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.

The Real St. Patrick

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I decided to post a  "short" biography which I did for a class last semester. Through studying the man, I have found that I deeply respect his impact on global Christianity. I hope his story challenges and encourages you!   

Before we dive into his life, I should note that very few primary sources exist which speak of Patrick. For some reason, Patrick was not a man of many letters. But, in God’s sovereignty, there are two writings of Patrick which still remain to this day. In preparation, I have mainly pulled biographical information from his writing entitled St. Patrick’s Confessions in which Patrick offers a sort of autobiography. They take a form much like the writings of St. Augustine and offer major details into Patrick’s life. With all this said, we will study what we know of the life of St. Patrick.

The Story

            Patrick was born around the end of the Fourth Century in an unknown town of Britain to a middle-classed family. Britain was part of the Roman Empire; now, this bit of information is extremely important to our understanding of Patrick. During this time, the Roman Empire, which had held most of the world’s power for several centuries, was on the decline due to repeated invasions by barbarian countries; Ireland was one of these barbarian countries. Patrick, being of a strong Roman family, likely grew up hearing stories of these invasions which only furthered his disgust for these foreign lands.

Patrick’s father, Calpornius, was a deacon, and his grandfather, Potitus, was a priest. This leads us to know that his family had at least claimed to be Christian. Patrick, on the other hand, claims that he “did not recognize the True God” as a young boy in his early teenage years.[1] We can expect that Patrick was wrapped up in the material things of this world as a young child in a middle-classed family and took advantage of a family which claimed Christianity. In our modern American society, we can learn much from this statement from Patrick; how many of us are merely assuming our children to know about God because we claim Christianity?

Now, somewhat immediately in Patrick’s account, we jump to the first major event in Patrick’s life. Somewhere around the age of 16, Patrick was captured by a band of Irish raiders and brought back to Ireland as a slave; this was a fairly normal occurrence at the time, and Patrick probably knew exactly what was happening. Patrick knew that he was unlikely to see his family again as he would spend the rest of his life in Ireland. Then, in his account, he notes that this event was an act of God’s supreme sovereignty. He states that he, along with the others taken captive “fully deserved to suffer like this” due to sin in their lives![2] Now, how many of us would make this type of statement when taken captive? Instead of placing blame on the Irish raiders, he placed the blame on himself!

Patrick offers little information into his life in Ireland. He tells us that he spent most of his time as a shepherd in the fields of Ireland. During this time, Patrick spent numerous hours in prayer. After all, what else is there to do in the fields? He tells us that, through these prayers and reading of Scripture, “more and more the love of God and fear of him grew strong” within him.[3] Patrick had come to know the Lord! Do you see how beautiful this is? Patrick had been sent to Ireland as a slave but had been obtained freedom through Christ in that same wretched country! No wonder Patrick sees his slavery as God’s provision in his life! Once again, there is a small lesson to be learned here; we should not be quick to judge God’s provision. Many times, God uses the hard, tough circumstances to mold us into humble servants.

After nearly six years in captivity, Patrick received a series of dreams from God which tells him that he will soon travel back home to Britain. A few days later, Patrick is told to travel nearly 200 miles on foot, jump on a boat, and sail home. Patrick follows this escape plan and finds himself on a ship to Britain. At this point, his story is vastly similar to the story of the Israelites escaping Egyptian captivity. When the ship arrives at land, they spent several days lost in wilderness; as this happens, the crew begins to grumble and complain for lack of food. Much like the Exodus story, God provides the food. Also at this time, Patrick falls into some sort of temptation by Satan, and, at some point, he is taken into captivity again. We don’t know how long this lasted because the story immediately jumps to him arriving at home in Britain. Once again, God’s sovereignty is shown throughout this story!

Arriving at home, Patrick tells of his warm reception followed by a strange dream. In the dream, he is met by a man named Victoricius who gave Patrick a letter.[4] The short letter began with the words, “The Voice of the Irish”, and continued to say, “Holy broth of a boy, we beg you, come back and walk once more among us”.[5] This dream led him to believe that God was calling him back to Ireland. Isn’t this absurd? Why on earth would God call him back to his place of captivity? Even more, why would Patrick listen to this? Well, Church, the answer is simple: Patrick believed that God had love for all peoples of all nations. Patrick doesn’t seem to question this calling and begins preparation into the ministry. For the rest of his life, Patrick can’t help but to hear and remember “the pleading of their voices”.[6]

Once again, the story leaves a huge gap. We know that he spent several years in preparation and debate as to his role as a bishop. Patrick offers insight that there were several people who didn’t agree that he was qualified to go to Ireland. In fact, this is a huge reason for him writing this Confession. Nonetheless, Patrick went to Ireland and served among the people until his death around the end of the Fifth Century. While serving in Ireland, we know that he baptized many people and led them into a life of biblical holiness; he had a passion for the monastic lifestyle, which he talked several into seeking; years later, although Patrick was not the first Christian missionary to Ireland, his name would be synonymous with Irish Christianity. This great man, who had once been forced into slavery among these people, gave the rest of his life in willing service for their souls. He most likely died on March 17, the day traditionally attributed to his death and celebrated to this day, and will forever be known as “Patrick of Ireland”.

---

[1] St. Patrick, Confessions, 26.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid., 38

[4] Ibid., 45.

[5] Ibid.

[6] Ibid., 46

Steve Preaching Acts 2:42-47

This past week Steve had the opportunity to preach at San Francisco Mandarin Baptist Church. The sermon is in two parts (because Youtube only holds 15 minutes). Would love to hear your feedback! Thanks to Nick Davis and Laura for all the hard work on the video! Enjoy!

Acts 2:42-47

Contagious Love

Growing up by trimming down

As many of you may have noticed Steve has given himself a makeover. Yes it is official his beautiful radiant golden locks have been replaced with a handsome grown up buzzed look. We are very pleased with the results and just thought we would post a few of the progression pictures. Thank you again to our wonderful neighbors the Davis' for their support and hair cutting skills!

Good Rain

We have been slackers on bloggin for a while. Sorry!

Spring has officially sprung here in Northern California (not to mention a million different pollen dumping flowers I seem to be allergic to). This week in particular we have had rain every day! While rain normally puts me in a slump it has reminded me of the showers of blessings Steve and I have been receiving from our Lord. (This is the part where I kick myself in the seat of my pants for not updating you sooner because I'm bound to leave out something good!)

The blessings go all the way back to Christmas break, but for the readers sake I have selected a top three to share:

1. After leaving my parents house we came back to California for Steve to take a week long class on evangelism. He felt it was nothing short of powerful. (I'm taking it now and I totally agree!) One thing that has really stuck out to both of us is the concept of fishing. (You Mississippi Folk will like this one!) Many times when we share we go out with fear of rejection. On the other side when nothing comes from sharing we feel disappointed. Here's where the analogy gets good. Now those of you down south who like to fish know that sometimes you can go all day without a bite. A true fisherman, however, loves fishing so much that he's willing to go back again and again just because he loves it. We should love sharing our faith in the same way. Not for the end result but because we just love to fish! (If you're more of a deer guy the same analogy can be used for hunters out there.) ;)

2. After Steve's class we were privileged to go up and visit Steve's family in Washington. It was so nice and relaxing to get away. While we were there we had a Merry Martin Luther King day (aka Christmas) with Mom and Dad R. and Mike and Kayla. I am a lucky girl to have such wonderful in-laws! We also got to meet with some awesome church planters who both encouraged us and challenged us. I'm not sure how many of you know this but church planting may be one of the hardest jobs in ministry. Our North American Mission board can only support a starting church for about 5 or less years. This is so they can keep opening new churches in unchurched areas. It does, however, make it very challenging for churches who are in slow evangelizing areas like Washington state or San Francisco. I challenge you to see if your church is supporting a specific Church plant. I believe they would tell you that every little bit helps!

http://www.seektheveritas.com/ Here is the link to the church plant Mike and Kayla help out with.

3. Steve now has a second job working for Life Way. He loves it! We have been so blessed! We have been praying for a miracle to help us start working off student loans and God has answered our prayers. Not to mention he has a discount for all those books off his wish list:) The moral of this story is expect God to answer prayer. So often we pray generally and without any real faith of Him answering. So be encouraged He hears you and loves to answer you!

We will be better about writing all the blessings God is pouring out in the future! Please know that we love and miss you all so much! As always the offer stands if you want to visit CA you have a place to stay.

In Christ,

Laura

Fun with Family

For our two (or three) fans, sorry for the long-awaited post! Laura and I have had quite a time keeping up with communication over the past weeks, so I will give you all a quick recap...

Following our last post, Laura and I jumped on a plane headed for Texas to spend the "Big Two" (Christmas and New Years....I just made that up, so don't think I am using new, hip lingo which all the youngsters are using...although I do think it's quite catchy, but back to the point...). When we arrived, we were greeted with a long list of "activities" to fill our time. This list included going to the movies, going to about 75 different restaurants (which explains my post-Christmas diet), playing a few board games, building a gingerbread house, watching a lot of television, visiting a cave, and spending New Years at Sea World. In my opinion, there is no way to ring in the new decade like seeing the "World's Largest Mistletoe" (which happens to be housed at Sea World in San Antonio) and watching whales do tricks to Michael Jackson music. Although this may seem like a crazy couple of weeks, I can assure you all that we made sure to relax, grow out my beard to manly lengths, and waste time while we could. I must say that it was a great couple of weeks!

After a couple of quick weeks, we arrived back in Mill Valley last weekend. This week, I have the joy of going to a week-long, intensive course on evangelism. Although I have enjoyed it to the extreme, these classes (scheduled from 8am-5pm) wear me down! At the end of the week, Laura and I will jump in the car for a 13 hour drive to Seattle to be with my family for a couple of days. We look forward to seeing family one more time before another long semester begins! I praise God that we have such a long break from classes, so we can find the time to visit family.

This break has taught me the importance of family (especially in the ministry). Many ministers neglect family and fall away quickly. It has been apparent for years as families connected to ministry fall apart at a high rate. This is a sad indictment on the leaders of our churches! I have been reminded how easily we can get wrapped-up in doing things for others and neglect our own families. I am thankful that I was able to take time away from school, work, and ministry for a couple of weeks to simply relax and spend time with family. I pray that, as the years go by, Laura and I never forget the importance of family. I wise minister once told me that our priorities should be listed as "1. God, 2. Family, 3. Ministry" and they should never be switched. I am thankful for such wisdom at an early age in ministry.

We are thankful for all of your prayers this past semester. Laura and I both did quite well in class and can't wait to see what we learn this next semester.

In Christ,
Steve