Worship

It was October 5th, 2009. It was a Fall morning with a little bit of extra crisp than normal in the air. Rhiannon and I got up and nervously got Evan dressed in a cute button-down shirt, nice pants, and shoes. I got dressed up nice myself, but I was so nervous about the upcoming day, I forgot to put on a belt. You see friends, this day was special. Along with my marriage to Rhiannon and our daughter Brooklyn’s birth, and my ordination as Full Elder in the church of the Global Methodist Church, this day ranks as one the most important days in my life. It was important because Rhiannon and I were about to take Evan to court in Canton Texas so the judge could approve Evan’s adoption to Rhiannon and I as his parents. His uncle Todd and Aunt Chel came, and so many in our circle of friends and colleagues were praying for us. They knew the journey to get to that day was a long time coming. Adoption classes after football practice, interviews, getting teaching subs, and getting off work, all were parts of the adoption process that led to this day. Then it happened, when the judge was reading off the final orders and declared to us that Evan was our child, Evan turned to Rhiannon, put both hands on her face, and said “Momma?!” You see, In that one-word response, Evan, and we realized, that were was not, had never been, nor ever will be alone. That God was with Evan, and us. We know this because Rhiannon and I have seen it. We saw Evan’s uncle Todd and Aunt Shel had been there for him up to that day at the courthouse in Canton. We have seen almost 2 years later, the Lord decided Evan needed someone to love and give her a hard time. Brooklyn was born in July 2011, and the following week Evan held his new sister in his arms at our house in Jacksonville. We have seen churches we have served have blessed Evan and Brooklyn both. It is worth noting, The Thomas family is not the only ones in our church who have seen how powerful adoption can be. While we can’t hit all of the adoption stories in our church today, I had the opportunity to sit down and visit with members of the church, and more importantly, followers of Jesus in Eric Hayes and his wife Lizzy. Their story of their adoption of their daughter Riley is a powerful one and I enjoyed getting to hear their story of how God accomplished His will in their life.

Eric and Lizzy have been together 24 years. Eric said that their life could be summed up as totally God’s plan, and not theirs. As Eric put it: “ Pastor, If you want God to laugh, tell Him your plans are.” I would add, tell Him how quick you want your plans done. God’s plan does take a while to form, but form they do! After going through some adversity in the early years of their marriage, Eric and Lizzy had decided at the time that kids were not on the table at that stage in their life. Yet, as always, after two decades of adversity, plans falling through, and difficult moments, God’s plan for adoption worked out, exactly when God wanted it to happen. One of God’s plans that played out perfectly was timing. Eric told the story of when he was in the military. He remembers that he had joined the Army, much to the opposition of his wife Lizzy. He had been in the army for 5 years in 2008, and remembers “I was trying to get into flight school, and I didn’t get in. It was a low point in my life, wondering what was I going to do?” What did he do? He tries again, and gets accepted at another flight school. So he and Lizzy moved to Alabama at Fort Rucker in 2012 for flight school, and they moved on to a street, and met a couple they have known to this day. Another plan that God worked out was the adoption of Riley. Lizzy and Eric had talked about adoption, even had an opportunity to adopt another child before Riley fall through, the decision was made at the time that Eric and Lizzy just weren’t ready. But, the Lord found a way to keep giving water to the idea of adopting a child. Even friends of Eric said “Brother, if you wait till your ready, you never will be.” The Lord would deal His final hand in the days after landing at Fort Rucker. Remember the couple Eric and Lizzy met? It was the sister of the wife of this couple who was also a nurse in Shrevport. It was this nurse who would call Lizzy years later and say: “I have a kid for you!” Eric recalls that “Pastor, the day she called, I was deployed. I had all my kit and my flight gear on, we’ve already preflighted the aircraft for where we needed to be, and I get a phone call. And I and Liz are both very familiar with how expensive it is to make a cell phone call to Iraq or Afghanistan. So if she’s calling you know something’s going on.” He thought, given their history and adversity they had been through, somebody probably passed away or something. So he answered the phone, and Lizzy said “Hey babe, there’s a baby needs a home. Do you want it?” Friends, that was a moment! Eric’s comrades were hurrying him into the aircraft, and then he heard it. The voice of his friend giving him advice years ago, but it might as well have been God’s voice saying “Eric, if you wait till your ready to adopt, you never will be!” In his words, it was a moment that he just dove in on faith and said “Yes, lets do it!” Eric even recalls his Comamnder and comrades in arms saying “Hey! You need to do this!” His wife Lizzy, who with her husband Eric are expecting their baby girl Willow any day now, recalled the time God continued to move so powerfully after that moment. She has been in Elpaso for a funeral, and had 24 hours according to Louisiana law to make the cutoff to say they would take Riley, otherwise she would go in the system. She made it, but on the drive in, her sister Cyntha’s husband Jeff, had a brother in law who paid for a lawyer on retainer and took care of the business side of out of state adoption. Her sister Cyntha also knew a social worker who just happened to be in charge of state social work entrees that would help with in state of Texas paperwork. By the time Riley was home, the community rallied to supply Riley with whatever she needed. Lizzy, along with Eric, give glory to God for the steps He took to allow them to adopt. She said “Pastor: God created our family long before we knew what would happen. That took a lot of faith in and patience, which are hard things to have in the Christian life. But from the first time I saw Riley, I knew she was going to change our lives. I knew that she was going to be ours forever. I don’t believe that there would be a Willow without Riley because again, we were content. It wasn’t part of our plan, but this baby was prayed for. I feel like Riley was another way to show us that we don’t have control. When we are willing to let go and let God work, incredible things can happen if we just trust Him to do what He knows what he already knows he’s going to do.” God finished what He started on Gotcha Day when Judge Jeff Fletcher presided over their transfer of custody to the Hayes family.

You see friends, adoption is God’s will for your life. God’s will is to bless sinners through adoption to Himself: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will”-Ephesians 1:3, 5 ESV. Friends, the “us” is you and me, and all who repented of their sin to turn to Christ, including the Ephesian church. Often times when we miss that job interview, miss that flight school, or don’t get that opportunity for a family, we think God is holding out on us. The text today already says “no!” God wants to bless His church. Much as you heard in Evan and Riley’s story, Gods blessing is in His grace loves us enough to deploy all means at His disposal to bless and adopt sinners to himself. We also were lost, we were spiritual orphans, needing heaven and earth moved so our situation could be changed to something better. Maybe you have felt some of the feelings you have felt in our stories today. Maybe you have felt joy, but also frustration, you have suffered, you have wondered “what am I going to do?” Maybe you have felt you are a spiritual orphan, that no one cares, or knows your situation. I have good news for you today. Jesus reminds His disciples and us “I will not leave you as orphans, I am coming to you.”-John 14:18. It is here the Good News of adoption in Christ, begins to speak to spiritual orphans. Spiritual orphans are those who have no direction and are lost, with no one to help them. God’s will is to declare you and I are not alone! That His church is far from failures, and should not view ourselves by what we don’t have. Listen to me friends, you are a son, you are a daughter of God, you are adopted sons and daughters not of an organization, or a state, but of but King Jesus who sits on a throne. A King who seeks the lost and in whom John’s Gospel declares: “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”- John 1:12-13 ESV. Adoption is God’s will for our lives, to be brought into His kingdom as His sons and daughters, so we can live out and seek His purposes.

We are adopted in Jesus. Communion is God’s gift to the church to remind us of the price God paid to make your adoption happen. A price so costly it wasn’t covered in money or paperwork, but nails that pierced Jesus on the cross. Why would He do that? Here is the thing, our way of doing things never works, and Jesus knows that. “When our love failed, His love remained steadfast.” God in His will chose us, adopted us in Christ, suffered the death of His Son on the cross, knowing full well our efforts will never lead to the life God wants for us. That is Good News worth living for. May God continue to adopt sinners to Himself, and give us the strength to endure on bad days, and the joy to remember Him on good ones. ‬‬In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.