One Short Month

Do you have any plans in the coming four weeks?  Ah, yes – those last few presents to buy.  Cementing a few Christmas plans?  Me too.  Figuring out what you’re going to do on New Year’s Eve?  Well, not me so much – going to the Whiteley’s for the 3rd Annual NYE Partay Baby!  But what about after that?  Lord willing, in one short month, I’ll be standing in the Louisville International Airport saying good bye to a family that is very dear to me.  My pastor and his family are heading to Zambia.  It’s not for a short-term mission trip – they are going to live there.  What couple in their right mind would take five children (12 years old and younger), half a world away, to live in an impoverished country with the following statistics:

50% UNEMPLOYMENT

60% LIVING ON $1 PER DAY

LIFE EXPECTANCY = 38 YEARS

Who would do such a thing?  Well, I’ll tell you.  A family that has a desire to see the church of Jesus Christ expand in the continent of Africa. You see, those statistics are what make Zambia a fertile field for the gospel.  Nearly everyone has been affected by HIV/AIDS in that country.  Poverty is rampant.  Death is not some far off event that “may or may not” happen – death is real.  And where death is not some distant event, little boys and girls and grown men and women understand their own frailty.  With that, blessedly, thoughts turn to eternal things.  The gospel is spreading because men and women WANT TO HEAR about hope beyond the grave.

That’s where my pastor and his family come in.  They are leaving a beautiful home on five or so acres, the creature comforts that we take for granted (reliable electricity, paved roads, drinkable tap water and instant internet access to name a few), friends and family and a church that loves them – why?  For Christ.  Really you may ask?  Yeah, really.  Jesus said, “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple. And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it— lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, “This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace. So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.”  (Luke 14:26–33 NKJV)

This phrase ‘my disciple’ of the Lord Jesus occurs three times in these eight verses – this is the only place that it occurs in the New Testament.  Without getting into a long exegesis of the text, I want to point you to three quick things.  1. Christ comes before family (Luke 14:26).  2.  Great sacrifice is required to be Jesus’ disciple (Luke 14:27).  3. You must be willing to forsake all to be Jesus’ disciple (Luke 14:33).

That’s what the Williamson family is doing.  What part can you play?  Well, you can learn more about the ministry here.  If you have further questions, please feel free to email me (rick.kelley@insightbb.com).

Oh, Brother!

My wife and I celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary on December 5th.  I can remember vividly certain details of that day.  Sadly, my wife and I were preoccupied to some degree because we had a 20 page paper due that following Monday.  The class?  Marriage and Family.  It was a class that we were taking together at the University of Louisville.  I don’t remember much about it other than seeing my first Michael Moore movie, learning such acronyms as NIMBY (Not In My Backyard) and DINKs (Dual Income No Kids), and the flaming liberal professor whose name escapes me but whose face I can still clearly see.

April and I woke up on December 6th, left the Executive Inn and made our way to Service Merchandise on Shelbyville Road to buy ourselves a brand new word processor with our newly acquired wedding money.  Seeing as how we had just hit the jackpot, nothing short of the top of the line would do.  We bought a Brother Word Processor, took it home to our apartment and began to plunk out page by page – we needed to get 40 pages done between the two of us.  But never fear, we had a brand new Brother Word Processor.  This machine was a beauty!  She had a “5 X 9″ CRT Screen, on-screen tutorial, grammar check, spreadsheet program (that I could do budgets on!), and among other things, a fold up locking keyboard on hinges!  Whew – doesn’t that sound exciting!  It was a laptop before laptops were around – granted it weighed just a little less than my first car – but it had a handle so that, if by chance you were strong enough, you could carry it around.

We tried to finish our papers.  We really did.  We worked all day and somewhere in the evening we both realized  - we’re not going to get finished.  As newlyweds, with two whole days of marriage under our collective belts, we were going to fail, yes fail, Marriage and Family.  And fail we did.  We didn’t even bother showing up to class on December 7th.  Most likely, we went out to eat and spoke poorly about the professor and his unrealistic expectations (never mind he had been telling us all semester to get the paper done week by week).

Failing a Marriage and Family class though, is not nearly as devastating as failing in marriage – which is what would have happened to April and I – had it not been for the grace of God.  Statistically, one out of every two marriages fail.  I wonder what those statistics would bear out for a teenage couple becoming pregnant in their senior year of high school and freshman year of college, having a child and THEN entering into marriage?  Statistically, what are the ‘odds’ that we would have stayed together?

You see, this is not a story of how April and I purposed to stay together through thick and thin.  Honestly, we didn’t like each other very much and had it been up to us, we would have been divorced in our first year.  But God (I love those two words), had another plan.  You see, He sought us.  And He found us.  And blessedly, some 17 years later, by the grace of God, we have not gotten an ‘F’ in marriage and family as our final grade.  O, we have failed at times to be sure BUT Christ is not through with us yet.  April and I look back at who we were apart from Christ – and we marvel at His grace to two lost sinners with no hope and no future (according to the statistics).

Reflecting on 17 years of marriage, I am profoundly thankful that 16 of those have been wonderful – and each year gets better.  It has been a great pleasure to see my wife progress in Christ-likeness over these 16 years since our conversion.  She is my crown (Proverbs 12:4).  She exhibits those characteristics beautifully of the virtuous wife found in Proverbs 31.  I conclude with the writer of Proverbs 31, “Many daughters have done well, BUT you excel them all.”

It’s already been five years?!?!

Five years ago today, our precious John Ryle came into the world.  Whew!  After an epidural, two labor stalls, C-section discussions because of ‘failure to progress’, a trip to Qdoba (for me), and 14 hours of hard labor – my sweet little Ryle was born.  His namesake is my ‘old friend’ JC Ryle – pastor and author in the 1800’s.  His simple, yet heart searching way of communicating biblical truth is something that April and I were/are drawn to.  We had his name picked out for some time but we couldn’t come up with his middle name.

Well, after such a difficult labor, we decided to name him John – which means the Lord is gracious.  Seeing His hand and goodness to us during those 14 or so hours – there was nothing more fitting.  (And since Ryle John doesn’t work, we went with John Ryle.) Every family should have a Ryle.  He is my running, fun loving, laughing ball of sweetness and spitfire!  What a joy!  And as much as I love him and thoroughly enjoy being his dad, there is something and someone more important that I would like for you to know.  You see, I would be remiss if I didn’t point you to the God of Ryle’s namesake.  JC Ryle loved, LOVED Jesus Christ.

Old JC said on one occasion, “There is no royal road to rest of soul. Let that never be forgotten. There is only one way to the Father – Jesus Christ. One door into heaven – Jesus Christ. One path to heart-peace and rest – Jesus Christ. By that way all laboring and heavy-laden ones must go, whatever their rank or condition.

Kings in their palaces and paupers in the workhouse, all are on the same level in this matter. All alike must walk in the ‘old paths’ and come to Christ, if they feel soul-weary and thirsty. All must drink of the same fountain, if they would have their thirst relieved.”

Is YOUR thirst relieved?  If not, there are living waters open to you right now.  So drink.

A year ago today…

A year ago today, about this time, I was sitting in a police car filling out a report for my stolen laptop bag from National City.  The thieves got my laptop (actually it belonged to the bank), Alfredo’s GPS (still sorry about that Alfredo), my daily calendar and most important to me – my daily MacArthur Bible.  To commemorate the one year anniversary, I went to Lifeway tonight and finally replaced it!  I could not be more pleased to have it back.

It has been an interesting year, to say the least.  A year ago today I was in a cushy job, setting my own schedule, quite comfortable and even satisfied with nearly everything in life.  Well, that has all changed.  No cushy job.  Not setting my own schedule.  Not a lot of comfort.  The Lord has been pleased to shake things up in our family.  We are learning in a new way what it is to follow Christ, to heed His command from Matthew 6:19, 20, “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.”  That is, by no means, all that we’re learning – there is much so much more.

But, in light of all that, I’m thankful.  I have been assured by God’s word that “all things work together for good to those who love God…”.  And I love God and He loves me – so this must be for my good.  A year ago today, I had no idea how different things would be, but I’m still thankful.  It’s not what I wanted.  But because it came from God’s hand, it’s what I needed.

I’m the black sheep…

 

I had an interesting discussion with a young man last week. For awhile now, I’ve been working part-time at UPS. I have really enjoyed getting to meet and interact with such a diverse group of people. I’ve been chatting for some with a young man named Noah and his friend (his name escapes me right now). We’ve talked about their future plans, working for the “man”, the Lord’s moving in Zambia – and a host of other things.

This past week, the young name whose name I can’t remember, came up to me after his shift and told me that one of the girls at his work area asked him if he was saved. He began to recount for me the conversation that they had. I listened intently, praying that the Lord would give me wisdom in sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. As he spoke, he said something that struck a nerve with me, “I’m the black sheep of the family.” Isn’t that an interesting phrase…the black sheep. He was acknowledging his non-conformity to the expectations of his family.  The Holy Spirit was gracious in bringing to mind verses and an example from Scripture that I hope stuck (Lord willing, I’ll see him Wednesday night if you’d like to pray for him).

As I’ve meditated and prayed about our discussion and the gospel seed being sown, this phrase keeps coming back to my mind. Really, in terms of nearness to the kingdom of God, this young man is close.  You see, if he thought of himself as the ‘white sheep’ in the family, the one who always does right and can do no wrong, oh – there would be so much he would need to understand about his own heart.  The Pharisees, the religious leaders in Jesus’ day, would be those who considered themselves ‘white sheep’ – Jesus’ strongest rebukes were reserved for these men.

But with those who see their sin and have godly sorrow over it (Samaritan woman, prodigal son, the wee little man, etc), they are near to the kingdom of God. It is amazing to see the diversity by which God brings His children to Himself. For some, He completely strips away every last refuge in which we hide so that we have no choice but to look to Him. For others, He pinpoints their sin and gently exposes it to them such that they see it and cling to Christ quickly – saving them from a lifetime of heartbreak and soul anguish.

Within that diversity though, is striking similarity – we ALL must see our sin, we ALL must see ourselves as guilty before a holy and a just God and we ALL must place our hope in Jesus Christ and Him alone for our salvation.  You see, we’re all black sheep – everyone of us. “We ALL, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way…” (Isaiah 53:6). But blessedly, there is One who is white, even white as snow, and that One is the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Do you know that One? If not, I encourage you – start by seeing yourself like my friend – as a black sheep – just like the rest of us. If you don’t think your wool is that dark – Read Exodus 20:1-17 – this is the Law of God that cannot be broken. If you’ve broken just one of those laws, the Bible says you’re guilty of breaking them all (James 2:10).

Once your sin becomes more than you can bear, look to the Lamb of God, that is Jesus Christ – who came and took upon Himself the sins of all of His sheep – that we might appear before God – pure and spotless – on the Day of Judgment.

Is it ‘A Beautiful Life’ now?

I love big families.  To see numerous children interacting with one another and with parents can be quite amusing.  If you were a fly on the wall in the Kelley home, you would see over the course of a 30 minute period jokes being cracked, encouraging words spoken, instruction being given, discipline doled out, the prideful being humbled, a fist fight between Elijah and Ryle, Jacob talking for 28 of those 30 minutes, Christian and Gabe rough housing and wise cracking on anything from the news of the day to a sermon illustration heard, Micah playing with ‘coys’ (cars), Graceann impersonating a meerkat or one of her other beloved animals and April and I trying to figure out a way that we can sneak off to the ‘Q’ (Qdoba).  That is a day in the life of a family with numerous children.

Something my wife and I have enjoyed over the years is watching Jon & Kate Plus 8.  To see this mom and dad with twins AND sextuplets cope with such a large family has, in the past, been a cute show to watch.  A couple of interesting things happened along the way.  First, the show began to focus on the stuff that the family got to do and the places the family got to go rather than garden variety ‘normal’ living – waiting for daddy to come home, diaper changes, preparing meals, and trying to keep a tidy house to name a few.  The show started shooting the family in Hawaii, Disney World, skiing somewhere out west, and a host of other free things the family was given to pimp some product, place or service.

The other change in the show over the years is the relationship between Jon and Kate.  In the early shows, there seemed to be playful banter – Kate was saucy but manageable and Jon had a backbone to stand up when she crossed the line.  The evolution of Kate’s character over the years has been interesting to me.  She has gone from mildly annoying to terribly obnoxious in the past few years proving the proverb “better to dwell in a corner of a housetop, than in a house shared with a contentious woman. (Proverbs 21:9) It is this change that has made the show unwatchable, at least for me. Kate’s disrespect for her husband and her exasperation towards her children are completely unacceptable particularly among those who name Christ. To watch this woman parent leaves me amazed that anyone would buy a book by her much less seek her autograph at a book signing.

So much has happened in one short year. Last year, the show’s ’song’ was “It’s A Beautiful Life” – a catchy, upbeat tune that I even downloaded off of itunes. Now, with allegations of adultery on both sides and drunkenness – they’re just “Everyday People”. My wife told me that they now make $70,000 per episode for 20 episodes per season – that’s $1,400,000 – just for the show. Wow. I’ve been trying to pitch a show to TLC but I can’t think of anything that rhymes with seven…perhaps we could change our last name to Blyleven – Rick and April Blyleven plus seven?

It’s no longer a beautiful life. It seems as though money and fame has changed everything. You’ve got a contentious wife hell-bent on pimping her children so that she can continue this current lifestyle (whatever that is). But you also have Jon – who has for all practical purposes given the reigns of his family over to his wife. You see in all of this, the one that should be held responsible is Jon. Jon is the God appointed head of his family and he has abandoned his responsibility to lead. With his absence at the helm, you have a family that has completely lost its equilibrium. The priority now among both parents is not to save their marriage but to make sure that the kids are happy – after all, sad children do not make for an interesting tv show. This was the parting comment on the show last night – “the priority is the children”.

Really? The children? You see, we don’t stand before our God and make a covenant that we will be with our children for richer, for poorer, for better or worse, in sickness and in health – we make that covenant with our spouse. The best thing that Jon and Kate can do for their children is to love EACH OTHER and make their relationship the priority in the home…but that doesn’t help ratings much, does it?

So – two things I’ll take away – first Proverbs 30:8,9 “…give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown You and say ‘Who is the Lord?’ Or I may become poor and steal and so dishonor the name of my God.” Second, I will thank God for His goodness in giving me my dear, sweet wife who labors in virtual anonymity, pressing on day-by-day for me and our children that she might one day hear NOT “Can I have your autograph?” from adoring ‘fans’ but these words from her Lord Jesus, “Well done, good and faithful servant.”

An appointment you must keep…

Today was supposed to be last day.  February 17, 2009 – does the date mean anything to you?  It is the date in which the analog signal on TV stations across the U.S. was to switch to digital.  The date has been talked about for well over a year and the “crawl” at the bottom of network television has been constant since mid-August announcing to everyone watching “THE DIGITAL CONVERSION IS COMING, THE DIGITAL CONVERSION IS COMING!”  It was not a surprise.  The government didn’t decide at the beginning February 2009 to make this switch.  We all knew it was going to happen.  But – how did the American people react?  Did those without cable take care of business and get their digital converter box?  Of course not.  There are still millions of people (I didn’t think that there were millions of people without cable) who have not taken the necessary steps to secure the needed device to receive the digital signal.

It is interesting.  We’ve known the date for months.  Months.  Yet, the procrastination among our society has forced the government to come up with a new date – June 2009.  How nice.  There is a date though, that cannot be pushed back.  It is an appointment that we all must keep.  Hebrews 9:27 says, “…it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgement.”  Are you ready for THAT date?  I don’t know when that date is and neither do you – but God does.  And that date, that appointed date – that date has been settled since before you were born (Psalm 139:16).  Are you ready to die – because after that IS the judgement.  In terms of eternity, whether or not you have a digital converter box for your TV means nothing.  But of most importance is that your heart has been converted by the saving power of Jesus Christ.  If you don’t know Him – you do not want to appear before Him in judgement.  

Consider with me Hebrews 9:28 as well…”And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

Christ was offered to bear our sins.  See your sins.  Look to Christ – eagerly wait for His second appearing – and you will be saved.

…you have found favor with God. – Luke 1:30

It has become a family tradition to attend the 11 p.m. Christmas service at Southeast Christian Church.  As the words of Luke 1 were scrolling on the jumbotron screen, the words of verse 30 struck me, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God.”  Found favor.  Mary, a teenage girl – found favor WITH God.

Sadly, this young lady who is called “highly favored” and told that “the Lord is with you” is avoided by most Protestants, not wanting to appear to enter into the great sin of the Roman Catholic Church.  (For a peak at Roman Catholic doctrine related to Mary click here) That aside, she was highly favored, the Lord was with her and she found favor with God.

What an honor! To have in your womb and nurse at your side the One through whom all things were made (John 1:3) – to be given the responsibility of raising God made manifest in the flesh is a remarkable privilege. This reminds us of God’s condescension in becoming one of us. He didn’t come here and live and die and come back to life over the course of three days. He became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14) and was tempted in all points just as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4:15) – and all this over more than three decades of living among us.

The story does not point us to the one who gave birth to Christ and nursed Him at her side. It points us to the One who left the glories of heaven and became one of us.  Mary, as excellent a young lady as she was, STILL needed the righteousness of her Son when she died – just like the rest of us.  IF Mary had some extra-special righteousness, our Lord had an excellent opportunity to address it.  Remember what happened in Luke 11:27, “As Jesus was saying these things, a woman in the crowd called out, “Blessed is the mother who gave you birth and nursed you.” What was His reply? You’re right! What a great mother I had – why I learned everything from her! No He says, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God AND obey it.”  The one who is blessed is not the one who bore Christ, it is the one who hears God’s word and obeys it.

My friend, in the coming year may we be those who hear and obey the word of God. By the grace of God, in doing so, the Lord will be with us and we will find favor with Him.

Looking to become a new and better you?

Here is an excellent post on the most important resolution of all. May the Lord Jesus richly bless you in the coming year.

The mystery of God’s providence

I love children.  The Lord has been exceedingly gracious to my wife and I in opening her womb seven times, and in each of those instances, having the great joy of seeing the child delivered with relatively few complications.  By God’s grace, the question has not been, “Will we be able to get pregnant?”, but “What would be a good month to have the baby?”.  Why God has opened April’s womb and not others, I don’t know.  No one does.  God works all things according to what we want.  No.  God works all things according to the fervency of our prayer.  No.  God works all things according to how hard we work to gain his favor.  NO!  God works all things according to the counsel of His will (Eph 1:11).  In its context, Paul is speaking of salvation but he doesn’t write that God works salvation according to the counsel of His will – although that is true.  He writes that He works ALL THINGS according to the counsel of His will.  If God has not opened the womb, it is because He has not seen fit to do so.

As easy as it has been for us to get pregnant, the Lord has been pleased to complicate our attempts to adopt.  April and I have what we would call “adoption infertility.”  We have been considering adoption in one form or another since 1996 – our flesh was willing but financially it would have been irresponsible.  It was only after the death of April’s grandmother that we were able to move forward from a financial standpoint.  She graciously left us a sum of money that would pay for a little over half of the cost.  Finally with cash in hand, we began to move forward.  We settled on the country of Guatemala, seeking to adopt a baby girl that would complete our family and give Graceann the sister that we have always wanted her to have.  We completed our paperwork and were placed on the waiting list in November 2007.  Two weeks later, the country shut down all international adoptions.  Through a course of frustrating events – seeking to change countries, change agencies, the economy and the eventual acquisition of my employer – we have had to put our desire on hold – once again.

As difficult as that has been, it in no way compares to what our dear friends have had to go through.  They did all the paperwork gathering (includes having a home study completed, state background checks, FBI background checks, getting physicals for the entire family among other things), finding people to care for their five children and all that entails, traveling to eastern Europe – only to get there – spend three weeks in country and have God close the door at that point.  Their desire was to put into practice what James calls pure and undefiled religion (James 1:27).

While the process that April and I have gone through would be some like losing a pregnancy in its first few weeks, what they have gone through is like carrying the baby to full-term and delivering him still-born.  To be in the country, to hold the little one that you can adopt, to have the officials harden their hearts and not give you any viable options is beyond explanation.  THIS is the mystery of God’s providence.  If He can turn the hearts of kings wherever He wishes (Prov 21:1), surely He can move the heart of an adoption official.  But He doesn’t and He didn’t.  Why, I don’t know.  Pursuing an adoption is a good thing.  Wanting to see a little one who has no hope and no future brought from an impossible situation to a place where they will be loved and nurtured and brought up in the fear and admonition of the Lord is a good thing.

I don’t know why God closes the womb and I don’t know why God closes the door.  Here is what I do know.  God works all things according to the counsel of His will.  And His will is perfect.  If He has closed the womb and closed the door it is because He has been pleased to do so.  The Lord opens and the Lord closes.  The Lord gives and the Lord takes…Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Psalm 145:17-19
The Lord is righteous in all His ways,
Gracious in all His works.
The Lord is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He also will hear their cry and save them.