Why Not You

There are scores of people throughout history God has used who couldn't fathom that He would use them.

Moses didn't think God could use him to lead Israel out of Egypt. After all, he did have a speech impediment.

Jeremiah didn't think God could use him to be a prophet to the nations since he was still too green.

Gideon didn't think God could use him to lead Israel in victorious battle over Midian.

Israel had rejected God and God had allowed them to be overtaken by their enemies. He faithfully raised up one deliverer after another to free the people when they repented and turned back to Him. Gideon, though, couldn't imagine that God would be able to use him.

Gideon informed God that his clan was the smallest (if God didn't know that already).  He also told God that he was the youngest in his family (again, as if God didn't place him in his family as the youngest).

Translation: Why me God? Mighty warrior? Yeah right. My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, not the strongest. And I'm the youngest in my family. There's no way you can do this with me.

Even when Gideon appears to have signed on to go, he looks for final confirmation that this indeed is God's doing. You've likely heard someone refer to putting out a fleece. That comes from Gideon. He tested God to insure God would indeed do what He said He would. Gideon laid a fleece out overnight and told God if only the fleece had dew upon it and not the ground then he would know. God did it!

It still wasn't enough for Gideon. Gideon reversed it and threw it back to God, telling him to keep the fleece dry and only allow the dew upon the grass around it.  God did it again!

Gideon looked at himself through the lens of his limitations rather than through the limitless power of God.

He kept asking "Why me?" He kept examining the situation from his human perspective. 

What would God do if you and I stopped asking, "Why me?" and started asking, "Why not me?" 

Why not surrender everything to God?

Why not allow Him to use us however He pleases?

Why not devote ourselves to worship and serve Him every day for all our days?

Why not be people who seek to display and declare the good news in bold ways?

Why not be the people who earnestly pray for God to move among us and accomplish the unthinkable?

Why not us? Why not you? Why not me?

 He simply wants us to come to the point of Isaiah who heard God ask "Whom will I send? Who will go for us?" Isaiah simply raised his hand and said, "Here am I, send me." Isaiah said, "You need someone? Why not me?" 

What God needs is not our intellect, skill, power, contacts, or money. What God needs is our full surrender.

Take a Daniel moment:

1. Praise God that who He is, is more important to who we are than who we are. Celebrate that our limitations do not limit or hinder God.
2. Surrender the areas you're holding onto tightly.
3. Ask God to make clear where He wants to use you. 
4. Pray for God to work in great ways and allow you to be a part. Pray, "Lord, why not me? Use me, send me, accomplish through me Your work."

Big God

I have been humbled in my life to see God do great things. Not because of me, but in spite of me. Many, but not all, of those moments of witnessing and experiencing God's power came in the midst of dark and difficult times.

Shortly after Micah's liver transplant surgery the liver was not functioning as needed. Many friends and strangers called on the name of the Lord on behalf of Micah. Many carried him in prayer, ripping off the roof, and lowering him to the feet of Jesus. I remember praying, "Lord, reach down with Your mighty hand and massage his liver that it would work." In less than 12 hours the lab results showed a liver working as it should. And the doctor was unable to explain it.

I have also experienced the bigness of God in placing our fourth son, Malachi, into our family. We spent two years working on adoption paperwork. We finished it in May of 2013 and found out we were expecting again in June 2013. In August of 2013, we received a phone call about a mom who courageously wanted to place her baby in our family and on Friday he was born. Two days later we traveled home with him. The social worker actually said to us, "Every time I would go to meet with a potential birth mom who was seeking to make a placement plan for her child, I would take your profile book along. I would think to myself, 'Why do I keep taking their book? They already have three boys and a fourth on the way. No mom is going to choose their family.'"

God is bigger!

Reading today in the story of Israel taking the land of Canaan that God has promised, I see a big God. When Joshua and his army fought with the men five kings of the Amorites and their armies, the enemy armies began to flee. Was the enemy really going to get away? Not with a big God who always keeps His promises.

The Bible says that the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them. What was the result? God killed more with hailstones than Israel did with the sword. Surprised? We shouldn't be but we often are.

As if this wasn't enough, while Israel fought its enemies in the land that very day, God caused the sun to stand still in the sky. So the sun stopped int he middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day. The Bible says that all of this reveals a powerful truth: Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!

God has and does fight for us. At the cross, He fought out bitterest and worst enemy. Sin and death held humanity in fear and slavery. But God fought for us and won that battle that in Him we would have our sin forgiven and death wouldn't be the gate to destruction but the door to eternal life.

I've been privileged to see and experience God's power. But I'm just not content. While God's greatest act and mightiest battle in the cross cannot and never will or need to be repeated, He's still at work. The God who hurled hailstones, stopped the sun, and beat our enemy is still just as big and working in big ways.

I want to see God move and I want to witness His power.

I need God to move and I need to witness His power.

Where do you need God to aid you against your enemy, extend your time and work, or enable you to have victory one the desires of your flesh and the sin of your heart? Where do you need God to show up big today?

Take a Daniel moment:

1. Praise God that He alone is God and there is none like Him.
2. Celebrate the great character and mighty deeds of God.
3. Ask God to be big in the places you are weak, uncertain, pain-filled, sinful, or needy.
4. Watch God be big and don't forget to give thanks for what He will do (before He does it) and for what He did (after He does it).

The Latest Update from Home

Yesterday Sarah and I traveled back home with our youngest son. Today began the first day of Buchanan life with four (five if you ask Sarah) boys in the house!  The newest and littlest Buchanan boy is doing well and had his first visit to the pediatrician this morning. The doctor gave a great report on him.

The big brothers--Isaac, Ethan, and Micah--are all doing well. They each have requested to hold their brother multiple times. Last night as they were going to bed, each one had to tell him good night and give him a kiss. As I was walking out of their room holding him, Ethan said, "Good night, bro."

Sarah and I look forward to sharing with you pictures and information as soon as possible.  There are a few things that still need to happen before we do this.

Please continue to pray.  You faithfully prayed and we hope to share countless God moments that can only be attributed to His work and your prayers.  Even last night, as we read the Scriptures as a family, we were reading in the last chapter of Mark how the disciples went out to declare the good news of Jesus Christ.  Mark writes how the Lord "worked with them." Your prayers have been the means by which God has worked with us in this.

Here's some requests for prayer today:

• Financial provision - We are to make the financial payment for the adoption today.
• Continued health - He is healthy and we continue to pray for his well-being.
• Family transition - A baby changes everything (not in a bad way).
• Birth parents - We met the birth mom and dad who deeply love this boy and chose what they thought best for him because of that love. Pray for their peace and that they would come to trust in the good news of Jesus, knowing they matter much to God.
• Sarah's sanity - I'm sure she'll be great. But when you consider she has four sons, me, wife of a pastor/church planter, home-schools, and is expecting our fifth child, well...you get what I'm saying. She will do great. Just pray specifically for her.

Thank you friends and family for all the notes and encouragement. Thank you to those who have financially given toward the financial need.  I hope to be posting more updates with pictures in the near future.

This is Real

Yesterday I wrote a block post about the crazy journey of following Jesus that Sarah and I and our family are currently on together.  You can read it here.

I awoke this morning with this thought: "This is real!" I woke up wondering at first whether this was a dream I had or if it was real. Quickly I recalled, "This is real...and super exciting!"

Sarah and I will shortly head out to the western part of North Carolina for the anticipated birth of the new baby TODAY.  It's been a whirlwind to say the least.

We still ask you to pray:

• For the health of the baby and the birth mom
• For the process of finalizing the adoption
• For the preparation of our boys (who are so excited and eager)
• For the provision needed
• For safety in travel
• For Sarah and I as we get to spend time with the mom

With the quickness with which all of this took place, Sarah and I had not launched into any fundraising. We had begun saving with our own finances. But we are still only 1/6 of the way to the goal.  Oh Lord, we believe! To be completely transparent, the adoption and associated costs will totally near $20,000.

We are asking MOST of all for you to pray. We don't know where this money is coming from but we know God can do it. 

Some have asked how they can give. If you desire to do so, I most encourage you to give through Refuge Online Giving and select the "Refuge Adoption Fund" rather than "General Budget." You can click the donate button on this page to give now.

Thank you for standing at our wall of Jericho and our Red Sea asking God to make a way.

Baby Plans

Sarah and I are making plans to travel to the western part of the state today. I have removed the donation button on the right side of this site as another way for donations to be made should be available soon (a preferred method for Sarah and me).

I hope to share another update before noon.

A Crazy Story of Following Jesus

Sarah and I have learned over the years that the journey in being a disciple of Jesus is anything but tame and predictable. Sometimes, against all human reason and planning, God chooses to lead you in a way or at a time different than you may imagine.  Such is that time for us right now and we are asking you to pray diligently for us, right now.  Here's the backstory:

Before Sarah and I married in 2003, we knew that we desired to have the family God wanted for us and believed that included children both biological and adopted. Our family began growing with the birth of Isaac in 2004, Ethan in 2005, and Micah in 2007. As many of you may know, Micah has endured many health challenges not the least of which included a liver transplant in 2007 and we continue to face uncertain days. But two years ago we began the adoption process believing whole-heartedly it was God's direction.

In May of this year, we completed the process and entered the time of waiting.  Five weeks later, Sarah and I learned that she was pregnant with child number 4. We called the adoption agency to let them know our exciting news. After conversation in which we believed God would have us to continue to keep our profile active, nine weeks later (Monday, August 19), the adoption agency called. 

A birth mom in North Carolina saw our profile. She saw we had three children already who were close in age. She also saw the note on our book that we were expecting another child.  And this mom chose our family. In fact, she said she chose our family because we were expecting another child, not in spite of that fact. The social worker told Sarah that often families like ours, with three biological children already and one on the way, do not get chosen this soon or at all.  The birth mom is expected to give birth tomorrow (August 23).

But I hope you didn't miss how God always does things on time and in order.

In Creation, the sun preceded the plants and the plants preceded the animals. The plants needed the light for photosynthesis.  The animals needed the plants for food.  We had to complete the process before Sarah got pregnant.  We had to be pregnant before this mom saw our profile. All of this God ordered not as we expected, but according to His perfect time.  And we are humbled and full of joy.

We believe these events have the hand prints of God all over them.  We believe by faith we are to step forward and follow wherever He leads.

Here's our request: When God's hand is upon a situation, He always provides exactly what is needed.  We are asking you to diligently pray, right now, for our Great God and King to make the provision needed, not the least of which is the financial provision lacking and the preparation of our home and family.

Friends and family, thank you for standing and praying with us at the wall of Jericho for God to remove the wall and provide what we see as nothing less than His promised gift to us.