Happy Easter

It has been such a wonderful Easter weekend. Yesterday our college group put on a music outreach event. We had about 50 people come. It was so much fun and a time of very sincere worship. Pictures will hopefully be coming soon!

This morning we woke up to a beautiful rainbow. It was a sweet reminder of how the Lord keeps all of his promises.

After Church we went out to a great lunch at the Olive Garden with our Mississippi friend Carlena. It was nice to be around a Mississippi girl with family so far away.

 This is a picture of us in our Easter outfits. Yes Easter is quite a bit more casual here. We were some of the most dressed up people in church. Before you judge California too much... we always remember, of course, it is the heart behind the worship that matters not the outward appearance.

Finally, we wrapped up the day with some of our neighbors at an Easter Dinner. A big shout out to the Blackabys! Thanks for hosting and always being cool!!

For the Least of These

"In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, god sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God." Galatians 4:3-7

I remember one intense moment from my childhood. Like most children, I had some odd behaviors when I came to the area of sleeping. My mom tells me that I would lay backwards with my feet to the wall and just kick the wall until I fell asleep; weird, I know, but this story involves another odd behavior. Sometimes, I would lay on the floor so that I could talk to my older brother across the hall with my parents thinking I was asleep. While most of you may find this cute, and I certainly agree, this one particular night ended badly. I was laying on the floor, and I fell asleep this way. Well, I also had another odd behavior of rolling around in my sleep. Moments (or maybe hours) later, I found myself stuck under my bed. Now many of you may be laughing now (as I am also), but you must remember that I was just a young boy of maybe 5 years and 50 lbs. As I woke up and tried to pry myself out, I immediately realized that there was no way out; I was going to die under my bed! So I started screaming for my mom and dad. I screamed for what seemed to be hours. Just as I thought I was going to give up my screaming to save my oxygen in case I died, my dad came to my rescue and pulled the bed up. My parents then comforted me and put me back to sleep.

Now, many of you may still be laughing, but this was a horrific night in my life; I have written poems and stuff of this horror! I can still remember screaming for my parents in thought that I would never escape. Some of you may have similar experiences. If you do, I bet you can remember the fear and pain. Then, as we scream, "Dad! Mom!" someone finally arrives and rescues you in what seems to be easy fashion. I think of my Christian life in this way. At just the moment when I was going to give up, at just the moment when I thought no one was there, at just the moment when we felt there was no escape, we were rescued by our Father. What makes this more beautiful is that this Father, this God, didn't even have to save us. But he did. And now, I can cry "Abba! Father!" in my pain, and he hears me. He has adopted me as His own son.

I have been blessed to marry such a wonderful, loving woman. I could tell stories of her grace and forgiveness that would make you all want to go watch Sleepless in Seattle or some other flick that you only watch when you believe in love. She loves me daily, even when I am not loveable. But the best part of this woman is not even her love for me. I know, you all know I am going to say some cliche Christian thing like "She loves God more than me" (which is absolutely true, by the way), but I really want you to understand that Laura's love for the Lord has evoked a deep, intense passion for the lost and abandoned of this world. I am blessed to have such a woman in my life to remind me that my call as a Christian does not end in some happy, comfortable Christian box (be it my church, seminary, or endless podcasts of great preachers), but goes beyond the limits of the safe and comfortable. Christ died for the hopeless. Laura has been blessed to see how God's adoption of us leads us to care for others. Adoption is biblical.

I know some of you are asking, "What is he getting at? Adoption?" Yes. I am. Many have asked Laura and me why we believe in this so much. I will tell you simply; it's biblical. You cannot read the words of Christ without encountering the command to care for those who are in need. You cannot read the words of Paul without encountering the biblical nature of adoption. And you cannot look at this world without seeing that children need both Heavenly and Earthly parents more than ever. Tonight, as I have been reading the Bible, and a girl's blog who has given up everything below the age of 20, moved to Uganda, and adopted many children (click to read her blog), I have been brought to tears at the love of God and the need of the world. Laura and I have been praying for adoption since the day we got married (literally, that has been our nightly prayer). We urge each of you to pray the same.

In Christ,
Steve


P.S. check out a few resources on adoption:

Tony Merida (Laura's old pastor) wrote a book recently, Orphanology (click to see the website)
Russell Moore, Dean of Theology at Southern Seminary, also wrote a book, Adopted for Life (click for his blog)
Christian Alliance for Orphans, website

Serving and Stress

Well, it's almost been a month since we last posted (I beat it by one day). Sorry for the lack of communication with many of you, since we know all our fans are dying to hear about our life. And, as you know, we do it all for our fans. So here you go with a quick snapshot of the last month:

St Patty's weekend was great! Mom and Dad Reynolds came and let us show them around the Bay Area for a few days. The highlight of the weekend (besides hanging out with my cool parents, of course) was getting to eat the best food around. If you know the Reynolds family, you know we plan the restaurants before any other thing in planning a vacation. We also got to tour some cool areas that Laura and I had yet to visit (such as Alcatraz and the Golden Gate Park). After fighting for 15 minutes over which house is the actual house from Full House, we moved on to Pier 39 and all that jazz. It was quite a wonderful weekend!

After our little "get away" for the weekend, Laura and I engaged in intensive Mid-Term week (which actually lasts about 2 weeks thanks to take-home tests, online tests, and in-class tests). Since then, we have been working on a massive paper on the Old Testament which has really consumed most of our last two to three weeks. All the while, we are reading and planning for our larger papers in the last month of school. Needless to say, we are ready for the latest Spring Break of our lives in another week; on a side note, I'm drafting a letter to my local Senator about planning Easter so late this year. It's absurd.

Our lives are constantly moving here, as you can tell. Aside from school, Laura and I are still leading a college ministry at our church which is going great. We are planning an event for next weekend and passing out flyers at the moment. God has also opened the door for me to preach on occasion at the church (which I am doing this weekend). He has really taught us the joy of service in the midst of a stressful life. I'm not always the easiest to deal with when I am stressed, but God has constantly taught us that He will take care of us if we follow His will. That doesn't mean it's always easy, but God definitely is being glorified in our life. I'm also glad that I have the most patient wife in the world at times when I'm a dummy (to say it nicely). God's sovereignty blows us away.