Tomorrow morning a handful of DSC leaders will, Lord willing, leave for The Gospel Coalition‘s national pastors’ conference in IL. The speakers include Don Carson, Tim Keller, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, Bryan Chapell, Phil Ryken, and Ligon Duncan. The messages will expositionally work through the whole text of 2 Timothy, in addition to the smaller break out sessions on more practical topics.

Please pray for us while we’re there. Pray for refreshment, growth, and fellowship in Christ and in his Word.

Let me add a few comments more financially related, while I’m at it.

Normally, we would take almost all of our staff and elders to an event like this (20+ people). It’s in our budget to do one big conference together a year. Or at least it was. With the giving being what it has been, and budget cuts being unavoidable, conferences were one of the first places we started “trimming.” We’ve cut the overall number of conferences we attend, and cut how many will attend. I don’t know the numbers, but I know it’s a significant change from a year or two ago. This may be the only conference any of us attend this year.

Why do I tell you that? Well, not at all so that you’ll feel sad or guilty for our conference hardships! It’s not even a subtle reminder that “parentheses are bad” …and the parentheses are growing. I tell you that so that we remain above board with you about your giving and our spending – especially in these fiscally-tight times. Your giving will send a handful of us away for a conference this week. Yet, with that in mind, please know that we are constantly trying to wisely make cuts toward a budget that more closely reflects our present state of giving.

On the one hand, we want to be wise and careful stewards of what the Lord gives us through you, and not presumptuous that the Lord will do tomorrow what he has done yesterday. But, on the other hand, we’re not doing the church-equivilent of cashing in your bonds and burying the cash in the backyard. We’re in a recession — as a country and as a church — but, praise God, the gears are still turning, and oil on those gears is still needed. This conference is the equivalent of some oil applied to the gears of our church leadership. That benefits you; it is ultimately (under God’s glory) for you, the church at DSC.

We go with that firmly in mind. You sent us (even if you didn’t know it until now!). We go to hear, talk, grow, and learn so that we’re better equipped and more refreshed to serve you in and through Jesus Christ. We take none of that for granted. Please know that. And thanks for sending us.

Yesterday I preached “A Seven Mile Walk through the Old Testament: What Jesus Might Have Said to the Emmaus Disciples” (Luke 24:25-27). Shortly after, at our family lunch, my ever-wise wife suggested that, in light of the message, we should go back through The Jesus Storybook Bible (which is, really, a Biblical Theology for kids). So, at dinner last night, Autumn, our 10 year old, read us the first chapter. It ends with these great words about God’s plan (p. 17, emphasis added):

The Bible is most of all a Story. It’s an adventure story about a young Hero who comes from a far country to win back his lost treasure. It’s a love story about a brave Prince who leaves his palace, his throne — everything — to rescue the one he loves. It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life!

You see, the best thing about this story — it’s true.

There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one Big Story. The Story of how God loves his children and comes to rescue them.

It takes the whole Bible to tell this story. And at the center of the Story there is a baby. Every story in the Bible whispers his name. He is like the missing piece in a puzzle — the piece that makes all the other pieces fit together and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture.

And this is no ordinary baby. This is the Child on which everything would depend.

Since I began my sermon by saying how the Bible is like a puzzle that needs putting together and has Jesus at the center, some of the kids wondered if I had gotten parts of my sermon from The Jesus Storybook Bible (I think the quote was, “Hey, wait a minute, you said the Bible is like a puzzle with Jesus in the middle!). Well, I hadn’t consciously “borrowed” from the kids’ book, but that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing. It’s such a great book.

Other similar, great “Biblical Theology for kids” are:

• The Big Picture Story Bible
• Discovering Jesus in Genesis and Discovering Jesus in Exodus

P.S. I hope to add some further “Biblical Theology resources for the older crowd” here on the blog in the next day or two.

Today, we weep with Steffan and Rachel Brown who lost their newly adopted son, Matthew, on Sunday.

Zach gives an account on his blog of the remarkable, grace-filled story (quoted in full below):

Today we lost a member of our church family. His name was Matt. He had a very unique and amazing story.

Matt was born in January to a 15 year old girl at the University of New Mexico hospital. The doctor who performed the delivery was Steffen Brown. He and his wife Rachael are friends of ours at Desert Springs Church.

Being so young and single, the birth mom immediately decided that she was going to put the baby up for adoption. Steffen and Rachael quickly decided that they would try to adopt this baby. A very courageous and beautiful decision quickly turned very scary.

After about 24 hours they found out that Matt had a rare condition known as hydranencephaly. This is a brain disorder where the brain fails to develop correctly. The front part of the brain is fluid instead of functioning tissue. The disease is terminal, which gave Matt roughly 4-12 months to live. This condition technically deemed him unadoptable; normally one with this condition would become the property of the state where he would be institutionalized and made comfortable until he passed.

This placed the Browns in a very difficult situation. Do they go the hard road of the cross, knowing the gut-wrenching pain that would soon ensue from having to watch this child die or should they turn him back over to the state? They chose the former and I know today they can joyfully say with tears in their eyes that without a doubt the phrase “it was worth it” doesn’t do justice. It was beyond “worth it.” It was true Christianity in action and provides a bittersweet joy that is beyond words.

My wife and I have learned much from the Browns. Oh how I long for more families like them! What would it look like in our culture of death for more Christians to be willing to take the hard road of the cross and lay down their lives for the poor, weak, and defenseless?! This is not to say that all are called to adoption, but all are called to lay down their lives by taking up their cross and following Jesus on the road to Golgotha. We know that Golgotha is not the final stop! The resurrection is true, for Jesus and for us. There is a “joy set before us” that can move radical obedience to a place where it is no longer seen as “radical,” but rather, “normal.”

I am so glad that the Browns were willing to take this courageous step. Make no mistake, this was not an easy road for them. Among other challenges, Matt did not sleep well at all and they have two other older (but still young) children. Any parent knows that sleep deprivation can drive a person completely nuts while you try to care for the needs of your other children. Steffen is also a very busy OB resident and his very demanding schedule was also a challenge. Toward the end of Matt’s life he suffered greatly as his body began to shut down. I can think of nothing worse that watching one of your children die and knowing there was nothing you could do about it.

Yet I am convinced that when Christians take courageous, faith-filled steps like this, the positive ripple effect throughout the kingdom of God continues to radiate out beyond our comprehension. This ripple will be seen by believers and unbelievers alike with corresponding impact in different ways for each group. Unbelievers are perplexed as to why one would do such a thing and believers are challenged to do similar acts of loving sacrifice. We need more of this.

And what an opportunity for the Church to step up! When a family bears a cross such as this, do we not all bear this cross together (Gal. 6:2)? This bonds us together as one. This is what we are called to be. I know that DSC exhibited this oneness with the Browns. I am very proud of our church today.

Would you remember the Browns in prayer? Maybe stop and pray for them now. Also, I think we should pray for ourselves that when faced with a situation such at they did, we would joyfully say yes to the hard path knowing that it is more blessed to give than receive (Acts 20:35). May we seek a real, lasting blessing!

This section from one of their blog posts was especially moving for me. I think it will encourage you as well:

Matt doesn’t respond positively to all the love and care we shower on him, and despite the fact that I knew in my head he wouldn’t, I still want him to smile back at me. Instead of smiling, he either stares at me blankly or screams in response to my best efforts to communicate with him. The discouragement I feel at his failure to thrive only evidences the selfishness of my endeavors. Before Matt, I was tempted to believe I loved my children with at least an inkling of selflessness. I now know that I expect at least some return for my investment. At the very least, I would like a two-month smile and a 3-month squeal of delight in response for the long nights and endless feedings. I am humbled further to think of the earthly reward I am tempted to expect from my older children. Each day with Matt, it looks more and more like all of our reward is being deposited in heaven (or not, because God loves a cheerful giver, and sometimes, I am just not). Frankly, I am not all that happy about the choice of accounts. While I may have previously thought I wanted to deposit all of my treasure in heaven, I now know I am more or a 50/50 or even 75/25 kind of girl; I would like some treasure in heaven and most of it here.

It may be this very realization of further indwelling sin that God seeks to remedy in part through our love of Matt. I once thought we were called to care for orphans and widows in their distress because by caring for them, we would see buckets of fruit in our own lives. I now believe, we are called to selfless acts because in our attempt to selflessness, our selfishness is exposed. I am utterly incapable of selfless love apart from Christ at work in me. So, exposed and helpless in the wake of selfishness, we have no choice but to rest completely in Christ for salvation. By faith alone, we are saved. Through our attempts at “good” works, we become all the more aware of our need for salvation. Praise God that His grace and love cover us completely and instill in us the hope of heaven!

It is sin to seek self above the good that God has willed for our lives. Sin separates us from the love that Christ has for us. It is this very separation–the separation that death embodies–that Christ died to overcome. Death stinks. We all hate it, but God more than hated death. He did something about it. Jesus came to overcome death once and for all at the cross. Our hope isn’t in life now. Our hope, like it or not, is in heaven. Our hope is not in miracle cures, our hope is in a sound doctrine of suffering that begins and ends in the cross.

So, I am thankful for Matt because he has further exposed the blackness in my heart and my need for the forgiveness found in Jesus. I am sick because I seek physical healing, signs and wonders, rather than the One to whom the signs point. Jesus is our hope. Spiritual healing is our calling and our destiny in Christ. Someday I will watch Matt run and play and laugh. Until we finally make it home, we rest in His finished work and long for its realization in heaven.

For those of you from DSC or otherwise, in lieu of sending flowers or something of that sort, the family wishes that a donation be giving to the Desert Springs Church adoption fund. This fund exists to help families attain interest-free loans to be used toward adoption costs. If you would be interested in giving toward this end on behalf of the family, please click here and then hit the button in the top sidebar to donate.