Who's your Daddy?

Since it is Father's Day, I would just like to say thank you to all the fathers who may have stumbled across my blog. Especially, my dad who I cannot thank enough.
But it's been more than a month since I've posted and I have something to get out, so I'll try not to spend to much time rambling at the beginning like I usually do.
In two months time I will be in Peru, so that is that. Moving on.
Today, I spent time with my dad by attending church with my parents. They are part of a church plant. Mom leads the kids, and Dad heads up their men's ministry. I don't visit there often, since I am so involved in my church, but I am blessed each time. Today was special because there was a child dedication.
I love these. At our church, Pastor K. gets so excited to see the little babies and children and pray over each one, and our friend Pastor Scott is not much different. Quite a few children were dedicated this Father's Day, including his own youngest son. But that wasn't what got me. It was the last two babies dedicated that made me tear up today, and not because they were cute (which they were), but because they were foster kids.
Their foster parents have such love and commitment for these children, that they brought them before the church and dedicated them to the Lord. And as the pastor spoke, I couldn't help but think of something my mom had told me when my oldest sibling left for the Navy. She said, "Its not easy to watch your baby leave, but he doesn't belong to me. He belongs to God, and he's only mine for a little while."
I have always loved to hear stories of adoption because they remind me of how God, like adoptive parents saught us out and was willing to pay a great price to make us His children. And as Christians, that is what we are. He is our Father, the Bible tells us that our spirit calls Him ABBA, Daddy. He is our Lord, yes; our Savior, of course, but also our Daddy. He made us His. And He longs, just like any adotive father, to hear us call Him that. We have been reborn into His family and are now co-heirs with His Only Begotten Son, Jesus.
But while on this earth God has given us each "foster" parents. Some of us are fortunate in the way Jesus was to have earthly parents like Mary and Joseph. I also have parents who love God and have chosen to raise me and my siblings to follow His Word and to love Him as they do.
Like those babies I saw today, my parents realize that although I am only theirs for a little while, they have a great responsibility to care for me, not just for my sake, but for the glory of their Abba God who has trusted them with four of His own children.
Many Christians, unfortunately are not blessed like I to have loving Christian parents. However, many times God provides them with other earthly "foster parents". My own parents were such to many a child, teen , young adult, and baby Christian my whole childhood, and are now to many more. Many find great mentors in church leaders, pastors, or just the nice couple in the next pew. They are just people who love their Father, and accept His call to care for His children, just for a little while. Like my mom and dad, they care and provide for them with the knowledge that they are not their own, all the while loving and sacrificing for them as if they were.
So today, Father's Day, I am exceeding greatful for my Heavenly Father and the love and grace He gives me each day, especcially in the form of my very own earthly father, and the other men, who have at times taken on the role of "foster father" in my life.
My challenge: Say a prayer for your own earthly father, whether or not He is a Joseph, and for the other men who have been like a father to you. Thank God for His great plan in bringing them each into your life, and for preparing them for the work He has called them to do for His kingdom.
Happy Fathers Day!

Crazy Weekend

So last week was the last week of school for me at EMCC. I finished me Associates, not with the 4.0 I had hoped and strived for, but I finished. And I graduated on Friday. My whole family was there to cheer me on, and Serene asked when it would be time to yell, "Go Serene!"

On Saturday, I woke up early with a mission. I chopped off my hair! I will post a picture soon, but just imagine me, without about a foot of hair and that's it. I donated it to Locks of Love, so I don't miss it at all. I hope some one else enjoys wearing it as much as I enjoy not carrying it.

I am sure Serene has about 15 more years to wait, but Leah's turn is today! She is graduating from High School (2 of us finally made it through the same school).
I am more excited for her than I was for myself! I am sure gonna miss her when we both move away in August, but we have great plans of fun days spent packing and sorting through childhood memories for this summer. :) I am so proud of my little genius, who, I might add, got into one of the top engineering programs in the country to study computer science. (That is why I really don't need to know much about computers.)
Congrats Leah! You did it! We did it! Even made it through 4 years in this blazing desert! Love ya!

There's a First Time for Everything

And this Friday is a big first in my family. I will be the first to get a college degree. I graduate with an AA in General Education. Then, on Monday, Leah graduates from HS. She will be the first to attend a University. Her and I will both live away from home from the first time. And since we are so close, I will miss her. We shared a room most of our lives. Now, we will live on separate continents. Talk about a tough transition, who will help me when I don't know which button to push on the computer? Who will teach me how to use my first iPOD, and my first laptop?
Then, I will be the first to go to Peru in August, and in October, my nephew will celebrate his first birthday. And then, in November, I will miss my dad's birthday and Thanksgiving with my family for the first time.
Soon, my parents will live alone. Just the two of them, for the first time. Though they swear otherwise, I am sure they will miss us.
While some of these firsts are sad, they share something in common: they are undoubtedly exciting. Anything is exciting, if a little scary, the first time. They share that common element of the unknown. But I am so glad because then, I must make a choice of where to place my faith. My prayer right now is that my family and I all put our faith in Christ as we approach all these firsts, both good and... not so good. That we remember, that although for us it is a first, for God there is no such thing. He is beyond time, and so He has experienced and is already experiencing the firsts of all mankind throughout all history eternally. And He is prepared to face all of our firsts for us.
So, as I plan to pack my first items into my suitcase, and take that first step into the Sky Harbor International terminal (and symbolically a whole new life), I will trust that Jesus is the Lord of Firsts. He is Alpha God, and He is in control. He was here with me before history. And like a good pastor friend of mine said today, God has no beginning. Remember the words of God to Moses: "Before Abraham was, I AM."
And the words of John: "In the beginning was the Word." And that same Word, from the beginning of time has a life of good works set out for me, and for you. If He stepped out of time, and planned my life, and yours, in a way that leads to Him, would He not take care of a life of obedient service to Him after we have responded to His call?
Amen, He would, and HAS. And I am so hopeful in my firsts before me, and even those I don't yet know. But most importantly, the First I await the most is the first time I see Him physically. If I missed every other first to see Him sooner, I would have missed nothing.

Have a great day, its the first time you've seen this today. Embrace it in the Lord of Firsts.