Praying for Japan

Yesterday we watched the aerial video images that were captured as the tsunami swept over Japan. The scenes of overwhelming destruction were horrifying and seemed surreal. We could see cars trying to outrun the oncoming waves behind them, only to be overtaken by another wave that came from a different direction. Real people were dying as the camera continued recording. It broke our hearts for the people of Japan. Finally, our 9 year old son said quietly, "I guess God wants everyone to know how powerful He is."

The devastation we witnessed made us pray for the people in Japan, that God would use this catastrophic event to bring many souls to salvation. Thousands have died, but for the people who have survived I am praying that their eyes will be opened to their great need for a Savior. The mighty God who can unleash an unstoppable wave of death is the same God who tenderly offered His only precious Son to die a hideous death on the cross, so that people in Japan can cry out to Him and be saved.

I found a fascinating passage in Ezekiel 33:11 this morning. It is a message of hope and comfort to anyone, but my thoughts are on the Japanese as I read these words of the Lord: "Say to them, 'As I live!' declares the Lord GOD, 'I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live. Turn back, turn back from your evil ways!'"

There is a very moving prayer for the people of Japan by John Piper on the Desiring God blog this morning. Click here to read it.

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Spurgeon on Election

"I believe the doctrine of election, because I am quite certain that, if God had not chosen me, I should never have chosen Him; and I am sure He chose me before I was born, or else He never would have chosen me afterwards; and He must have elected me for reasons unknown to me, for I never could find any reason in myself why He should have looked upon me with special love."
- Spurgeon

(My 21 year old daughter says that when she gets to heaven she is going to hang out with Spurgeon and C.S. Lewis, and is constantly quoting both of them. The above quote is from a sermon on election that she was reading out loud to me yesterday.)

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Cute Quote

Me, addressing my 5 year old: "Did you like Reepicheep?"

(We had just come out of the theater after watching the latest Chronicles of Narnia movie. Reepicheep is a large Narnian mouse, who is very skilled with his sword, and known for his bravery and adventurous spirit. )

My little boy: "Reepicheep is the boss!"

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What God Can Do

Today I was reading a new book that I picked up on Sunday called Gospel-Powered Parenting. The author, William P. Farley, shared a great quote from Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) and was showing how it is possible for children to follow Christ in a world filled with sinful allurements.


"Christians overcome the world by seeing the beauty and excellence of Christ. They overcome the world by seeing something more attractive than the world: Christ, "in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3)... In the same way, Christian parents try to make Christ and his kingdom glorious. Their children conquer the lusts of this world with a higher passion: the moral beauty of Christ."


Farley's own testimony of raising his five children echoes the same idea. They put all their hope in the life-transforming power of the Gospel:




"We aimed all our arrows at our children's hearts, knowing that once their hearts were changed, the decisive battle was fought and won."


I have been watching this happen in my own family. Today, I took my four sweet daughters out for a special girls time together. We reserved a study room at the library, and spent a couple of hours just talking together, and sharing what God is teaching each of us. As I sat and listened to the conversation around the table, I was so moved by what God has done/is doing in their lives. I was struck by the amazing fact that God can do in their hearts what parents can only pray for as we teach, love them, rebuke, exhort, and encourage through our days together. He captures hearts and makes them love His Son, and embrace His wisdom and His ways. I am so grateful and filled with hope for what He will do with my-- well, with His children in the days ahead.

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So Thankful That...

God is always the loving Father who runs with outstretched arms to welcome any wayward child who leaves the pig pen to come back home to Him.

Yes, I really love the story of the prodigal son and how it truly illustrates the heart of the Gospel.

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Reciting the Victories of the Gospel

In the 2003 printing of John Piper's Christian classic, Desiring God, he wrote an updated preface. The entire book is dedicated to his father, William Solomon Hottle Piper, and John Piper addresses him directly in the last paragraph:

"Finally, a word to my father. The dedicatory words I wrote in 1986 are still true seventeen years later. I look back through forty-five years and see mother at the dinner table, laughing so hard that the tears run down her face. She was a very happy woman. But especially when you came home on Monday. You had been gone two weeks. Or sometimes three or four. She would glow on Monday mornings when you were coming home.

At the diner table that night (these were the happiest of times in my memory) we would hear about the victories of the gospel. Surely it is more exciting to be the son of an evangelist than to sit with knights and warriors..."

What a statement! John Piper thought that being the son of an evangelist was more exciting than keeping company with knights and warriors. And why? There was something about his father coming home from the front lines of the spiritual battle and telling the stories of how his captain, Jesus, was winning the war. That impacted him as a young boy. His parents obviously longed to see Christ gaining victory in people's hearts. This was something they valued. They got excited about it! His dad, as a traveling evangelist, was giving his life to preaching the Gospel, and his mom, characterized as a happy woman, wanted to hear those stories, and rejoice with her husband over what God was doing. Looking back on his childhood, John Piper held those times as exciting and happy memories.

This little scene that John Piper described reminded me of the opportunity that we have as parents to influence our children. In this case, he was influenced by the example set by his parents of Gospel work, and the natural conversation that flowed out of their delight in what God was doing. How simple! Our children are listening, and they are taking notes on the things that we give our lives to, and get excited about. How fitting that the little boy around that dinner table, listening with great interest to the victories of the Gospel, grew up to be a passionate preacher and writer, who has greatly influenced many to cherish Jesus Christ as their all-satisfying treasure.

I'll be thinking of that when we sit down for our next meal together.

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Forward

Wise words to live by for a new year, and every day of every year to come:
"Only one life, twill soon be past.Only what's done for Christ will last."

My prayer for the new year:"Lord, let 2011 be a year that I live with joy and resolve toward great service, all because Christ is my all-satisfying treasure, and He is worthy of all I can give."

Happy New Year!

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