We Are Expecting,...Pregnant & Loving It

PREGNANT AND LOVING IT: One week ago today, we shared with all of our Facebook Family and Friends the exciting, heart throbbing news:

"Well folks, it's official, Robyn and I are expecting." 

We have been overwhelmed with the inundation of FB posts, FB inbox messages, phone calls, text message logs being jammed, incoming emails,...all delivering Congrats's and varying expressions of shock and awe. The love and shared excitement, without a moment's doubt, simply undeniable.

Many inquiries arrived seeking to clarify and qualify this newly shared Pregnancy, to which we confirmed. We've heard from people in the past seven days, that we've not heard from in multiplied years. We do know, and yes, we are aware that it's hard for some to believe. We confess this morning, that we too, have even had moments when and where our "believing" has been challenged, yet never conquered. Let me explain.

In a very simple, yet profound manner, it occurred to us how so many people have allowed varying life issues to become thieves, robbing them of their future,...a future filled with life changing possibility and probability. Prior to sharing our post last Tuesday, Robyn and I were reminded again, of how another woman, among an innumerable population, received news that she had been chosen to give birth to a son. Thoughts of impossibility and inadequacy began their fiery assaults, attempting to discourage and disable this "soon to be" delivery. However, that woman, Mary, after a brief exchange with the angel, she overcame her fears, uncertainty, and the avalanche of worthlessness, issuing the response, "let it be unto me, according to your Word."

On this Christmas morning, look beyond the gifts under the tree, look beyond you, as we look beyond we. Many placed orders for gifts over the last couple of weeks, and were introduced to the element of "waiting," expecting its arrival. Some went to bed last night, grossly disappointed that USPS/UPS/FEDEX failed to deliver that special package prior to the "traditional" gift exchange. Some spent the weekend, some the last 24 hours, and for some, they may be looking out their front door right now, "expecting" a package to show UP.

But, how cognizant, how aware, how pregnant are you with anticipation of the culmination and fulfillment of your far reaching life purpose? When was the last time you honed in on what God thinks, says, feels, and desires for you!?! What are you "expecting?" You see, one "expecting" or "being pregnant" goes so far beyond "carrying a child within the body." Other words that are synonymous with "pregnant" are hopeful, expectant, creative, fertile, abounding, reproducing, generating,...and the list goes on and on.

The gifts you gave to others, the gifts you received from others, and even the gifts you purchased for yourself, as cool and special as they may be in your mind and/or theirs, they pale miserably in comparison to being WRAPPED UP, becoming pregnant afresh and anew this morning with an astute sense of how critical it is for you to fulfill the plan your Creator set into motion for YOU in the beginning. He desires for you to give birth to that purpose.

Have the following concerns ever crossed your mind, clogged your heart veins, possibly sabotaging the fulfillment and celebration of your life purpose!?!:

- "I'm too old" or "I'm too young."
- The timing has not lined up.
- Maybe, you've been fearful of how giving birth to His purpose may change the perceptions and opinions of others.
- "But, I don't want any stretch marks."
- Fearful as to whether or not it will be a smooth delivery, free from complications!?!
- It has been said that giving birth is close to death.
- "Who will it look like?"
- "I can't afford it."

Robyn and I would like to encourage you to not allow these things to rob you of the joy that awaits you. Start today, this very moment, cultivating a new passion for the pursuit of your life purpose. Becoming pregnant with new hope will bring forth new life. Stop buying into thoughts that bind you, but rather believe in your purpose, spending time with those who are committed to building you UP, rather than breaking you down.

WRAPPING IT UP: So, indeed, "It is official, Robyn and I are expecting." Yes, our girls are excited with us, as this new chapter unfolds. As matter of fact, we have already begun preparing the nursery, and encourage you to do the same. Are we having another child? That is not in our family life plan, but then again, it wasn't in Mary's life plan over 2,000 years ago neither.

Some have inquired about the "DUE DATE." Well, the answer to that question has already been determined when reviewing Hebrews 11:1, "Now, faith is..."

Please allow me to conclude this followup post by "Hand Delivering" a familiar greeting and salutation received from so many of you, our treasured and valued family and friends:

"Congratulations to you and yours!!!"

Pastor Don and Robyn

#specialdelivery
#nofaithnodelivery
#luke1:26-38

The Face of Destruction

Are we sure we really want to begin dissecting the possible "signs" along the way that this 20 year old would go and exterminate 26 lives in Newtown, CT!?!  I say, "Not!" We really need to be careful with our quick responses to crisis situations. We must guard against manufacturing false assumptions about the deceased, because too often, those skewed conclusions can indict many who are living.

HEART (think) ABOUT IT for a moment. I've heard anything from "He looked different," to "He was standoffish," to "He liked to go shooting at the gun range." So, consequently, the above three statements suggest:

1.) A perceived wrong, weird, or "different" LOOK (external characteristic) qualifies a person to be a killer.
2.) A perceived difference of one being less socially engaging, or not desiring to be in large crowds at times, qualifies a person to be a killer. 
3.) A personal conflict with another person's choice of hobby and favored past time, qualifies a person to be a killer.

Wow,...really!?! Well, I have even been perceived and at times, personally, to have had at least 3 of the 3 above stated qualifications myself. So, what is the news media really saying? What do you think? There is too often, too much time and attention given to "Looks, Personality 'Criminal Profiling,' and Conflicts of Interest," while the inward man, a prisoner of his/her own choices, escapes the prison cell only for a fleeting moment to become the perpetrator to the innocent,...a leach that sucks out the life of those who are so deeply loved. For those who may have similar physical characteristics as that of the 20 year old killer, or he/she who tends to be aligned the same way socially, rather than being loud or bent toward being more outspoken, and/or for the person who is as fulfilled pulling the trigger and punching paper at the gun-range as one is on the dance floor at the nightclub,.....it can be hazardous to put the emphasis on the looks, social comforts or inclinations, or conflicts of hobby interest.

The Depravity of Man (Sinful Nature) is the mastermind behind the so called "sudden - where did this come from" madness and massive sea of human wreckage left behind. You see, too many, too often, CHOOSE to ignore, the extenuating possibilities and real probabilities when flirting with reckless appetites in the name of "Fun, Freedom, and 'Mature Adult' Independence."

SUMMING IT UP:
My constant prayer is that God would so shake each and every one of us with a renewed awareness of the subtle seductions of sin, that not only has the ability to distract us, derail us, deflate us, disable us, and defeat us, but even destroy us. We can enjoy education, success, money, and have attractive marriages, families and relationships, yet on the heels of comforting words delivered to many by Jesus and many miracles performed by Him, He summed it all up with these words:

"What do you benefit, if you gain the whole world and forfeit/lose your own soul?" (Mark 8:36)

This not only puts a whole new "Face" on the recent happenings in a small, quaint place on the map called "NEWTOWN, CT," but it is certainly cause for pause for you and I.

WEEPING, WEAPONS, & THE WHITEHOUSE

In the Wake of the Newtown, CT Devilish Nightmare, I find myself perplexed on so many levels.

This is a difficult time for every Newtown parent, family member, educator, and law enforcement officer, as well as any and every individual who places the highest priority on life, the life we've been given the privilege to come to know, while lives are ending every second in a selfish, skewed, and senseless act of supposed "rights," while we weep with what has happened in a classroom at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

On the morning after,...

- When the homes of the children slaughtered would normally be filled with the sounds of cranked up cartoons, siblings laughing and loving on their family pet, and coolers being packed, gearing up to head out on a family outing,...
- When the typical smells of coffee and pancakes, and the sounds of spoons clinging on cereal bowls, have been suspended and substituted by a screeching silence and screams of shattered dreams...

From a distance, for so many of us, our hearts continue to bleed with unexplainable pain.

Lawmakers are firing upon the "weapons" used, rather than paralleling this unsolicited evil with the lives of so many children, that even today, this very moment, are being repeatedly abused.

As I listened to the morning news today, once again, I was both an eyewitness and earwitness to many concerns I possess surrounding some life principle contradictions from our Commander in Chief, President Barack Obama. When referring to the slain children, President Obama said, and I quote, "They had their entire lives ahead of them, birthdays, graduations, weddings, kids of their own..."

YET,...isn't this also true of the innocent children who are being murdered/aborted each and every day? In the United States alone, the life of one child is aborted, gunned down without any rights, every 26 seconds.

137 lives every hour
3,304 lives every day
23,196 lives every week
100,516 lives every month
1,206,192 lives every year

Before a diaper change, before ever seeing an "Opening House" enrollment day entering kindergarten, to begin the pursuit of possibly becoming an educator, school principal, or possibly even the President of the United States, these lives are exterminated.

May our concerns and compassion rise with that of consistent conviction, from our house to The White House.