe the local church is a congregation of immersed believers, having two offices: elder and deacon; and two ordinances: baptism and the Lord’s Supper. The local church is sovereign in polity and is banded together for edification, worship, and worldwide evangelism (Acts 2:40-42; Acts 6:3-4; Philippians 1:1; II Corinthians 8:19).

I believe in the priesthood of the believer (I Peter 2:9, I Timothy 2:5) and the responsibility of every believer to be equipped and ministering to others according to their spiritual gifts, for the edification of others and the maturing of the body (I Corinthians 12:7, Ephesians 4:12-16).

I believe that Christian baptism is the single immersion of a believer in water. This immersion is a solemn and beautiful emblem showing identification with the crucified, buried, and risen Savior through whom we died to sin and rose to a new life. I believe that baptism is to be formed under the authority of a New Testament church and that it is a prerequisite to the privilege of church membership (Acts 8:36, 38-39; Romans 6:3-5).

I believe that the Lord’s Supper is a commemoration of His death until He comes and should be preceded always by solemn self examination (I Corinthians 11:23-28; Matthew 8:18, 20; Acts 2:41-42).

I believe in obedience to the biblical commands to separate ourselves unto God from worldliness, ecclesiastical apostasy, and religious compromise (II Corinthians 6:14-17; II John 7-11; II Thessalonians 3:6, 14-15; Romans 16:17).

I further maintain that the church should remain separated from the state. The church should not seek to rule the state nor should the state rule the church (Matthew 22:21).

Last Things
I believe in the imminent, pre-millennial return of Christ for His Church. At that moment the dead in Christ shall be raised in glorified bodies, and the living in Christ shall be given glorified bodies without tasting death, and all shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air before the seven years of tribulation (I Thessalonians 4:13-18; I Corinthians 15:42-44, 51-54; Philippians 3:20-21; Revelation 3:10).

I believe that the great tribulation, which follows the rapture of the church, will be culminated by the revelation of Christ in power and great glory to sit upon the throne of David and to establish the literal, millennial kingdom (Daniel 9:25-27; Matthew 24:29-31; Luke 1:30-33; Isaiah 9:6, 11:1-9; Acts 2:29-30; Revelation 20:14, 6)).

I believe in the bodily resurrection of all the dead; the saved to eternal life and blessedness in Heaven, and the unsaved to eternal conscious suffering and woe in Hell (John 5:29).

These kind of beliefs make up the framework of my faith. If any of this comes across as confusing, I ask that you stay with me in the weeks and months ahead. Adhering to these beliefs is not something that came easily in my life. To give a bit of background, before I was saved in 2006 I had a very misconstrued view of Christianity. Being raised up in Catholicism, I didn’t have a full understanding of the importance of Jesus’s death on the cross. My faith is now based on a system where there are no works I could have done to have received salivation and the promised gift of entrance into heaven.  I live my life everyday with the attitude that I can do nothing without Christ, which is in deep contrast to the typical American dream of “Believe in Yourself”.

I will provide a much more in-depth look into these areas of my faith in future postings.

As my life has been nothing but ongoing changes throughout the last year, I’ve felt it’s come time again to revaluate the purpose of my blog. Though I’ve only been at this web address for part of the time, I have been blogging for nearly a decade. Throughout the years if you’ve been with me for that long you’ve watched how I grew into an adult after graduating high school and entering college, how I thought I would forever be cursed to single-hood, to being able to witness watching me grow in my faith alongside my wife Lindsey as we took a big step in following God’s will and adopting our first son. Since then we’ve had our move, as well as myself making the big change from the world of business to the world of a homemaker and kid chaser as a stay-at-home parent.

Though, I’ve found that I’m strayed a bit away from the reintroduction of my blog that I decided to tackle back in the summer of 2009, which was to shift this website into a more closer look at my Christian walk. I don’t find it coincidental that shortly after God laid it on my heart to start blogging about my faith that He laid it on our hearts towards adoption. If He hadn’t laid it on my heart to start writing and be comfortable with my faith in such a public way, I don’t believe we would have been able to share our adoption journey in such a clear and transparent way. With that said, I feel it is time to step things up a notch and continue in a slightly different but related direction. My walk in faith is now clear to me – and is ever growing. This is for certain. The Lord is radically involved in my life and is transforming my heart more each and every day. Though I am still weak and still a sinner, I feel closer each day that Christ-likeness is not just something I long for, but a true and reachable goal.

I need to be careful though and not forget that I am not perfect and I am just that – a growing Christian. I’ve only had a true saving relationship with Jesus for six years and I’m only just now becoming closer to reading and studying his entire Word. With that said, I realize that I have a lot to learn and am still learning, therefore I need to be careful not to preach. What I don’t want to start doing  is blog about each book in the Bible or try to tell you how to live a perfect Christian life. I  don’t know all of the answers yet, and I feel there are plenty of better resources out there that you should inquire, who are much better studied and disciplined than I am. There’s enough (good) places out there to find that kind of in-depth discipleship. Besides, if reading my posts are your full means of hearing about Christ I would strongly suggest you find a church home first and foremost. Preferably Specifically, a church that teaches that the Christian Bible is the sole authoritative Word of God. (More on that in another post!).

So although I don’t feel like I’m in any position to preach, the Bible is very clear that Jesus’s command for Christians is to spread the good news among all nations and to make disciples to all ends of the earth as, see in the gospels after Jesus’s Resurrection:

¹⁶ Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. ¹⁷ And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. ¹⁸ And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28, ESV)

This is more commonly known to society as evangelizing. Granted, I wish I was better at doing it in person face to face and am trying to grow in that area, but one thing I do love is writing and I feel blogging here more often is good practice since I still seem to find an audience here. So what I’m thinking about starting is using this blog as an opportunity to really define my faith,what I believe and share my belief specifically with others. I am doing this partially for myself so that I can better meditate on and understand what I believe, but also for my friends and family out there who are on the fence about Christianity or who are atheists.

I feel it on my heart to do this because I look on Facebook or hear in conversations of so many construed misinformed realizations about what it is to be a Christian and what Christianity is as a whole. I strongly believe there are a lot of people out there who claim to be “Christians” who really aren’t. The sad reality is that the term “Christian” has been washed down so much in American society that it means very little now in today’s “believe in yourself” culture.  There are so many false preachers, false teachings, and mistaken views readily available out there for people to consume. I too was once one of these lost and had a worldly view of Christianity where if I just went to church and checked off boxes I would be rewarded Heaven for my due diligence.  But after questioning and opening my mind I thankfully realized that true salvation comes only from Jesus Christ and believing what he did on the cross for us – not a systematic checklist of church do’s and don’ts.

I worry of offending, but will pray diligently that the topics I bring up will get people to give Christianity a second thought and revaluate for themselves what a true Christian is.  I don’t have it completely set in stone how I will outline these topics, but I will start my first blog post on the subject by detailing “What I believe” – a set of posts (yes possibly more than one) of explicit detail of what my belief system is, so that it is very clear what I believe versus other types of denominations that are out there. Though this might be a bit boring, I feel it is important I set a ground work for what my faith is, if I am going to refute other systems.

The next set of posts will center on “Why I believe, what I believe”. The point of this is to back up what I believe on Scripture alone. I will try in detail to back up my faith biblically so there is no misunderstanding of where I stand before verging on to other topics. Again, this all might be mundane, but this is also a great exercise for me to really focus on and understand my faith so I can hold even stronger confidence in it.

Thirdly, sometime after that is when I will venture out with the real fun. I’ll start discussing topics about my specific views of worldly issues  and other taboo type topics that I’ve seen come up in the last several years. At this point I will be very transparent about my views and might come across as offensive, but at that point my hope is that I would have made it ever so clear that my beliefs on these subjects are based solely on my faith of what I believe backed authoritatively by Scripture. My goal is not to prove you are wrong, but to make the bigger point that Scripture is right and that my stance on these issues have merit in them. As we get closer to these topics I will continue to pray that God will open your eyes as he has mine. I don’t want to give it all away but eventually I will be blogging about such touchy subjects like evolution, abortion, homosexuality, infant baptism and the like, just to a name a few. Whew, it’s gonna be fun!

I pray you will be not quick to throw me under the bus and my thoughts aside. I will be open for conversation at any point in this and willing to give all of you freedom to express your own thoughts in the comments of my posts and will do my best to respect the opinions of others. I am not doing this for myself, but more for you the readers. Again, this will be a gradual format change and something I feel will probably take a good year or so to fully get under way. Therefore I look forward to all of the input good and bad. I have a lot of studying to do before I really get into the knitty gritty of subjects, so bare with me if my posts are spaced apart from time to time. I think interaction by you the readers will help encourage me to keep on top of this challenge.

So, that’s it. I look forward to diving deeper into these subjects in the near future!

I’ll never forget our first interaction with Jackson. He was excited, yet shaking from nervousness, as one of the nurses introduced us to him on that Fall morning in a small office of his orphanage. At the time he had no clue his entire world was about to be flipped upside down for the better. At the time, he was probably just excited to get out of music class or whatever activity was normally going on in his strict day to day schedule. He had a huge smile on his face when he met us and was happy to pose for pictures with us. (Something we can’t quite seem to get him to do today, as he’s much too busy now!).

That day changed our lives in a special way and showed us God’s amazing love and grace. I won’t go into the specifics in this post, but if you are a new reader to my blog and are interested you can read our entire Ukrainian experience at this link.

However, there was one story we chose not to share publicly on our blog last year.  Since that point in time most of our family, friends, and past church family in Ohio have had the opportunity to hear it. I’ve held back from mentioning it because my goal has always been to share it with a humble heart and in person if it was at all possible, as the story is a great testament of the intricacies and amazing wonderment that makes up God’s will. I want you to know that thanks to our experience in Ukraine last year I know without a doubt that God’s will is perfect. Everything he wills for your life, whether painful or in joy, means something and has a powerful purpose. Most of the time we as humans don’t always get to fully understand why things in life work out the way they do, but God revealed one example to us while in Ukraine that has forever changed my perspective and devotion to Him.

Last year we came in contact online with a family from North Carolina who traveled to Ukraine shortly before us to adopt as well. Craig is a pastor of a church in his hometown along with his wife Jenny and daughter Moriah. They unfortunately did not have success in finishing their adoption process, which sadly is more common than most most people know. International adoption is a complex and complicated endevevour. You are never guaranteed anything will work out and you sign several documents with your agency agreeing to this prior to your trip.

When adopting in Ukraine you are not given a referral usually until the day of your SDA appointment with the government. (This very well might have changed by now – the Ukraine adoption system is re-organizing this year). To give a little background on this family’s trip, they went through two referral processes. After meeting and then declining their first referral, they returned to the capital of Ukraine for a second chance referral appointment, where they were shown the same book of unhealthy children we also were shown prior to accepting our own referral to meet Jackson.

It takes a special type of person to adopt these kind of children who are prepared and willing to adopt children with special needs. But praise the Lord that these children are getting adopted by those who feel called. I have met these kind of people before and they are amazing.

After making the difficult decision to decline their first referral after meeting the child, they were presented with with no further healthy children that they felt they could handle as a family. This family unfortunately had to live through the pain that comes with returning home without a new child.  But through the pain they were reminded of God’s great miracle of life, that at least they would be returning home with their daughter of age 8 at the time.

Below is the sermon Pastor Craig gave to his congregation upon returning home.  His sermon explains the details of their trip more eloquently than I ever could. So I will leave it to you the reader to decide if you would like to  listen and hear for yourself one of the greatest stories of God’s will my family was able to be a part in. We never have met Craig and family in person, but as Craig had explained to me in an email we are ‘mended to your hearts as a reminder of how God does His miraculous work through our steps of faith.’

The sermon is 42 minutes long, but if you are a reader of this blog – Christian or not, I highly ask that you consider giving it a listen. If you’ve ever questioned God’s will in your life, know that God always gives one glimmer of hope.

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Lord, Thank You for my incredible wife and my wonderful son Jackson.

But everything worked out and here we are a year later and a lot has changed. A lot of unexpected things have happened and some surprises down the road but it’s safe to say I think we’ve been following God’s word and will the best we know. I’ll speak for myself, but it hasn’t all been easy and has been stressful at times. We are settled into our new life in Indiana, but Lindsey has been very busy at work these last few months which have turned into long evenings with Jackson and I alone holding down the fort until 8 PM or later. So as I’ve been a little exhausted from it all, I’ve took some time away from here and have tried to spend my free time utilizing every minute I have to myself efficiently.

There’s a lot of good to report though – we have indeed found our church home and forever grateful for being around great new friends and influences. The church we attend is very biblical based with no if, ands or buts, and it’s been encouraging to hear our pastor Kirk get so enthusiastic in teaching the Word. Though we started attending in June, they’ve been hitting the Book of Mark since we’ve been here and I think we are on chapter 9. The associate pastor mentioned the other day that they started Mark well over a year ago, so it gives you some context just how detailed the teaching really is!

One of the biggest things we missed when we moved to Indiana was being part of a life group, and within the last month they started up at our church. We are in a great group which meets Friday nights with lots of kids and a manageable amount of families where the discussion is intense and fun at the same time. We are reading a book right now called “Radical” by David Platt and it really encourages you to pick up your cross and stop living a watered down version of American Christianity that is very prevalent in today’s society.

Something different we do that we didn’t at our last church is that the men and women meet separately once a week for coffee to just catch up on each others lives intermixed with Bible reading and prayer. It’s a real intentional way to encourage one another and keep ourselves accountable during the week and I think our new friendships have grown stronger because of it as well. I really like the men in our group and am so happy to have met them! It makes all the difference in the world being surrounding by other men in Faith.

On a personal level I feel God working in my heart and growing in me. In the past few months I’ve really come to appreciate my relationship with Him and with my own son, Jackson. Staying at home has been great, some small hardships aside. As I watch Jackson grow it’s becoming so much fun to raise him and be such an important part of his life. The kid is on the go all the time now and is full of words now and always singing, dancing and laughing. It’s hard to believe just a year ago we were starting our adventure to bring him home. It seems like he’s been with us longer than that. Earlier this month we submitted our first post-adoption report and it was a lot of fun to look back at all of the memories and photos from that time as we prepared it!

As we approach the year anniversary of meeting Jackson a week from today, it’s become a constant reminder of how great our God is. I ask that you pray that in the next week that God can reveal a way for me to explain just how incredible this adoption really was. For those reading that don’t know us personally there were some “details” we left out of our adoption blog journey last year while we were in Ukraine. After a year I think and hope it is the right time to share with everyone how mysterious, yet perfect God’s will is.

Jackson isn’t with us by chance (even with the coincidence we met him our second wedding anniversary!). The story is personal and I just want to be careful when I explain it that it doesn’t come off as prideful. I pray that God would humble my heart as I try to find a simple and short way to explain how God touched the lives of not just our family, but another American family we never had the chance to meet in person, but whose lives we will be intermixed forever in a very special way. Without out a doubt, we serve an Amazing God!

As a follow-up, I was able to successfully make the change over to Earthlink and am now currently saving $20 a month on my internet bill for almost identically the same service. This afternoon I wrote the Stop the Cap! website the good news which was the place I originally found Time Warner’s & Bright House’s best kept secret.

To my surprise Stop the Cap! published my email on their website today and further expanded on the Earthlink savings available and show how you too can try to take part in these savings. I’m glad to be able to help spread the news!

Link: http://stopthecap.com/2011/09/02/an-unsolicited-testimonial-stop-the-cap-saved-us-over-20-a-month-on-our-cable-bill/

I found an ad for Earthlink Cable on my city’s website today. To be honest I only thought Earthlink had dial-up. Well it turns out – their so called “cable internet” service is actually powered by Bright House. Earthlink just mails you their bloat-ware software upon sign-up. (Which I am smart enough not to install)

So today, I signed up for Earthlink Cable for only $29.95 for the first six months, and then only $41.95 thereafter! It’s cheaper than what I was fighting so hard for at Bright House. There’s actually no installation, as Bright House is actually providing the service. I was told it will just switch over later this month, and my billing will remain through Bright House. I keep my existing modem, etc. but get a cheaper price all because I’m going under the “EarthLink” moniker.

This trick also works for Time Warner customers. You just have to be careful to not get any of the gimmicky add-ons Earthlink tries to sell you like “Wireless Networking” or “Virus Protection”. They will try really hard to talk you into these useless add-ons. (For instance, Wireless Networking is just them leasing you a wireless router for an additional fee)

So in conclusion, in your face, Bright House!

Even a PC fan-boy like myself who has tried to stay away from Apple has ultimately been pulled in – I’ve owned two iPods and the most recent an iPod Touch that I purchased so I could take video in Ukraine last year when we adopted. I love it and use it daily much to the chagrin of my wife who wishes I could find something better to do at times then play Words with Friends.

So yes, Steve Jobs has impacted the technology world; there is no denying it. But this article can really be an eye opener. I mean no disrespect for people who claim Steve Jobs has helped them get where they are today and are thanking him. I believe that to a “point” it is okay to be thankful for the inspiration certain people can be on your lives.

But, ultimately this tech-event is just another reminder that there is someone far greater to be thankful for and that there is only one person that can really transform our lives and give us hope (a hope that has a true reward, requires no work on our part; completely self-less). And I guarantee his name is not Steve Jobs, not Bill Gates, or anyone else.

The Gospel of Steve Jobs | Christianity Today | A Magazine of Evangelical Conviction