A Cinderella Moment! (Ephesians 1)

A Cinderella Moment! (Ephesians 1)

Ephesians 1.5 Long before He laid down earth's foundations, He had us in mind, had settled on us as the focus of His love, to be made whole and holy by his love. Long, long ago He decided to adopt us into His family through Jesus Christ. What pleasure He took in planning this! [msg]

After leading worship at Beijing International Christian Fellowship on Easter Sunday in April 2004, Steven Curtis Chapman left through the back door and ran into some missionaries who let him hold one of their Chinese babies. When Steven asked if she was theirs, they said no, but they were trying to find a home for her. He asked, "What is her name?" They said, "Maria". Immediately, a song Steven wrote years ago, called, "Who's Gonna Love Maria," started playing in his head. Steven couldn't believe the coincidence of her name, and was shaken to the core. When thinking about this, he broke down crying and called his wife, Mary Beth, explaining the strong connection he made with this little girl named Maria.

Steven couldn't get Maria of his mind, but he certainly had not planned to adopt another child. Because Maria was a special needs child and was already placed with an agency in a special needs program, Steven thought maybe they were just supposed to help her find a home. But when he returned to the states, Mary Beth already had the paperwork out and said, "I think we're supposed to go and get Maria."

The pieces fell into place, and a couple months after Steven first met Maria in Beijing, he once again returned to China to pick up Maria Sue Chapman. She had a heart condition which classified her as "special needs", but the Chapmans have a different idea regarding why she was special: she was theirs. Before they completed the adoption, she was re-diagnosed as being healthy, and her healthy heart began to constantly overflow into the hearts of those around her. As the youngest of the family, she was certainly a handful, but Steven and Mary Beth knew that their family would never have been complete without her.

For four years, the Chapmans grew together, through laughter and tears, joy and pain. Steven Curtis Chapman has sold more than 10 million albums, has had dozens of No. 1 Christian radio hits, and has won more than 50 Dove Awards, exceeding any other individual artist. Yet he would much rather talk about his family or his work with adoptions and orphans. In addition, they have seen the ministry they founded, Shaohannah's Hope, help over 1,600 waiting orphans find their forever families, raise awareness and champion adoption and orphan care in spheres throughout the secular and Christian arenas, and begin projects such as the home in Luoyang, China, that will care for special needs children.

Throughout it all, Maria has been the beloved youngest daughter in the Chapman clan. Quick to greet you with a big smile, and the first to throw up the "rock fingers" for a little bit of sass. She was also one of the two inspirations behind Steven's hit, "Cinderella". Boisterous and full of life, she loved flowers, ladybugs, birds, anything with wings, coloring, washing dishes, playing make-believe, the color pink, being "butt-naked", water, and her family. Her life was a picture of God's beauty; her adoption was a picture of God's love. Her family certainly loved her, and through the love of her family, she became beloved by the entire world.

On 21st May 2008, in what local authorities termed 'a horrible tragedy', Maria was accidently struck down by a car driven by one of her teenage brothers as he was backing out of the family driveway. She was rushed to hospital but passed away later that day. Over the last year the family have been healing but found great peace in the thought that Maria's eternal adoption was at last finalized on that day, as her Heavenly Father took her home to be with Him.

Just like the Chapmans opened their hearts and home to one poor little girl from China, God has also done the same for us. Through Jesus, we have been adopted into His family as one of His precious children.

According to Roman law, the person who had been adopted had all the same rights as a legitimate child in that family and lost all rights to their old family. All debts and obligations connected with their previous family were abolished as if they had never existed!

This is an amazing picture of what God has done for us through Jesus. He is now our Father and we are His children, free from all that previously held us captive. When the reality of this sinks in, our life will never be the same again.

Read more »

What's in My Jar? (Galatians 2)

What's in My Jar? (Galatians 2)

Galatians 2.2 And I went up by revelation, and communicated to them that gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but privately to those who were of reputation, lest by any means I might run, or had run, in vain. [nkjv]

A high school science teacher wanted to teach his students a valuable life lesson. Taking a large jar, he placed several large rocks in it. He then asked the class, "Is it full?" Unanimously the class replied, "Yes!" The teacher then took a bucket of gravel and poured it into the jar. The small rocks settled into the spaces between the big rocks. And again he asked the class, "Is it full?" Most of the students replied, "Yes!"

The teacher then produced a can of sand and proceeded to pour it into the jar. The sand filled up the spaces between the gravel. For a third time he asked the students, "Is it full?" The students response was a much more reserved "Yes!"

Then finally the teacher brought out a jug of water and began to pour it into the glass jar. The water saturated the sand. At this point he turned and asked the class, "What is the point of this demonstration?" One bright student raised his hand and said confidently, "No matter how full one's schedule is in life, you can always squeeze in more!"

The teacher replied, "The point of the demonstration is that unless you first place the big rocks in the jar, you are never going to get them in later. The rocks are the important things in your life. If you fill your life with small things, you will never have time for the important things!"

Paul went to Jerusalem as a direct result of receiving revelation from God, revelation he received through spending time with God. Jesus did the same thing. The Bible says He often spent time alone with His Father in prayer and it was in these times that He received direction and encouragement. Both Jesus and Paul made their time with God a priority.

Our time with God is one of those big rocks in our life. So many times I've allowed myself to get so busy that I see it as expendable. A negotiable. One of those things I'll get to if I get around to it.

And there are other rocks as well. Time spent with my wife and children, time spent developing my strengths, time spent helping others. If I am not careful, I can get too focussed sometimes on the gravel, the sand and the water only to discover after filling my jar that I've left out a couple of my big rocks.

I need to make sure my rocks are the first things I place in my jar. They are my priority. After all these are the things which have eternal consequences. I need to choose each and every day, "What do I place first in my jar today."

At the end of my life, regardless of what I choose, my jar will be full. I just want it to be full of those things which matter most.

Read more »

The World Will End December 21, 2012! (Mark 8)

The World Will End December 21, 2012! (Mark 8)

Mark 8.31 And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. [nkjv]

2012 will be a big year. On 31st January 2012, the second largest near Earth object, 433 Eros, will come close to Earth's orbit, making it visible with the naked eye. July 27th sees the Olympic Games underway in London. On November 6th Americans go to the polls to re-elect President Barak Obama, and on the 21st December 2012 the Long Count Calendar of the Ancient Mayans comes to an end, with many predicting cataclysmic events signaling the end of the world as we know it. Those of us who remember the media build up to Y2K will no doubt approach this imminent apocalyptic event with a great deal of skepticism.

Adding to the hysteria is a movie released later this year titled simply 2012. Although I approach movies like this purely for entertainment value and of course the special effects, I couldn't help think as I watched the trailer, "If I knew that my life would come to an end tomorrow, would I change the way I am living today?"

It's a fair question, one well worth consideration. Generally we choose not to think about it unless confronted by the death of a friend, sickness or giant asteroids plummeting to earth. I recently came across a post by a man named James. He had just undergone quadruple bypass surgery and asked himself the same question. I like what he had to say.

Jesus knew He had limited time on this earth. His ministry life was only three years, yet in that time He changed not only history but also eternity. When you know the value of time, life becomes purposeful, priorities shift and people become paramount. People become more important than careers. The health of relationships trump the pursuit of riches. I've never heard anyone say on their deathbed, "I just wish I had spent more time at the office!"

Unfortunately most of us tend to procrastinate. I am a procrastinator. No end date on a project means another day up my sleeve to hold off completing it. There is always tomorrow!

But what if there wasn't? What if today was all I had. How would I spend it? Who would I spend it with? What conversations would I have?

As Christians, we don't fear death but we do have a responsibility to be good stewards with the time God has given to us. Let's make a renewed commitment to make today count.

Read more »

My Daughter 'The Goat'! (Judges 5)

My Daughter 'The Goat'! (Judges 5)

Judges 5.24 "Most blessed of women be Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite, most blessed of tent-dwelling women." [nkjv]

Our family has a special connection to the name 'Jael'. It's our youngest daughters middle name - Zion Jael Swan. My wife and I have prided ourselves on the names we have chosen for our three children. We see chosing a child's name to be one of the greatest privileges and responsibilities we have as parents. Someone's name is like a prophetic word spoken over their lives right from birth. Over and over again we see examples of this through scripture. Can you imagine if Mary and Joseph had named Jesus, 'Bob"! No offense if that's your name but it just doesn't sit right for the Son of God to be called 'Bob'.

As a new parent, holding that precious 'gift from God' in our arms for the first time, we can get a sense of His will for that young life. We then have an opportunity to prophetically affirm this through the name we choose. In fact, with Zion, we had chosen her name even before she was conceived. Regardless of whether she was born a boy or girl, the name chosen was Zion, 'dwelling place of God.'

For some reason we always thought that Jael meant 'bringer of light'. We had a sense that this would be part of her God's given destiny on this earth. Someone who would bring light and truth into dark places. Yet yesterday as I sat to write my blog, after reading as much as I could on Jael from Judges, imagine my surprise to discover that her name in Hebrew means 'wild mountain goat'!

Where on earth did we get 'bringer of light' from? What does that say about our daughter's destiny?

In the hope that maybe the material I was reading was wrong, I did a more extensive research. The only other meaning I could find was 'one who ascends' (again with a mountain goat connotation).

When I told my wife, all we could do was laugh. It explained so much about our beautiful little girl. She is a wild child! She is mischievous, adventurous and she has no fear of anyone or anything.

Does this change anything? Have we somehow altered her God given destiny? No, not really. But the one thing that it does, is remind me no matter how hard we try as parents, we are bound to get it wrong with our kids, even when we try so hard to get it right. That's where we just have to trust God that He has their lives in His hands.

And as for Zion Jael, one day when she is older, she will discover the true meaning of her name. When that time comes I'm sure she will ask the question, "WHAT WERE WE THINKING!' Thank God we have a few more years up our sleeve to come up with a very 'spiritual' sounding answer for that one. In the meantime, our focus is simply to help her grow up with a strong love for God, for others and for life.

After all, as Christians, this is ultimately what we all want for our kids isn't it?

Read more »