I want to see Jesus, too

I am often challenged by others and their walk with the Lord.  I read this today and was definitely challenged.  I so love Him and want others to see Him in my life.  ~Michelle

The Saga Begins

Circa 1997, two mid 20’s begin to discuss and pray about what life might look like if they were to join forces in matrimony for the purpose of glorifying God for the rest of their lives on earth together as one.  Many late night conversations pondering what the future might hold were had over the ever present coffee mugs in our lives.  While many of those dreams have fallen by the wayside, some have danced in and out of our lives since those infantile moments.  

As one might expect when discussing marriage, the thought of children was discussed.  I believe the subject was broached in a clumsy manner such as this: “how many kids do you want?”.  As if a mere number can define the shape of a family.  So naive we were.  I think I said 2, she said 4 and I immediately thought, we will have to work this out later.  But I will get my way.  2 is the right number.  I grew up in a family of 2 siblings, she grew up in a family of 2 siblings.   She will come to reason I am certain.

Fast forward to 2000,  our first child arrives.  Korynn Kathleen born a beautiful blue eyed girl that immediately steals Dad’s heart.  What a joy it is to be a father is the thought, unknowing to the challenges that lie ahead in parenthood.  1 down, 1 to go....so I thought.

2002 brings us to the arrival of child number 2.  Lily Grace blesses us with her presence and at the same moment poses an interesting question.  If we stop here, the Rogers name will not continue.  The tree stops here, as it were.  Well in modern Christendom, there's this sort of unspoken "rule." You are allowed to have two children unless they are both of the same sex.  If that be the case, you are permitted one more try (but only one) to see if both X and Y are working.

And so it was, our 3rd attempt.  2004 and the question comes as we sit in the falsely comforting OBGYN office, “do you want to know the sex of your child?”.  No, we better not jinx ourselves.  If we find out, God might not give us what we want.  Reverse psychology always works on God, right?  The month of April brings about the birth of our third child, Reese Khristopher.  The bloodline continues.

And so, that is the saga of the Rogi (our plural version of Rogers) and how we came about.  Shortly thereafter, Papa Rogers visits a man with a sharp knife and the fathering chapter is closed.

Fast forward to November 2010.  Life, though not perfect, is good.  Three growing, healthy, smart, cute kids and we got this parenting thing down.  We are even crazy enough to say that we will handle their education at home, thank you very much.  And so, in the midst of a self inflicted busy schedule, date nights are scarce.  I thought it best to use my birthday as an excuse to do two things I like very much, hang out alone with my wife and watch basketball.  I like it so much, that is what we did on our wedding night.  After the ceremony and reception, before leaving on the honeymoon, we went to our hotel, ordered a pizza and watched basketball.  What a great wife!

And so, on this cold November night, we enjoy watching the basketball Buckeyes beat up North Carolina A&T.  102-61.  The conversation is light and fun as we head back to the hotel for the night and a quiet, late night dinner.  “Remember when” becomes the topic as we think back over the 12 plus years that God has given us together.  And then the questions fall out of my mouth.  “Remember when, we were dating and discussing how many kids we were going to have?  Remember us both saying that we might some day be open to the idea of adoption?  Have you thought any more about that?”

You see we had not once discussed the possibility of adoption since we were starry eyed in love when we could do no wrong in each others eyes and long before our quiver was full with three arrows.  Who needs more than 3 arrows?  

And then her response.  “Yeah, in fact I was researching adoption on the web this week.”  I don’t know if you believe in signs or not.  I am not sure if I believe in signs or not.  But this was an amazing coincidence if it was not a God orchestrated moment.  I was content with 3, what caused those thoughts that night, what caused those words to come out of my mouth?  What are the odds that in 744 weeks of marriage that this would be the week that she would begin researching adoption?  We asked those questions.  The conclusion was that it was no coincidence.  And so we began to seek God daily in this matter.

By Christmas 2010 it is evident to both her and I, that she will have her way, we will have 4 children, if the Lord allows.  Unless of course, there are more to come.

A thought or two for Dads…

A few months back I had the opportunity to teach through the book of 1 Peter to our home fellowship.  It truly is a challenging book from front to back, but Chapter 3 is where we spent some time diving in and chewing on the steak that Peter is cooking up.  I thought I might share some thoughts we had specifically for the dads in the group.

We spent a whole study on verses 1-6 of chapter 3 which all pertain to wives.  As I taught I could see the Spirit working, and the hearts of the ladies being challenged by the Word of God.  While this was excellent, I did have an underlying motive.  If I could get the wives upset or at least challenged, then when I told them that the following week we would be looking at husbands, I was assured that every husband would be in attendance for that study.

I have a passion growing in my heart to see men of faith rise up and take hold of the mantle that God has given to us to truly be the spiritual leaders of our households.  Armed with that motivation, I prepared a spiritual kick in the shorts for the guys in my study.  We spent an entire study on one verse, 1 Peter 3:7 which says:

"You husbands in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman; and show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life, so that your prayers will not be hindered."

There is so much to take away from this one verse I don’t think that I can cover it all in a single writing (perhaps this will expand into multiple newsletter entries).

Let’s start at the beginning - Peter addresses us, the husbands.  Peter was not the sharpest pencil in the box but he did understand the way of men.  First get their attention, YOU HUSBANDS!  In other words, “eyes on Peter here guys”.  And keep it short.  One verse ought to cover it.  But there is so much in that one verse.

Then he says, “in the same way”, same way as what?  Well I think it beckons back to Chapter 2 and verse 12 – “Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles…”  Peter is reminding us that our lives are on display, both inside the home and outside of it.  So remember that as we relate to our wives.

Then Peter begins to lower the boom.  He says, “In an understanding way”.   Wait a minute.  Peter, I believe in miracles and all, I know the power of the Holy Spirit but understand our wives?  Come on.  We’ve all heard the pop psychology right?  Venus/Mars or Spaghetti/Waffles.  What Peter is saying is impossible right?!?  Perhaps it’s not.

Take a moment and reflect back to when you were dating your wife.  Do you recall how passionate you were about knowing her?  Remember how much time you spent thinking about her and replaying every moment over and over.  You may have never taken to academics but I can guarantee that you studied your wife.  You found out the things she liked and didn’t.  You learned of her choices in music.  You committed to memory her favorite restaurant, her favorite author, her favorite store, what kind of flowers she liked.  You learned of her hopes and dreams for the future, of her goals for life.  You studied her like a Payton Manning studies film.

So what happened?  Life got in the way, marriage, jobs, kids, kids, more kids (we are homeschoolers here).  And familiarity set in.  And exhaustion set in.  And perhaps indifference set in.  You thought to yourself, “I’ve got her now; I know all I need to know about her”.  And the studying stopped.

Well I think what Peter is saying here is that the studying of your wife is to be a life long process.  It doesn’t end at the alter, it should continue on throughout life.  And so I encourage us all, let us take time to study our wives once again.  Find out what her new favorite song is.  Can you name 3 restaurants that your wife would like to try?  What book is she looking forward to reading?  What are her hopes and dreams for the next 5 years?  Etc. Etc. Etc.

Well, as is typical when you teach something, God tends to show you the plank sticking out of your eye that you have managed to overlook.  So with that, I need to ask Michelle a few questions.  Go talk to your wife.  We’ll get back to this next time.

Peace.

A Thankful Beginning

Well, I'm not usually one to blog, but the Rogers household can be mildly interesting, so I decided to start :)

I am thankful that my hubby and I are of the same mind and heart on so many things.  The Holy Spirit has truly knit us together into a single spirit in our marriage.

Last night we were watching Extreme Makeover Home Edition as a family.  As we watched, I thought, "Thank you Lord, that we are not in need of these people's services.  You, God, provide our needs and we truly want for nothing.  We have a warm house, food in the pantry, gas in the 2 vehicles, warm beds to sleep, a loving family and 2 dogs to love on.  What more could we need?"

After the program and the kids were ready for bed, we gathered for our nightly family prayer time.  Khris prayed the same prayer over our family that I was praying earlier during the TV program.  I thought this was pretty cool.

Our God is so good in bringing us together and giving us the same mind and heart regarding our family and our lives in Christ.  I am truly thankful.