So Proud of Abby

Our two oldest children, Logan and Abby, both have autism.  However, they are both very different children.  Logan has always been our wonder child.  He is a charmer that people are naturally drawn to.  He makes impressive breakthroughs and is doing well in school.  Abby has always been our wild child.  She has frequently been a challenge and has led to more sleepless nights than I ever anticipated.  Unlike Logan, Abby never seemed to develop much language (both are considered non-verbal).  If Abby wanted something, she would grunt, pull our hands or perhaps say "I want help."  

However, something has happened over the past few weeks.  Abby is using more and more language.  She is asking for juice or cereal or movies appropriately.  I have asked her questions and she has answered "yes" appropriately.  The highlight was recently when I asked Abby if she wanted to go for a drive with me.  I expected no response but as clear as bell Abby responded: "Where are we going?"  Both Amanda and I almost passed out.  This is not say that there are no challenges.  But we are so proud of Abby for the ways she is developing and we are thankful to God for every little victory.  We look forward to what and who Abby will become.

Is Jesus God?

On Sunday we continued our series Back to the Basics with a look at the deity of Christ.  I was in my early twenties before I realized that it was a Christian belief that Jesus was God.  This is a very important truth that must be looked at.  In my message, I responded to the idea that Jesus is just a prophet, such as that claimed in Islam.  People are willing to accept a spiritual teacher but are hesitant to accept a divine Jesus.  But in John 8, we see a conflict that Jesus has with certain Jews.  Jesus explicitly identifies Himself with 'I Am', that is Yahweh, the covenant name of God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3.  That the Jews understood things that way is revealed in their attempt to kill Jesus.  I also looked at the idea that Jesus is a supernatural being, but a created one such as an angel.  Jehovah's Witnesses make this claim.  Hebrews 1-2 goes into great detail to show that Jesus was not an angel.  Jesus was not a mighty god, as the Jehovah's Witnesses claim, but God Almighty.  Someone asked me: "Isn't Jesus the Son of God and not God?"  I thought that was a great question.  Jesus is both.  Jesus is God in His essence and Son of God in His role.  Jesus is co-eternal with the Father, there never was a time when the Father was but the Son wasn't.  Jesus is God.  But Jesus is also the Son of God in that He chooses to submit to the Father.  Jesus is also the Son of God in that His human body was given life and conceived by the power of God.  All of this is important in that our reconciliation to God demanded one who was both human and God.  In His humanity, Jesus was able to represent us.  In His divinity, Jesus had the authority and power to make atonement for our sins.  Because our Saviour is the God-Man, we have hope that we are reconciled to God.  The text for the sermon can be found at my apologetics blog http://1peter315.wordpress.com and the audio can be found for the next few weeks at http://www.meafordbaptist.ca.

Family Dynamic

Both Amanda and I have recently started reading James Dobson's The Strong Willed Child.  I will give my thoughts on the book at a later date but I thought there was something interesting about the fact that we are just starting to read this now.  We have five children, ages: 8, 6, 3, 2 and 1.  However, there is an interesting dynamic because of Logan and Abby's autism.  Although we were very prepared for the baby years of Justus, Emma and Faith because of our previous experience, we now find ourselves in new territory.  Justus is our middle child but because of his typical development, we find ourselves facing issues that we have never had to deal with.  Discipline and reasoning with autistic children looks differently from that with typical children.  Justus is very much a strong willed child and so we are eager to learn how to deal with these issues.  Birth order does not mean so much in our family.  However, our goal for all five children is the same: to love and teach our children so that they can be the people that God has created them to be.  May God give us all the strength and wisdom for this noble task.

 

Did Jesus Exist?

On Sunday we had our third installment in our current series: Back to the Basics.  This time we looked at the historical existence of Jesus.  Until recently, I would never have considered preaching on this as it seems rather common sense.  However, this subject has come up over and over in documentaries and bestselling books.  That is the thing about common sense, most often it is not very common.  

We looked at a few concerns people have about the evidence.  

Why is there not better Roman evidence for Jesus?  There is some but not as good as we would like.  We must take into account the Roman perspective.  From our point of view Jesus is very important and deserves better treatment.  But in the middle of the first century, Christians were a very small percentage of the Roman Empire and no one could have predicted what the Church would become.  We have what we should expect.

What about what the Jews had to say?  There is not much that we have at the time of Jesus (the Dead Sea Scrolls are a bit too early) thats deal with anything, much less Jesus.  We do have Josephus' testimony.  I agree that Christians augmented Josephus but there was an original testimony.

Some people note that the Gospels lack the attributes of a modern history or biography.  They do, but so does every other ancient writing.  They must be judged in their proper context.  What about the Christian bias?  Every writing, ancient and modern, has a bias.  There are no unbiased texts.  What about the dates of the Gospels as 30-60 years after Jesus?  Compared to our accounts of Alexander the Great which are 300-400 years after the events, we are doing well.  We have Paul writing 15 years after Jesus and in 1 Corinthians 15 quoting an earlier passage possibly within five years after Jesus.

It is not good enough for us to have an image or symbol.  We have a real need for salvation and that means we need a real Saviour to save us.  Jesus existed and is that Saviour.   

The Kids

What is life like with five kids?  I thought I would give a short portrait of what it is like.  Try and guess who loves the camera most.  In case you think I have a very unsteady hand, the child who loved the camera attempted to push the camera so it was off the other children.

Happy Birthday Emma!

Spring is a big time for birthdays in our family and today it is Emma's birthday.  Emma is now two years old.  She is an awesome kid.  She is so full of life and laughter.  I just love to watch her play with Justus.  They are definitely best friends with lots of room for fighting.  Emma is doing great with talking and she comes up with some pretty funny comments.  I have a special bond with Emma as at first I was not sure if we should bring a fourth child into our home.  But God spoke very clearly to me that we were the family for her and she is as close to me as she would be if she was biologically mine.  Happy birthday Emma!  We love you very much.

Bumps Down Memory Lane

What's Up With the Eyebrows?

Is God Good?

The previous week at church, we looked at the existence of God.  By far the majority of people agree on the existence of God.  It is the nature of God that people disagree with.  Last Sunday we looked at God as personal and as good.

1) Some philosophies accept a god but see that god as an impersonal force.  This can be seen in some forms of Hinduism and Greek philosophies.  This is seen on a popular level with the Star Wars' concept of the force.  Deists accept a God but claim he walked away from creation and has no dealings with us.  The Bible paints a different picture.  The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 start off, not with the 'Thou shalt nots' but with a statement about God being personal.  The Old Testament is all about covenant and covenants can only be between personal beings.  God is personal.

2) It is the concept of God's goodness that many people stumble on.  Many people that I know who reject the Christian God, do so not because of a logical examination of the evidence but because of problems with the goodness of God.  We have to wrestle with the fact that there is much in the world and in our life that is not good.  Romans 8:28 is a bittersweet verse that prompts different reactions based on the circumstances.  We must admit that life is not fair.  I definitely came to that conclusion, or at least was reinforced in it, during Mom's illness.  But as I reflected on that, I felt as if God said that eternity was fair.  It is only in the big picture that our suffering makes sense.  It is after examining, not just our time of suffering, but our entire life plus eternity, that we can conclude that God is good.

I found the following video an interesting reflection on the goodness of God.  We must wrestle with these issues.

Does God Exist?

On Sunday we started our new series entitled: Back to the Basics.  We began by looking at the existence of God.  There has been a huge change in the face of atheism.  There was a day when atheism was simply the lack of faith in God.  Now atheism has become almost a religion that is very active in confronting other religions, especially Christianity.  It is important that we understand the reasons we believe in God.  These are seven of the reasons that I see for believing in God, although it is not an exhaustive list.  

1. The universe exists.  Even the big bang makes more sense with God.

2. Morality.  How do we know what is good and bad? Why is there so much agreement among different societies?  Do these concepts come from outside ourselves?

3. Instinct.  Every society has had some belief in God or gods.  It seems built within us to believe in the Divine.  We can not desire something unless there is something to fulfill that desire.

4. Intelligent Design.  Life is too complex to come about by accident.

5. Beauty of Creation.  There is no need for a sunrise or the mountains or the sea to be beautiful and yet they are. They point to a Creator who appreciates beauty.

6. Changed Lives.  I have never heard of a person who converted to atheism who became a radically better person.  Yet many people who have turned their lives over to God have experienced a radical transformation and have become better people.

7. Resurrection of Jesus.  Without God, Jesus could have been a moral teacher and a loving humanitarian.  But the resurrection of Jesus makes sense only if God is real.

There has been some response to this message from atheists on my apologetics blog http://1peter315.wordpress.com.  For the next few weeks you can get the mp3 of the message at www.meafordbaptist.ca.

Autism Study

CNN has an article on an interesting study on autism that focuses on the size of a part of the child's brain. You can find the article here.

Happy (belated) Birthday Faith!

With all that has been happening around here, I totally forgot to blog about Faith's first birthday on April 30. It is hard to believe that she is one already. She is doing very well. She is now starting to walk and has a few words. She is a jolly kid who has an infectuous giggle. She is so much fun and we are very glad that she is here with us. Happy birthday Faith! We love you!

Homesick

It has been a week since Mom passed away. The day after she died, I heard this song by Mercy Me for the first time. I found it meaningful and played it at her funeral. You might find it helpful in your own losses.