Walking by the Spirit

Hello again everyone,

It's been so long since I've written, I thought I better put up a couple posts to keep the masses happy. :)

As you've probably read above, it was a fantastic year of ministry across Iowa; we saw growth at virtually every level, and I find myself so grateful (and humbled) for God's movement through our ministry this year.

At the same time, Steph and I have found the going difficult at home as we work through parenting two young children and trying to stay deeply connected in marriage at the same time (hard as it may be to believe, these often feel like competing values!)

While all this great stuff has been going on in my world as an area director, I think God has been speaking to me with regard to my posture as a husband and father: he's been challenging me to "walk by the Spirit and not by the flesh".

At a recent area team meeting, we were studying Galatians 5, where Paul is admonishing the Galatian church to avoid giving into the temptation to self-justification through the law in favor of continuing to walk by faith in the power of the Spirit. In his teaching, he references back to the Old Testament story of Sarah and Hagar, the soap opera of a story out of which God begins to establish the nation of Israel as a people.

Sarah and Abraham had received a promise of a child in their old age, but in her impatience for the promises' fulfillment, Sarah chose to take matters into her own hands and "make it happen". Though God ultimately fulfills his promise anyway, her refusal to stand in faith introduces incredible strife and pain into her family.

I'm seeing with more clarity that we too have received promises from God over our marriage and our kids, but all too often in experiences of "barrenness", impatience, or frustration, my response is anything but confident faith in those promises (aka, "walking by the Spirit"), instead, I choose the way of blame, manipulation, and anger to either push down or avoid the experience of barrenness altogether.

What I'm seeing is that these "experiences of barrenness" that each of us face are none other than invitations to choose the way of faith again, more deeply. The hurdles or problems of our lives aren't merely hurdles to be overcome on our way to a happy existence, they are the crucible in which true faith, patience, and love are formed.

I long to be the kind of husband, father, and leader that bears real fruit, "fruit that lasts", and who knows what it means to walk by the Spirit, not just when I'm a "professional", but in the nuts and bolts of life, at 3am holding a crying child, or in the chaos of preparing dinner with the woman I love amidst the chaos of two toddlers!

Praying for eyes to see the invitations...

Jon

PS...As you'll see from the videos, family life isn't always difficult...