We are vindicated!

God adopted YOU & ME … we didn’t adopt Him. Romans 9:8 reveals we are the “Children of the promise.”

When Paul uses the imagery of adoption he’s talking about how the Romans practiced it. In ancient Rome (just like today) the Roman family chose the child they wanted to adopt. As part of the adoption, there was a special ceremony where the adopting father went to one of the Roman judges and presented a legal case to justify his right to adopt the child into his own household.

This ceremony was called the “vindicatio”.

William Barclay says that when this ceremony was complete, In the eyes of the law he or she was a new person. So new… “that even all debts and obligations connected with his previous family were abolished as if they had never existed.”

In other words, once a person went thru this vindicatio ceremony - every debt he ever had was erased as if it never existed. Now look at that word – “vindicatio”.

Does it look kind of like an English word you know? What about “vindicate”, or “vindication”?

One of my dictionaries defines vindicate as “to clear of accusation… to absolve… to justify”

That is what God did for us when we became Christians…he adopted us…He vindicated us.?

* He cleared us of any accusation of our guilt and shame

* And He absolved us/ forgave us all of our iniquities and failures.

* He justified us so that it was “just as if we’d never sinned”

WE WERE VINDICATED by God who chose us to be adopted as His children.

Now, that includes our future in heaven… but it also blessings on this earth right now.

I like this saying: “Faith isn’t just pie in the sky when we die, but is also steak on the plate while we wait.”

Welcome to the family of the restored! You know I love ya, Don

Adopted into a safe place.

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I read the true story of a woman who explained that her favorite spot at the local zoo was the “Creatures of the Night”, where nocturnal creatures crawled and flew about.

She said “One very bright day, I stepped into the exhibit and was plunged into total darkness. Almost immediately, a small hand grabbed mine.”

“And who do you belong to?” she asked.

A little boy’s voice spoke in the darkness: “I’m yours till the lights come on.” (Connie Lavoie Readers Digest 3/09, p. 165)

 

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Why did he grab that woman’s hand? Fear. And his fear disappeared only when he was able to hold of the hand of that woman.

This is the teaching of Romans for us… We can handle the fear of our lives because we have the right (as adopted children) to grab hold of our Father’s hand.

Many people are afraid to die...but the reality is that living is a scary thing. The news, the market, the opinions, the sacrifices, the mistakes…all lead to a very scary existence.

Now, because God’s Spirit lives in us - and because we have been made heirs of God - we have a new outlook. And it’s found in Romans 8:15. “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father.” This is an intimate relationship that carries the weight of all the love, grace, and power that comes with a Passionate God.

 

We are brothers and sisters in God's family. You know I love ya, Don 

Growing our Nest Article

Indy's Child November 2012

You know the story: A couple thinks they are done having children, then surprise! It's a boy. In the case of Karen and Donald Crane, make that three boys.

Meet the Cranes

In 2010 the Cranes were a content family of four living in Greenfield. Donald a minister at Park Chapel Christian Church. Karen a stay at home mom. Their oldest child, Matthew, was born with Down syndrome. Alice was born a typically developing girl. Life was moving along at a comfortable pace.

Then they hear about a baby in Chicago in need of a home. Hmmm. Like their oldest, the child was born with Down syndrome. While the couple had talked loosely about adoption, it was not something they were actively pursuing. No matter. They went for it. In the back of their minds they knew if they were to adopt, they wanted a baby boy with Down syndrome. "We felt that is what God was calling us to do," said Donald.

As anyone who has gone through an adoption will tell you, there's a lot of preparation and paperwork that goes into the process. The Cranes didn't have the necessary documents done in time, so they lost the child to another family. Three months later they had fallen in love with another baby boy, and once again the child went to another family. Then it happened a third time. Their hearts were broken but not their spirits.

"We prayed about it. We felt like God put this on our hearts. It was like having an empty seat at the dinner table," Karen said.

A week after the third boy's case fell through the Cranes got a call from New York. An infant named Nicholas needed a home. The Cranes were thrilled. At five days old, he joined their family.

Like others with Down syndrome, Nicholas had a weak heart that required surgery. He underwent surgery in January 2011. The 2 1/2 hour operation turned into seven hours. Two hours later he died in the Cranes' arms. "That was Nicholas. He's a treasure waiting for us in heaven," said Donald.

They had been through so much to finally meet and adopt Nicholas and then to have him taken away so soon was heart wrenching. The couple wondered if they should continue their search for a child to adopt.

"Lord, if you want us to do this make it very clear," Karen remembers thinking. Sometimes you get what you ask for.

A Stork at the Door

Later that year a stork of sorts arrived. The Villages adoption services called with news of a Ukrainian toddler who had been with his adoptive family for two weeks and it was not working out. Would the Cranes would like to meet him?

"We met him knowing we'd fall in love but thought the parents just needed some help. So we met with the parents first. We were trying to give them help. We thought we could give them the encouragement to keep him home," said Karen.

They tried talking to the adoptive parents about different resources and ways to help, but it became apparent they weren't willing to look at ways to make it work. Soon thereafter, The Villages called and could bring the child to their front door within the week.

On Oct. 28, 2011, the child, Kendyll, arrived at his new and permanent home with the Cranes.

Of course when it rains, it pours. A month prior to adopting Kendyll, the Cranes received a phone call from another adoption agency about a boy born on Nicholas' first birthday. Perhaps it was a sign. Eight days after Kendyll's adoption, Nathan joined the family.


Te read more click - Indy Child Special Needs

You know we love ya, Don and Karen

God's Love... a Member of the Redeemed!

 

God's Love...God's love is His strong affection He has for us as His creation. God's love is like the father welcoming back the lost son while at the same time putting his arm around the older brother and demonstrating graciousness and sincere love for His older son. It is God's unselfish, loyal and benevolent concern that He grants us.

We were able to go home 42 days after Matthew birth. We went home with an antibiotic pump and an Nasal Feeding tube. It was October 31^st of 2003 and in that year it was a Friday. On Monday, we received the hospital bill for over $473,000. We had no idea how we were going to pay that bill. On Tuesday we received a letter from our insurance company informing us that we had an clause in our insurance that if we were transferred from a participating provider to an non participating provider, the company would cover everything as if it were the original hospital.

Instantly, I recollected my original prayer 45 days earlier... “God, just let us take him home” and God said, “no.” If we had left the hospital...the insurance would not have paid anything. The right answer was, “no.” God's love was willing to say, “no” so that God's love could draw us in to His story of the redeemed.

The insurance paid everything but our co-pays. We had a ten dollar copay for every doctor we saw and that bill was over $3000 in co-pays. The insurance paid the bills while church members and friends raised the funds to make up the co-pays. Every medical bill had been paid and cleared by the end of the month of November. We never asked for financial help...God just does what he does best and demonstrated the truth “everything belongs to the ones that are redeemed.”

Matthew is now nine years old and since his birth, God has continued to draw us into his story with four more children. Another biological child in our six year old girl that does not have down syndrome, but is very special in every typical way. We adopted Nicholas Mark, who had down syndrome and who died in our arms at two months old from complications from heart surgery. Nicholas is our treasure waiting for us in heaven. We have adopted Kendyll Andrey who has down syndrome and he is three years old. We have also adopted Nathan Israel who is a year old and he also has down syndrome.

I started these blog post last Monday with the following question in mind, “How can a person become a character in the story of the redeemed?” The answer is, “By spending time with Jesus and he will give you a story...not because of you, but because of who He is! And when you have been with Jesus and you have experienced God's intimacy, God's Concern, and God's Love, you can't help but tell your story as a member of the redeemed.

You know I love ya, Don