The Joys of Being a Father

Today was a relatively uneventful day. As our paperwork continues to be processed, our schedule allowed for a morning of sightseeing.  Below are pics and vids from our day.

Two things you can pray for:

1. Ruthie's health.  Our girl now has antibiotics roaring through her system and she's gnawing through out the day to get those teeth to come through.  She's on the mend.  
2. Visit to Mao Ming.  Lord willing, we will travel tomorrow to the city where Ruthie was born. On one hand, we are really looking forward to seeing the orphanage where she has lived and meeting the people who have cared for her. On the other hand, we are not necessarily looking forward to an all-day car ride with a little one through winding roads in China.  Aside from the travel, tomorrow should also be an emotion roller coaster as we visit the place where she was found.  Covet your prayers there.

Earlier as I sat on a hotel floor playing tea party, enjoying Skyping our boys, and now as I watch our 18-month girl fast asleep, I am awed by the wonder of adoption. People sometimes wonder if a parent can love a child they adopt in the same way that they love a child who is born biologically into their family. Rest assured—this is not a problem when I look at Lawson, Fletcher, and Ruthie. My heart sometimes feels like it is bursting with love for each of them, and I cannot imagine loving any one of them more…or less. They are without exception fully my children, and I am without hesitation gladly their father.

 

In this way, simply spending time with my children sometimes seems like a primer on the beauty of salvation. I’m reminded of J.I. Packer’s words:

What is a Christian? The richest answer I know is that a Christian is one who has God as Father. If you want to [know] how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all.

To know God as Father and the privilege that such is - is truly mind boggling!  I would encourage you to let this thought sink in for a minute.  Know that your relationship with God is only possible because He has adopted you. God planned to adopt you, He pursued you, and He has paid the price for you to become His child (see Ephesians 1:3-14). This reality, this pleasure should prompt and control every Christian.

This is why Packer goes on to say:

Adoption is the highest privilege that the Gospel offers: higher even than justification. This may cause raising of eyebrows, for justification is the gift of God on which since Luther evangelicals have laid the greatest stress, and we are accustomed to say, almost without thinking, that free justification is God’s supreme blessing to us sinners. Nonetheless, careful thought will show the truth of the statement we have just made.That justification – by which we mean God’s forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance for the future – is the primary and fundamental blessing of the Gospel is not in question. Justification is the primary blessing, because it meets our primary spiritual need. We all stand by nature under God’s judgment. His law convicts us, guilt gnaws at us, making us restless, miserable, and in our lucid moments afraid. We have no peace in ourselves because we have no peace with our Maker. So we need the forgiveness of our sins, and assurance of a restored relationship with God, more than we need anything else in the world. And this the Gospel offers us before it offers us anything else. But this is not to say that justification is the highest blessing of the gospel. Adoption is higher, because of the richer relationship with God that it involves.

To think of it…in Christ, we have not only been declared right before God the Judge (as if that were not enough). But we have also been loved by God the Father.  Indeed, salvation is not about reciting a superstitious prayer; it’s about receiving the position of a son. 

Packer’s words, and the truth of Scripture beckon each of us to ask, “Do we know God as Father?” Not, “Do you read your Bible? Do you go to church? Have you prayed the prayer? Have you made the decision?” But, “Do you know that you are a child of God, and does His reality as your Father prompt and control your entire being—your thinking, your talking, your feeling, your working, dreaming, your spending, your praying, your studying, your loving, and your living?”

I would encourage you to be reminded today, in the same way that I am reminded this evening as I nestle beside my new daughter, that our Father loves His children without exception and gives to each of them all the staggering privileges that divine sonship affords.  This is truly amazing!  

I would apologize for the personal ramblings - but then again that's what blogs are for right?

Our little Ruthie hates books.  Grows unsettled every time a book is opened.  That is all books except this one.  It's both comical and moving to see her attachment to the above book.  It is a photo book Nat had made of Ruthie's brothers (Lawson and Fletcher).  She literally carried this around all day today - white knuckled and insisting on having us flip through it during random parts of the day.

First experience of Fried Potatoes - she's well on her way to being a good American for sure

Same picture book of Ruthie's brothers

At the medical center awaiting antibiotics.  Our guide Rebecca is a family friend of the local doctor so we were able to get right in without a wait.  Such a blessing

Sightseeing at the Chen Family Exhibit Hall.  Incredible history.

Same picture book of Ruthie's brothers

We enjoyed a tutorial in customary Chinese tea making at the house of Chen.  Tried at least six different teas.  Some required more bravery than others.

Miko - guide and friend

Sightseeing is exhausting.

Same book of Ruthie's brothers