Thoughts About Luke 5:4-9

I came across this section in Luke the other day:

Luke 5:4-9

When he (Jesus) had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so I will let down the nets.”

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.

When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken…

I’ve read this before, but this time around Peter’s (Simon’s) response struck me like never before. His response is a clear example of how we might often feel when standing in the presence of our Almighty God. It is in His presence that our sin seems so apparent, more than we’ve ever felt. Like Peter, our tendency might be that we want to run and hide thinking: Don’t look at me, Lord. You won’t like what you see.

But, God’s word tells us that this sort of humbleness is precisely what He desires. Recognizing our sin is the exact place that God wants us. Feeling our short-comings, failures, past or present ‘mess-ups’ is the first step in recognizing that we desperately need a Savior. Jesus reassures us of this later on in chapter 5 of Luke. Jesus answered them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Luke 5:31) It’s a beautiful thing to know that we need not ‘clean up’ our lives before coming to God. He wants us just as we are. Broken. Humble. With an attitude that is prepared for Him to help us ‘clean up’, and recognizing that He is the only one who can help. Despite our ‘junk’, through faith in Jesus we all have access to God. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men... (1 Timothy 2:3-6)

In John 10:10 Jesus tells us: I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. In order to embrace this new life, we must let down our grasp for control. This becomes the next step after recognizing our sin. Surrendering. One time I heard someone say that Jesus is only a crutch for the weak people who can’t figure things out on their own. Among other things, this person has not let go of his need for control. We must admit that we can’t do this on our own. Accepting Jesus as our Savior is what God desires. And yet, it is more than just acknowledging it. It is leaving our past behind and committing our future to Him. A few sentences later after the verses above from Luke, Jesus asks Simon Peter to follow him and become one of his disciples. Jesus asks you and I the same question. Will you follow him? Peter did.

More Samuel Thoughts

Last week we had our homestudy update appointment and I learned a few interesting things. As we began our appointment with our case worker we got to talking about Samuel’s living situation. Samuel’s father is not in the picture, and his mother is his sole care-taker. I thought back to the email update we had received from Kofi, the part about his mother being ‘out to the farm’ when Kofi came to visit. I asked our case worker about this and she shared that on her own trip to Ghana, when she would enter into the villages she would always be greeted first by groups of children. There never seemed to be many adults around, except for a few ‘elders’. She also noted that she hardly ever saw men in the villages, and the women would come around some time later. She said that in the villages the children often fend for themselves throughout the days as the mothers work. And, I knew from before, that the men/fathers often leave town for days at a time to find work....and some of them never come back. So, it’s not like the mothers really have a choice…this is survival to them. It seems like such a hard life. I am very interested to get to have a peek into village life on our trip. Jake was sheltered from this on his first trip, and he never did get to visit any villages when we was in Ghana last time….he stayed mostly in and around Accra, the capital.

We all also agreed that Samuel looks older than 6. :) Our consensus was that he looks about 8, but we’ll get a better idea of that once we meet him. It’s so hard to tell from the picture. With this our conversation turned to school. Our case worker mentioned that some families who adopt older children choose to homeschool their child until they are somewhat caught up with their age level. Another thing we need to consider is that Samuel is probably not going to know much English (English is the official language of Ghana, but you are only able to learn it in school – and in Ghana there is no free education, so poor families cannot afford to have their children in school). This will obviously intensify the difficulty in him learning, and it does seem silly to stick him in a classroom next fall if he doesn’t even know the language. It is on my heart to teach Samuel at home until he is ‘caught up’ or at least knows some basic things and has a good grasp on the English language. But, of course, thinking through all of this brings out my own insecurities making me feel so unqualified to teach a child of his age school stuff! But, God will grow me through this, and I will learn how to do it. I imagine it will take about a year or more to lay down a good foundation of ABC’s, 123’s, shapes, colors, reading and some basic math. And, our adoption training materials propose that it will take a child of Samuel’s age about 1 year to get a beginners grasp on the English language. If you are out there and you homeschool, PLEASE share recommendations for curriculum that I could order online. This is the one I am doing with JJ right now:

It’s a pre-school curriculum (Little Hands to Heaven – a program for ages 2-5), and it has been pretty good. I don’t really have anything to compare it to, but he seems to like it and is learning.

Also, I forgot to mention in my post about Samuel last week that on this first trip to Ghana we will only be able to meet Samuel….not bring him home. We still have to wait and go through court dates, paperwork processing, etc. to make the adoption legal. Our case worker did tell us some exciting news though, and that is if Kofi can get enough things processed for us throughout the next few weeks, it is a possibility that we would be able to file our I-600A form in Ghana. This would be HUGE and would save us about 3 months time in waiting, because otherwise we would have to file it here in the U.S. and go in line behind everyone else who is already ahead of us. Our case worker mentioned that it would be a miracle if we could file the I-600A in Ghana because of all the things that must be in order before that, but she said Kofi knows what he is doing and is very efficient so it is a possibility. Please pray that it would happen!

Kofi also met with Pastor Gideon early last week and Pastor Gideon was able to hand over the funds we had sent over earlier from our adoption of Solomon. After the adoption of Solomon fell through we had Pastor Sam/Gideon keep our funds until they identified another child for us. Since that never happened, we had been trying to decide how exactly to get the funds either wired back or somehow returned. Every cent ended up being there and accounted for, which was a huge blessing. Our adoption agency was going to cover any losses anyhow because of the frustrations with that whole situation, but thankfully all the money was there. Kofi in turn has been able to use those funds to pay for Samuel to get back into school, and also to buy him some nutritional supplements and vitamins to help with his malnutrition. It has been a very positive experience working with Kofi. He literally is in constant communication with our case worker, and email turn around time is within 1 day!

All in all we are anywhere between 4-6 months away from traveling to bring Samuel home….barring any major disasters. :) I’ve learned with international adoption you just can’t really be sure of anything. The only thing I can be sure of is that God has a plan, and He will work it out in His time.

Game Night Results!

First a little pizza for some fuel!

Next up, time to practice!

JJ and Jayla ran around the floor just like they were at any old gym. Neither of them have any idea that most 3 year olds and 1 1/2 year olds don't ever get to step foot on this floor!


Later on, it was a FULL house!

JJ & Jayla were more interested in keeping their eyes on Cy and Herkey (the mascots) than the game. :)

Then came time for Daddy's debut! I caught the first shooting time on video....and during this one he made 9 out of 10 shots! If you turn it up loud enough you might get to hear the guy in the stands yelling obscenities at Jake. Oh yes, when you're good at something there are always haters. Just fuels the determination as Jake always says (in fact, when this happened to him in college it even spurred an idea for a tatoo that he got!). :)



After this one, he got to shoot 2 more times. The second time he made 3 out of 5 shots, and the 3rd time he made 4 out of 5 shots! They ended up changing the rules, and he only got to shoot 20 shots, but they were all from the top of the key so that was good! They also decreased the money amounts that each shot was worth. All in all he made 16 out of 20 shots and earned $1075! Good job, Daddy! They wrote a check to the guy in the stands that was picked, and he was this cute 70-year-old guy that Jake said kept thanking him and thanking him. :) This amount will also be donated to a charity of Jake's choice, and will also be matched and put into the ISU scholarship foundation.

A few more pictures...
Daddy chats with the refs (doesn't this look familiar?!)

Leaving through the old tunnel....this is the way we always left after the games, only then we didn't have two little munchkins with us! :)

What a FUN night! Did I mention that the CYCLONES WON?!?!?!

:)

No Pressure

Do you remember this?

Or this?

Well, if you don’t, tonight if you are headed to the ISU vs Iowa basketball game you will get to catch a glimpse of Jake’s sharp shooting skills (or what is left of them!) Jake was asked last week to do a charity $ for shots deal at Hilton Colisseum tonight. He will be shooting throughout the game during time-outs and half-time. Hy-Vee is sponsoring it, and here is what Jake has to do:

He will shoot 25 three pointers….5 balls at 5 different spots.

The first 4 balls at each spot will get Jake $100 for each shot made. The 5th ball at each spot is considered the money ball, and he would get $250 each time he makes the 5th shot.

Now, get this….The total amount of money Jake ‘earns’ with his shooting will go to the charity of Jake’s choice plus they are picking out a random person from the stands who will win the amount Jake earns with his shooting, plus Hy-Vee is matching the amount Jake earns and will donate that amount to the ISU scholarship foundation. Got it?

NO PRESSURE, right?

:)