Called to Hope

This past Sunday Kit had the chance to fill in for our preacher, who had to go out of town. He spoke about "our call to hope" as Christians. I think we were all convicted of putting our hope in other things rather than in Jesus. He challenged us to have an "eternal perspective" on life, (rather than focusing on the temporary things of this world), to know the will of God through reading His word, and to view our sufferings as a blessing. I was must moved by the last point about the way we view sufferings and hardships. We automatically see our hardships as a bad thing and ask God to remove or fix them rather than rejoicing that we have an opportunity to depend on the Lord and to grow in our faith.

Romans 5:3-5 says, "...we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulation brings about perseverance; and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope; and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

I love the part that says "Hope does not disappoint." In another verse it says that 'our hope is Jesus Christ' and another that 'Jesus Christ does not disappoint'. That is truth! It is difficult when hard times come upon us to view it as an opportunity to build perseverance, character, and strengthen our hope. But that is my prayer for myself and my family. Because hard times are certain to come. I want to be able to look back at all the hard times in my life and see how God has helped me to persevere, has strengthened my character, and given me hope.

He gave a perfect example or our misconceptions on suffering. He said that when we hear of believers undergoing persecution, we pray that God would free them from it, disregarding the possibility that it might be God's will that they go through this persecution. He quoted a persecuted Christian in Egypt who said something along the lines that "Christianity without persecution is like ready-made food, shallow and bland." I don't want my faith to be shallow, even if that means I endure hardships or persecution in order to produce perseverance, character, and hope.

It is common for western Christians to hold the belief that following Christ will make your life easy and blessed. (Which is very un-biblical considering what Christ and His apostles went through). While it does give you a blessed life, that doesn't usually equal 'worldly' blessings. I was very guilty of holding this belief until I lost my mom. Undergoing that grief and all the questioning of my faith brought about perseverance, character, and greater hope in Christ for subsequent hardships. Although I miss my mom tremendously, the growth I've had in my relationship with the Lord because of her death, is priceless to me. I'm so grateful that He allows hard times to come upon us and even more grateful that He turns those hardships into life-transforming opportunities.

I'll end this with another quote from two Egyptian converts from Islam to Christianity who have undergone much hardship and persecution. " The first lesson we were taught is how to count the cost. In Egypt, our theology isthe theology of pain. It is not a theology of prosperity. We don't know the theology of prosperity, but we know Jesus." I'd rather know Jesus than the "theology of prosperity."

How quickly they grow!

Jackson seems to add new words to his vocabulary every day and is actually speaking in small sentences now. He is such an entertainer. Our favorite thing to hear him say are "I yuv you Bubba" (or Mommy or Daddy) He loves to make silly faces and kiss his brother. He recently pee-peed in the potty, but I'm thinking it will be a while before he's interested in being consistant with that. Partly because he is a constant wirl-wind and doesn't like to sit still for very long. I look forward to when Hudson can keep up with him and they can play together.


He's only 3 1/2 months old and Hudson is growing at an even faster rate than Jackson did. He's already 20 lbs and wearing 12 month old cloths! If I have any more chunky kiddos my back is going to be shot by the time I'm 30. Oh, well, they are worth it.

Our newest Klein

Our precious baby, Hudson Joseph! What a joy he is to our family! He is growing too quickly and trying to surpass the off-the-charts rate of growth record that his brother set in his first year. At least he came out smaller, mommy is forever grateful for that!

One year later...

I am obviously a horrible blogger because it has been over a year since my last blog! In the past year, we've enjoyed being back home in New Mexico but God has been growing the desire in our hearts to go back overseas to serve Him. Through lots of prayer and studying His Word, we know without a doubt that He is calling us to serve Him in this way and we are so excited! It is wonderful to finally know what our purpose is and what His plans for us are (at least in terms of a career). Considering this has been much different than last time, particularly because we have two small boys to consider. And while taking them away from family is extremely difficult, we know that God will be faithful to us and bless our obedience. Obedience doesn't come without sacrifice; Jesus is the perfect picture of that. He calls us to pick up our cross daily and follow Him. We're grateful that while sad, most of our family is supportive and understanding of our convictions. Without their support, it would make this much harder.

So now, we're just praying He shows us exactly "where" to go and to what people group. Please pray for us, that we'll hear His voice and that our desires will be what He has for us and not what "sounds" best to us.

I need to blog more often not only to update on what we're doing, but as some "mom-therapy" for me. A way to share and record my joys of being a stay-at-home mom. So that is my mid-year resolution. Even if no one reads it, it is good for me to examine and "download" (or upload) my thoughts. It is also beneficial to write so I can keep my adult language skills up to par. Playing with a 2 year year old all day and communicating on his level is rapidly depreciating my vocabulary. So here's to mid-year resolutions and halting degenerative brain-loss!