Schooled in the Gospel by a 4 year old

Recently, while my nephew and I were chopping & freezing apples, we were practicing his memory verse for Awana:

"for my eyes have seen your salvation" (Luke 2:30).

We were talking about what salvation means, and after some clarifications from me, he said, "So we are the apples' salvation from the worms & birds eating them because we picked them first." Yep, right on, professor 4 year old! I was reminded & humbled of how simple the Gospel is by my nephew! The apples needed help if they were not to be destroyed by worms & birds, and helpless to do it themselves, they needed a savior. They didn't need an example of how not to be worm infested, they didn't need encouragement not to be worm infested, they needed a savior to do something they were helpless to do themselves!
The Gospel is that simple, even though we so often try to make it more difficult than that. Reality is, I need a savior - not an example, not encouragement, but a savior to pay a price I am utterly helpless to pay...and the bigger reality is that IT HAS BEEN PAID! Through the cross, I get to exchange my sin (and all of the guilt, consequences, & death that go with it) for Christ's righteousness & eternal life...and I don't have to worry about being eaten by worms! Lord, thank you for the simplicities & complexities in the Gospel...keep them both in the front of my mind & fresh on my heart!
And yes, immediately following the profound statement about salvation, my nephew asked me if I was done chopping apples yet so that we could play operation. And yes, the analogy breaks down because the apples will be eaten by us instead of by worms and birds...and I'm looking forward to it!

Priceless...

As I have had a few days to begin processing our trip, there are so many images & moments that stand out in my mind. I keep thinking of the MasterCard commercials, and this is my version: new outfits for 135 kids: $1350; new shoes for 135 kids: $1350; new school supplies & backpacks for 135 kids: $1350; hearing 135 kids pray & sing about the hope they have in the Lord: PRICELESS!
Don't get me wrong, it was great to be able to bless them physically and lavish gifts upon them, but it was moments of hearing them pray the Lord's prayer that brought tears to my eyes. In a world that is so quickly passing away because of AIDS and poverty, the material gifts that we can give them only go so far. But to know that these children are hearing about the eternal hope and salvation that Christ came to give us is priceless...because no matter what happens to their parents, to them, to their country...they can have eternal hope in Jesus Christ! Please continue to pray with me that their hearts would be open to the Gospel, and that the Holy Spirit would be at work in their hearts, enabling them to respond to the offer of eternal life & hope! Please continue to pray with me for the missionaries, Swazi discipleship-team, and the gogo's who pour into these kids regularly.

From One Mission Field To Another...

As you are reading this blog, I am flying across the Atlantic Ocean...coming back from 11 days in Swaziland, where people's poverty is undeniable and they are unable to hide their brokenness behind material comforts. Yet I am coming back to the mission field of Denver...one of the wealthiest parts of one of the wealthiest countries in the wealthiest time in history...where there is so much brokenness, but it's hidden well most of the time. God has reminded me over and over and over that there is a mission field surrounding me here in Denver that is in desperate need for the Gospel. Before I left for Swaziland, I was at a meeting where a Godly man with a heart for Colorado reminded us that out of the 2.8 million people in the Denver area, only 600,000 of them claim to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ...which means that there are 2.2 million people who haven't heard about Jesus, or have rejected His offer of grace.
As I prepare to come back to Colorado, I am convicted and reminded that missions is not an 11 day trip that happens somewhere else, but a sacrificial lifestyle that we have each been called to live...for God's glory and for the eternal sake of 2.2 million of our neighbors in Denver. It's not a booklet to be handed out, a program to conduct, but the life of prayer, of showing and telling the Gospel, that God has invited and called each one of us into, no matter where we are living.

So as I come back, my prayer is that I would be faithful to Christ's command..."As you are going, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you."

~ Matthew 28:19-20

"God, raise up a people who are no longer content to wait for a tingly feeling to go down our spine to cause us to rise up and do what we have already been commanded to do." (David Platt)