Alex: “You see, God and money are like the same thing.”

Me: “Brother, did you really just say that?  It sounds like you are saying money is God.  I’m very uncomfortable with what you just said.  Can you elaborate?”

Alex: “All you see here, the buildings, what you’re wearing.  It comes from money.  We would have none of this without money.  Where else would it have come from?  Everything we have is because of money.”

Me: “My brother, God created everything.  Money may or may not have been used, but God is the creator?  It sounds like you are saying money is the creator and is God.”

Alex: “No no no.  You’re misunderstanding me.  See… all of these things bring happiness.  Money brings happiness.  You cannot have happiness without money.  See?”

Me: “I know millionaires who have more money than I can fathom.  Most are incredibly unhappy and never feel like they have enough.  These things do not satisfy!  No, God is our happiness, satisfaction, and joy.  In heaven there will not be any money, but God will be there and we’ll have perfect joy.  Alex, you are in a very dangerous place.  You are worshiping money instead of God.  Jesus tells us we cannot serve two master, you cannot serve money and God.  You choose money, and that is not a good choice.”

Alex: “But scripture says there are two lords:  God and money.  It calls money Lord.  It is used by God but it is also a Lord.  God works through money.  That’s why the Bible talks about money so much.”

Me: “No, scripture says that money is the root of all kinds of evil.  Money is all material.  It tells us in scripture to not store up treasure on earth where rust and thieves can get it, but store up treasure in heaven.  What is in heaven?  We will be, and other people who come along with us.  And God.  That is treasure in heaven, that is what lasts.”

Alex: “No, it says that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.  That’s when you do unjust, greedy things to get money.  But there is nothing wrong with wanting money.  Money is good.”

Me: “Making money the source of your joy is loving money over God.  It is like what Jesus said in the parable of the sower in Mark 4 (I explained the parable).  The third soil the seed was sown on grew up, but thorns and thistles grew up and choked it off.  But in the last soil it reaped a harvest of 30, 60, and 100-fold.  What choked out the third soil?  It says “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful” (Mark 4:18).  Alex, you are desiring other things rather than God.  You will be the third soil.  You will bear no fruit.”

Alex: “No no no, you must be misunderstanding.  What I’m saying is that how can someone who is a citizen of heaven be poor?”

Me: “You mean poor like Jesus was?  Or like his disciples were?  Or like many of his devoted followers are today?  It says in Luke that “blessed are the poor”.  Paul said he was content in plenty and in want.  We are to be content in God.  God gives us all things.  God is our satisfaction.  God is our joy.  When Job had everything taken away, he still worshiped God.  Yes, material things seem to bring some comfort and happiness, but it is all fleeting.  It will all burn one day.  There is no real joy in it.  It is all a fraction of a reflection of the glory of heaven and the relationship we enjoy with our God and Savior Jesus Christ.”

… (our conversation continues on, with no change on Alex’s part.  We parted amiably and I hope to talk to him again soon.)

This is part of an actual conversation I had last night with an Ethiopian friend in the park.  He professed to love Jesus and to be a Christian.  I asked him where he worships.  He said he goes to an Ethiopian church and sometimes to Living Word.  I told him Living Word is not a Christian church.  It is a prosperity gospel church.

What is the prosperity gospel?

Well, for one, it is no gospel.  It’s bad news.  It says that if you become a Christian, God owes you health, wealth, and success.  If you do the right things and pray the right prayers, God will make you rich.  Most preachers you see on TV bring this terrible message.  This is also a growing message prominent throughout Africa.  May God have mercy on their souls and bring them to repentance!

They proclaim that God is a tool to acquire Money.  Money is there God.

In reality, God uses money as a tool, both to give the sinner further over to his sin and to give blessings to his beloved.

Yes, God blesses the faithful and obedient.  But the faithful and obedient are blessed because of their love of God.  And that blessing may or may not be material blessings.  Seeking after material blessings is the love of money, which is the root of all kinds of evil.

10 For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Tim. 6:10)

Paul recently brought home the book, “The Practice of the Presence of God,” a great little book of insights on God from Brother Lawrence.  I’m glad he did.  It is small, so I can read it during the few minutes alone I get here and there.  I don’t really have time for the big books right now!

In between sprinting up and down the stairs to do a few loads of laundry and changing out Corban’s newborn clothes for his 3-6 month clothes (man, it’s a challenge just to keep up keeping the current size clothes in the drawers for these 2 guys!) I read this:

“Although he once had a great dislike for kitchen work, he developed quite a faculty for doing it over the fifteen years he was there (at his monastery).  He attributed this to his doing everything for the love of God, asking as often as possible for the grace to do his work.”

I thought, yes!  It is by his grace alone that I can be the mother of two, and the wife of a minister.  One of our friends from church once said that I make being a mom look so easy.  HA!  If only they knew my inner life.  Or better yet, if only they had known me 8 years ago!  The friends who knew me then sometimes say, “I can’t believe you are a stay at home mom, now!  I always thought you’d be some business woman!”

I am living in the Lord’s most blessed life for me, and I find deep satisfaction in tasks I once would have shunned.  But why?  Because the world said they were mundane, unworthy, too hard, too self-sacrificial.  But Glory to God!  My focus can be on people!!  My sweet husband, my Luke, my Corban, my family, my friends.  For the souls of people are the only real reward I will see in eternity.

So, at each step of the way I have to ask Him,  give me energy to make it through the day, give me wisdom to correct and instruct, may I have patience during this out of control tantrum, let me narrow in on my son, not the mess in the house….. and actually, I  am exhilarated by the challenge!

Yesterday we went to Lakewood cemetery to get a dose of sobriety and hope.  It is humbling seeing the thousands of lives gone before, most of them already forgotten.  For us, it is also hopeful knowing that although we too will die, this is not the end.  For many who lay there, the life they lived was the best it got and now they look forward to nothing good.  For others, the life they lived was the worst it got and now it only gets better.

A beautifully manicured cemetery

As we surveyed the beautiful landscape, we both were impacted by the overwhelming power of death.  We all die.  You will die. Most of you reading this still are in denial of that simple fact.  You will die.  Maybe you need to take a trip to a cemetery to let that sink in.

And the Bible tells us that death came into the world because of sin (Rom. 5:12).  All those lost lives because of sin… the simple sin of Adam and Eve disobeying God.  And today, sin continues to wreak havoc in our lives and lead us to death.

The Bible totally reframes how we view this life.  In our society, we treat sin lightly but fear death.  But God wants us to treat sin heavily and gravely, but, for Christians, to take death lightly.  The Bible assures us of our victory over death through Jesus Christ.  Jesus said:  ”Truly, truly, I say to you, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death” (John 8:51).  He made sure to say TRULY, TRULY; repeating a word is the Hebraic equivalent of writing in caps and putting exclamation points afterward.  Jesus really meant it.

Similarly, the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
55 “O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?

56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. (1 Cor. 15:54-57)

We can take death lightly knowing Jesus conquered sin and death and now offers eternal life to those who believe.  As Paul says in Romans 8, now not even death can separate us from the love of Christ! (Rom. 8:37-39).   Isn’t that the most reassuring thing you’ve ever heard?  Doesn’t that change everything about this life?  How does that change the way you think about your life, what priorities you live for, and what you actually are fearful of?

(Updated 7/21/2010 with new PDF which includes recommendation letters)

Hello there!  Since I became a Christian in November 2007, God has had us on a rollercoaster ride!  Read our “About” section to catch up on some of those amazing stories!

This last May I finished my third year of ministry training at the Leadership Development Institute (LDI) at Hope Community Church.  Through that time I have grown in my passion to see Christians live out their faith in service to others and to bring the Good News of Jesus Christ into this lost and broken world.  In June, we took a call to be Urban Missionaries in the Twin Cities with the North Central District of the EFCA under the leadership of Tom Mouw.  We’ll be helping launch a wholistic ministry called Caring Friends, which focuses on empowering people to reach the emotional, social, mental, physical, and spiritual needs of those in their community and their relational spheres.  We believe this will start a movement that will bring hope to the hopeless, healing to the broken, and new life to those dead in sin.  We see Caring Friends as being a catalyst for transformed lives and neighborhoods, for launching other ministries, for effective evangelism and discipleship, and for urban, multi-cultural church-planting.  We do this all for the glory of Jesus’ name!

Please read our letter for more information and to learn how you can help support us financially and in prayer!

Click to open PDF. Adobe Acrobat Required.

Or click here to open the PDF in Google Viewer (no Acrobat required)

I was at Seward Coop with Luke the other day.  Luke LOVES the Coop, because they have kid-sized carts.  Great store!  All the employees are super friendly, especially toward kids!  We do love it there.

Luke was walking around pushing his cart with some of our groceries in it.  He was looking at some stuff and I told him not to grab it.  We walked by an older gentleman who laughed and said “Oh look at that shopper.  Just go ahead and grab whatever you want and put it in the cart.”  Seemingly innocent right?  But he just encouraged my child to directly disobey his father.  He was in earshot of me just giving Luke instruction, then chose to contradict it.

We continued walking merrily around the store.  Then Luke decided he wanted to go, so left his cart and ran off.  I asked him to push his cart to the front registers and he decided to sit on the ground and yell instead.  A woman next to him watched and laughed.  Seemingly innocent right?  But she’s encouraging my son to be disobedient and rebellious.

Disobeying your father is sin.  Scripture is clear when it says “honor your father and mother” (Ex. 20:12, Eph. 6:2).  The Bible tell us that rebellion is akin to practicing witchcraft (1 Samuel 15:23).  In ancient Israel, dishonoring your parents was such an incredible offense that it was worthy of death (Ex. 21:17).  That is because sin leads to death, as James tells us:

14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. (James 1:14-15)

Sin is not cute.  Sin leads to death.  Right now it may look cute on a child, but no one wants to see what happens when that child grows up.  A rebellious child unchecked becomes a criminal, an abusive father, a cheating businessman, or simply a failure in life.  And that rebellion leads to death, as it invokes sin in others and will lead to his own eternal death away from God.  What starts small now will reap a harvest of death later, if not checked by discipline and correction.

So please, kind sir, do not encourage my child toward death!

(things in blue are newly added as of 7/12, things with X and grey are already received!)

For those who desire to bless Baby Corban or who desire to bless us as we begin our new trek as Urban Missionaries, we wanted to share some of our “stuff” needs.

If you are in the area, we would be blessed by food!  Please bring us a meal.  Bring something we can share, we’d love to have you over to join us for the meal and catch up!  If you are not in the area, we also accept mailed gifts of dark chocolates or other sweets

For Corban:

- See our Target Registry to send us something!  Target Gift Cards are greatly welcomed!
(We are fairly good on clothes, but always can use cute outfits
– *** WHITE NOISE MAKER (we need 2.  This is a real big need for us.  There’s one on our registry.)
- Air Purifier
- Nice Baby Blanket
- Diapers size 1 and 2 (and 5 for Luke).  And Wipes.  Little babies poop 5-8+ times a day!
- *** Changing Table and/or Dresser (used fine)
–  Small blender (for baby food… our ultimate chopper burned out)
- Diaper bag (the current one is too small for 2 guys!)

For Luke:

- Sandals (Nike size 9, others probably size 8).  Prefer black with straps that keep them on when running around.
- Size 8 and size 9 tennis shoes for running around.
X A big dresser for his clothes. (received!  Thanks!)
- Either a toddler bed or (preferably) a bunk bed.
- 3T Jeans (couple pair)
- White Noise maker
- Toddler-friendly board games
- Toys, like Thomas Trains (especially other characters), Hot Wheels Cars, and anything you build with.
- Chair or glider for his room (Corban will be taking the glider we have)

For Us:

X Couch or Futon (used and in good condition is great) (received, thanks!)
- Coat Rack (used ok)
X Burley (used ok) (received, thanks!)
X Area Rugs (receieved, thanks!)
- Vacuum
- Book Case
- Deep Freezer
- Dishes and Glassware sets (We’re using the ones the former tenants left behind)
- Filing Cabinet
- Bikes

Corban  is a Hebrew word that means “a gift or offering dedicated to God; not to be used for secular purposes”.  The root of the word is “to be brought near”, as in how we offer ourselves to be brought near to God.

The word comes from Mark 7:11, where Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for using man-made rules to nullify the Word of God.

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.” (Mark 7:9-13)

This will be an ongoing reminder to Corban of God’s command (God’s Word) to honor your father and mother!

12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. (Exodus 20:12)

6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise), 3 “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.” (Ephesians 6:1-3)

Baby Corban (What does Corban mean?) arrived on Wednesday, 7/7/10, at 7:59am.  He weighted in at 9 lbs, 5.6 oz, pushing nearly 22 inches long (bigger than Luke!).  If you’d like to bless us and Corban, we posted some things we need in this post.  Contact us if you need our address.

God truly blessed us!  The birth went as well as we could ask.  Luke did great for those caring for him during the day.  Corban came out healthy and happy and even slept fairly well the first few days!  Thank you Lord!

us at the hospital

Luke holding his brother

Hugs

"Hello"

Baby Foot

Corban napping on the bed

Daddy and Luke holding Corban

Luke meets his brother Corban at the hospital.  He was very adamant about holding his brother!

More pictures here:  http://paulandkaelin.com/2010/07/baby-corban/