Life in 6 Words (The G.O.S.P.E.L.)

On this Easter we celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  What an amazing day!  Not only did Jesus rise from the dead and defeat death (once and for all), his resurrection provides us with hope and eternal life - found only through a relationship with Christ.

I am so thankful for the Gospel and the power of it in my own life.  As I reflect on this special day, I am reminded how the entire Gospel can be broken down into 6 simple words.

God. Our. Sins. Paying. Everyone. Life.

I think this video sums it up well.  No commentary needed.  (Thanks Dare2Share for this resource and tool)




May the Truth of the Gospel be evident in your life this Easter season.

Happy Easter!

David, Dare2Share, and Being Awkward

A few weekends ago, I took 21 of our high school students and leaders to the annual Dare2Share conference held nearby at the Sears Centre.  With slightly over 5,000 students there, it was one rockin' weekend!  Dare2Share is a ministry organization based outside of Denver, CO that exists to help equip and prepare students to relationally and relentlessly share their faith with their friends.  Their approach and passion for evangelism have transformed our student ministry and has helped our ministry develop a passion and strategy for reaching our non-believing friends.   Greg Stier & his crew do an amazing job at these conferences (and in all the resources and articles they also provide), as they desire to teach and train students to share their faith with their friends.  I'm honored to consider them a partner in my ministry.

The theme this year was "The 'Un' Tour" and it centered around David and his story of overcoming Goliath.  During the weekend, our students were challenged with the idea to become UN-cool, UN-afraid, UN-ashamed, and UN-leashed for the Gospel.  Our students were given the chance to take a 'cell phone challenge' and call two of their friends to share the Gospel (the sight of seeing 5,000 students on their phones simultaneously sharing the Gospel is amazing).  They were also challenged to write the names of their un-saved friends on their hands as a visible reminder to pray, pursue, and persuade their friends to consider the Gospel.  Saturday afternoon our students spent 2 hours doing a silent prayer walk around their local high school - praying for their friends, teachers, administrators, and for God to do a mighty work through them to reach their campus for Him.  What a powerful opportunity to commit their school to Christ.  Some even shared their faith over dinner that night at the local restaurant we ate at.

In short, it was a GREAT weekend to be reminded of the power of the Gospel, our responsibility to share it with others (Matthew 28:18-20, Acts 1:8), and our call by God to be "awkward" for Him.  Awkward is Awesome!

As you think of it, pray for our students as they seek to live "THE Cause" (the Great Commission) and make disciples who make disciples.  Our students are still having great conversations and opportunities with their friends.  Viva La Cause!

Home Study: Continued & Complete

Although we've been a bit quiet lately on the blog, I wanted to throw an update up about how adoption details have been progressing for us over the past month or two.

In short, we've been keeping ourselves busy getting our home study completed (a major 'woo hoo' moment) and all the related paperwork turned in for that.  For those of you not familiar with what a home study is, it's basically a series of approx. five different sessions with our case worker who seeks to get to know us, our history (both individual and as a family), parenting styles, and how we deal with different situations and decisions on a regular basis.  We're also asked to submit a lot of paperwork, health records, and even get fingerprinted and background checked at the state/federal level (and they all came back clear....I think? haha)  She even comes to visit our home, so she can see our living space and how "life at the Groezinger's" is like.  Surprisingly, that day we were pretty normal!  = )

Our case worker then pulls together all her notes and thoughts from our sessions and writes up a summary report about us that is submitted to the State of Illinois for their approval of us becoming adoptive parents.  This report is also viewed by others in the adoption process (including the S. Korean agency we are adopting from, S. Korean government, etc)  And, oh yea, we're not even able to see this report until after it's approved by the state.  A little weird to think about, eh?

The good news is, though, we have finished all of our sessions, turned in all our necessary paperwork, and are now waiting for our case worker to submit the report to the state.  Rumor is that it could take 4-6 weeks to get it back, at which point we'll be notified and can continue moving forward on our next preparation plans.  In many ways, acceptance of our home study by the State is a huge step and goes a long way in moving us closer to getting our referral, so we are really excited about getting past this point.

Meanwhile (back at the ranch), we've been working through some online adoption training courses we are required to take by our agency (and pass.....yes, there is a short quiz at the end of each course).  The trainings have been pretty insightful and helpful.  They have focused on some of the unique situations involving international adoption, cultural issues we need to be aware of, common medical issues, and insight into how we can build attachment with our new child.  Some of them are a bit overwhelming, but they've given us some good insight and help into preparing us for our newest addition to the family.

So, in short - more paperwork being filled out, meetings, discussions, learning, and the waiting is now beginning......but the day is getting closer....and our anticipation is building for when we'll meet our little guy/girl for the first time and bring them home.....

More updates to come!