Crossway Life

It was a normal, somewhat hectic evening, in the King household about two months ago. The family was preparing to serve in Alpha and last minute preparations were hurried. In order to serve his wife, Brandi, Rolland decided to take the three oldest children outside for a game of tag while Brandi finished packing up. Hooray! What child wouldn’t want to play tag with a devoted father! Especially one who viewed a task as simple as watching children, not as a chore, but as an opportunity for adventure.

As the game got underway Rolland decided the safest option was for him to carry their three year old son, Austin, as he ran around the yard chasing his older children. At one point, while trying to tag his son Aidan, he attempted to jump over a curb. As he did so, his foot caught on the top of the curb. He tripped and fell forward onto the concrete driveway. Instinctively, he turned his shoulder to avoid falling on top of his son and instead landed full-force on his shoulder instantly snapping the upper portion of his humerus bone. What followed can only be described as one of the most painful moments of his life as he lay curled up on the driveway in excruciating pain as he waited for the arrival of an ambulance. Doctors attended to his broken arm, but Rolland returned home to a long recuperation that is still ongoing.

During the past three weeks one couple in their care group, John and Lisa Teeter, rose to the call of sacrificial servanthood. They were the first to call after the accident, and Lisa brought a meal right away, paying particular attention to the details of the children’s specific dietary needs. Lisa took over coordinating regular and ongoing meals for many weeks, while John organized men in the church to mow their lawn. Throughout the recovery period, John and Lisa have been examples of faithful and attentive servants. John and Lisa, we commend you for bringing glory to God through your practical serving of the Kings.

In Rolland and Brandi’s own words they thank Crossway Church and the Teeters,

Dear church family,

We want to express our deepest thanks for how you have served our family since Rolland broke his arm. The lawn mowing, meals, prayers and encouragement have been a blessing. It is a joy to have our kids growing up with the experience of Crossway folks truly, “living in community”. We want to especially thank the Teeter family for organizing every aspect of our care. God’s grace and mercy have been evident through all of you.

Love,

The King family

This past week, Brenda, the kids & I went aboard a cruise ship to Bermuda, compliments of my parents (along with 16 other family members).  It was a blast.  Swimming, tropical breezes, Fruit Loops and soft serve ice cream 24 hours a day.  Many wonderful memories were made.

On the way to Bermuda, there happened to be a hurricane nearby (Hurricane Bertha- within a few hunded miles), and the waters got rough in the beginning.  God was merciful, and none of us got terribly sea-sick.

While on board, I began reading the book of Jonah with Abby and Ethan, being that much of Jonah’s account took place on the open sea, in rough waters, in the stomach of a fish.  During our trip, Jonah’s account came to mind as I looked out over seemingly endless stretches of water – it was the first time I was completely surrounded without land in view.

I believe the Lord impressed on my heart a sense of His nearness.  For Jonah (worse case scenario), God was with Him.  Same with the patriarch, Joseph (another worse case scenario, this time, rotting in prison for 2 years)  God did not leave nor forsake Him.  God was really with Joseph (Gen. 39:21), and God is truly with His people.

It was a wonderful experience – being in the middle of nowhere in the Atlantic, yet experiencing the Father’s providential care.  The Lord can use an open ocean to tell us this.

I thank God for His blessings (free cruises to Bermuda), but even more for the sweet, sweet truth that His children will never, and can never be taken from His presence.  Now that is sweet comfort.

Two weeks ago on Sunday morning we honored Carol Landis for her years of service as Food Director here at Crossway. There is no way to fully thank her for the many ways she served so we must be satisfied with the knowledge that a further reward awaits her in heaven. A few days later we received this expression of gratitude from Carol and we wanted to pass it on to you.

Hi everyone

This is my humble attempt to say thank you for the honor that I received on Sunday morning. I wanted to say something that morning but was pretty overwhelmed at that moment.

First of all, I was completely surprised when Bill said my name. I was sitting there thinking of names of many other ladies that all those kind words described. To be able to serve the people at Crossway in the capacity that I do is simply my pleasure. Yes, it is a lot of work, but over the years at different church functions it did my heart good to just stand and watch people fellowship and have a wonderful time just being together. It really was all worth it.

My family has been behind me all the way. Dale was always a tremendous support and always thought of things that I didn’t think of. What joy it has brought me to watch my children serve right along with us and serve with such willingness and full of excitement.

You all have made my job easy. Every time I would ask for help with different meals you were so willing to help. Your eagerness and cooperation was such a blessing to me. I never had to worry about getting enough of help because you made it so easy. Thank you.

To everyone that wrote a note for the book that I received, thank you. Such kind and encouraging words were very much appreciated. And to Teresa and Kay for putting it together, well done.

What a joy to be a part of the church family of Crossway. What a joy to walk through life with all of you.
What a joy to serve beside you. What a joy to worship and follow our Savior together. God is awesome and there is no one like Him. He is why we do what we do. To Him be all the glory forever and ever.

Love you all

Carol Landis

For the past month, the young adults of Crossway have embarked in a new venture, the “Hard Book Club“.  In this non-exclusive club, we are reading some hard books together while discussing and sharpening one another along the way.

The idea for this club came to me as I considered how to create a context to stir the YAs (young adults) to greater love for truth and doctrine.  When I considered how God has in the past stirred me to deeper love for truth, I can see that it has always been connected tightly to the reading of “hard” books.  I think it can safely be said of the Christian: reading and growth are tied together at the ankles.

To peruse some of the discussion that the YAs are diving into as we read through Bruce Ware’s “Father, Son & Holy Spirit“, head to the Hard Book Club blog: www.hardbookclub.wordpress.com

And if you would be interested in diving into some hard books, why not join with us?

The older women in our church have been, and are continually an amazing example to me.  I have so much to learn from each of them, and am so grateful for the teaching we have received from Titus 2, reminding me to posture myself as a learner under them.  One woman I would like to highlight would not want to be honored because she is such a humble woman of God.  However, I was privileged to have a conversation with her recently, and it has served to speak such truth to my soul that I don’t want to keep it to myself.  I hope you will also benefit from her words…this woman is Beejee Herr.

“Oh, I will pray that God will be merciful”, I responded as Beejee openly shared with me that she was going to have a follow-up appointment with a physician, to reveal whether or not the cancer they had been treating was back.  ”Barbara,” she said, “God is being merciful!  No matter what He decides, it is His mercy!”  I knew what she was saying was true, but as she continued, it became even more clear to me.  ”It could be God’s mercy to my family to allow us to go through what seems more difficult because without it, they would not grow in this area.  It could be that this is what He desires to use in their lives to make them more like Him.”  ”Sure,” she admitted, “it would be nice to not have to suffer in that way, but if that is what He desires for me and my family, I can trust that it is His Mercy!”

WOW!  I know Beejee well enough to know that she really meant what she had just said to me.  It wasn’t just the ‘right thing’ to say, or what she ‘knows’ is true, she lives this out daily, and it is a compelling example!

I certainly hadn’t thought about it that way, though.  Who am I to decide what the mercy of God should look like?  His ways are not mine, and whatever He gives is His mercy!

Thank you, Beejee for trusting God and for being an example of what it really looks like to cast myself on the mercy of my Father.  It is vividly clear to everyone around you that God is actively at work in you, making you more and more like Him!

Even as I wrote this entry, I received an email from Beejee to let me know what the results were from her appointment, and that there was only good news!  And her response to this?  In her email she wrote of God, “His kindness is ever before me and I don’t want to tire of giving thanks to the one who rescued my soul and now is daily preserving me ’til eternity.”  That is exactly what a heart grateful for the mercy of God in saving my soul should be saying about the daily mercies He lavishes on me, no matter what they may look like to me!

Last night, Lori and I had the privilege of hosting the Singles for their ongoing summer series called “Your Place”.  We looked at Your Place in God’s Will. So there we were with 9 singles in our living room, talking about what it means to say that God is sovereign and that he providentially controls all of the events of our lives, from the greatest to the most seemingly-insignificant.

We gave them a great resource: a new booklet by Derek Thomas entitled, What is Providence?. In it, he offers a helpful synopsis of what Providence means in our lives:

everything that happens does so because God wills it to happen, wills it to happen before it happens, and wills it to happen in the way that it happens.

You can understand how such an assertion might raise considerable issues in our minds and hearts.  We can struggle with the idea that a good and loving God could ever allow anything into our lives that causes us pain or suffering.  But the Bible reassures us that God does indeed rule over all.  He is the undisputed Sovereign of the Universe.  And so it is good and right for us to see that everything: good or evil, pleasant or painful, must come to us through the hand of the Almighty.  There is nothing, no matter how small, that manages to escape his thorough and intentional care.  Despair and unbelief are not viable options for God’s children.

In fact, knowing that God is sovereign over all of our life circumstances should produce the opposite effect.  Our hope and trust are in the God who rules all things; and we know him not only as Sovereign, but also as Redeemer.  The God who ordains our steps is our Savior.  Knowing his character and his power gives us great hope as we walk through all the trying circumstances of our lives.  It also gives us great joy, as we realize that every blessing and every kindness were purchased by his Son at Calvary, and have come to us according to his good plan and timing.

As you walk through your day and through your week, consider: God knows fully what circumstances lie ahead of you.  He knows what joys & trials await.  And his knowledge is not passive–no, he knows what will happen because he has planned it.  Your life is destined to bring him glory, even as he simultaneously works for your good.  Every trial you face is an opportunity to either indulge in despair and unbelief, or to turn to the God in faith, trusting that he will work for your good.  So go ahead, rest in the knowledge of the sovereign goodness of God.

Here is an outstanding blog post by our friend Stephen Altrogge.  I thought this was such an excellent post that I had to put it on our site.  You can read this post and other wonderful posts at The Blazing Center.  May the following breathe life into your evangelism.

I have a friend (we’ll call him Terry) that I hang out with on a regular basis. Terry doesn’t know Jesus. I’ve probably told him about Jesus five times and the reaction is the same every time: he just doesn’t get it. The whole idea of Jesus dying on the cross and being the only way to God is stupid to him. It doesn’t make a lick of sense. Actually, I should clarify a bit. It doesn’t make sense to him, but he also doesn’t want to believe it, which he has told me several times. Which brings a question to mind. Why am I any different than Terry? Why does the gospel make beautiful sense to me? Is it because I’m smarter, or had Christian parents, or am just a more religious guy? Why are you a Christian, but your aunt, or mother, or best friend isn’t? What’s the difference. Check out what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:14 -

“The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.”

There is one massive, fundamental difference between me and Terry: the Spirit of God opened my eyes to see the truth. Apart from the work of the Spirit, the gospel appears to be a message of madness. People don’t willfully embrace madness, they scorn it. Terry hasn’t yet had his eyes opened by God, and so he sees foolishness where I see beauty.

In his book The Cross and Christian Ministry, D.A. Carson says of these verses:

“Paul’s point, then, is that the possibility of knowing God and understanding his ways does not belong to any human being as an essential component of his or her being. The distance is too great; our self-centeredness is too deep. And nothing in the “wisdom of this age” can help us…What is required then is revelation.”

I shouldn’t be surprised that the gospel seems ridiculous to Terry. He literally can’t see it. In fact, it’s utterly impossible for anyone to know God apart from God revealing himself. I never would have embraced the cross if the Spirit of God hadn’t first worked in me. The cross would have appeared barbaric, foolish, and stupid. But in his mercy, God gave me sight, and now the cross is a beautiful thing.

This fills me with gratefulness to God and gives me hope for sharing the gospel with Terry. I can’t convince Terry to believe in Jesus. I can’t persuade his heart with apologetics or convince him of his desperate sinfulness. But there is One who can do such a miraculous work. God himself can save Terry.

You can’t open the eyes of your mom, aunt, best friend, or college roommate. But we serve a glorious, kind, revealing, God. He can let them see the glories of the gospel shining through the foolishness.