Adoption

(Part II in a series of catching up)

So, last week Tuesday we set out for Minneapolis for a gathering of 5 boiler rooms.
Grand Rapids, Tulsa, Kansas City, Madison, and Minneapolis were all accounted for.
It was fantastic to connect with others who are trying to do life the way we are.
Then from the boiler room gathering, we transitioned into the national 24-7 gathering.
(Of course, we had to take an afternoon to check out the Mall of America)
Then the 24-7 conference.
It consisted of meeting yet more really amazing people who love Jesus.
We stayed at North Central University for those few days.
We worshiped with Ben Pasley and Carla Adolphe from Enter the Worship Circle,
and we listened to teaching from Joe Steinke, Ben Pasley, Linnea Spransy, and Adam Cox.
The most significant message that kept emerging throughout the weekend was this idea of adoption and sonship and identity.

^{Ephesians: 3-6}
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.
For he chose us in him before the creation of the world
to be holy and blameless in his sight.
In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ,
in accordance with his pleasure and will—
to the praise of his glorious grace,
which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

And it is so much more than what we do- or what we don't do.
It is this hugely simple idea that we are loved because we exist and because He has chosen us to be His children and He has chosen to be our Father.
And this idea of Father needed to be defined as well, as most of us have fathers that are not perfect and this clouds our understanding of who God is as Father:
Pure. Delighting. Patient. Kind. Compassionate. Listening. Selfless. Love.
Ben Pasley beautifully illustrated God's Father heart for His children and His passion for just being with us and spending time with us, as a perfect father would.
His delight is in our joy, our peace, our confidence because He knows we only have these things because of His involvement in our lives.
And then Adam Cox. He talked about the Garden of Eden and what it was like for Adam and Eve to walk with God in complete freedom and joy and confidence. Love.
He laid out the desire of the devil to keep us from seeing and believing God's love.
He explained that we cannot possibly live in the freedom of being fully identified as a child of God if we fail to see and accept God's overwhelming passion and selfless love for each of us.
And so this is a challenge.
trying to accept and understand this more every day.
And finding the fullness of this relationship for which i was created.