(R) Adam Davidson

How much faith do you actually need? The apostles prayed for more faith and got handed a lesson instead: you only need this much (*) and to believe enough to act on it.

Yesterday was a big day for our family as we jumped through the hoops of parental termination, which paves the way for adoption. Going through this process with Brittany has shaped my heart as a dad and gives me greater perspective on the heart that God the Father has for us.
Do you realize how much He loves you?

We’re sitting in a courtroom again. Brittany brought her stack of three ring binders and her classic bucket of fight, sitting with our attorney and her stack of papers, binders, and book of Michigan Court Rules. Nicole (the lawyer) was smart and brought coffee from outside. This courthouse is an island, served only by vending machines in a building surrounded by corn fields and Trump flags. That’s Ottawa County for ya.

Carter is sitting next to me. He’s in a good mood. Last night he went to the Dayseeker concert last night with his older cousin. He’d typically be in school right now, but today is his day in court. The goal is to terminate Carter’s biological mom’s parental rights, thus enabling him to be adopted by Brittany and I. It’s an arduous task that requires an endless amount of paperwork from county officials, the state, law enforcement, and the people of Neptune. Not really, but it seems that way. And that difficult.

We could be here for hours. The biological mother’s court appointed attorney, aiming to cover all her bases, is already making this difficult.

I’ll do my best to keep you all updated. I have been quiet about family details lately because we have two people “out there” who pose some level of threat to the safety of our kids.

Your prayers are much appreciated. A few reached out to see if this hearing had already occurred — it didn’t because of a ridiculous two week loophole. Yes, it does sometimes seem that the system is not set up for the protection of the child. Other times, the protection is obvious. Right now, we’re in the middle of it. Much will be determined in the coming hours. Brittany is now approaching the witness stand…

We get stuck in familiar ruts that stop our growth. Jesus expects us to continue on into the deeper mysteries of God and to simply grow… to change… to morph. Hear this challenge not to coast but to continue to grow and become more like Jesus daily.

It’s important to 1) show the place and value of scripture to our kids and 2) not expect it to always be a pleasant read.
Just like eating crickets.
Watch:

Notice how Jesus sees the crowd: helpless, harassed, in need of a shepherd. Aren’t you glad that Jesus sees us as we are, loves us, helps us, teaches us, and heals us? Now… you and I are called to have the heart of Jesus in this broken world. Let us go and do likewise.

Paul teaches the early church about being gracious with one another as a sign of our growing together. We don’t know what we don’t know — thankfully, God reveals the Truth to us and causes us to think differently and, therefore, live differently as a result. But we’re not all growing at the same speed…

We’ve all prayed it: God, just tell me what to do. Show me your will. ASAP. Amen.
It’s important to remember that the purpose of God’s will being revealed to us is not for our entertainment, our comfort, or our good times — it’s for His glory and our becoming more like Jesus.
So, if you’re like me and asking for God to just tell you what to do, here’s one of the first things that’ll come up:

How do we describe the joy of salvation, especially as a day-to-day sustaining grace in our lives? It’s like knowing something else is around the corner… so we carry on through today knowing that tomorrow will be very very different…

Jesus makes a peculiar claim about avoiding death. We all avoid it — death AND talking about it. Yet, Jesus says “whoever obeys my word will never see death.” Huh?