A Sunday Message Away from Church - Pursuing Thankfulness When Your Flesh Doesn’t Want To

I won’t be able to share a message in church this Sunday so am sharing this message early Sunday morning from D.C. It’s a little longer than some of the recent posts but I hope you will read to the end and that God will impact you in at least a fraction of how He’s impacted me by these reflections.

This was written on the flight over the ocean Friday/Saturday but not posted till Sunday in D.C.


The pilot for our long flight from Ethiopia to D.C. just now turned off the fasten seat belt sign so I’m able to turn on my laptop and type up an update since I’ve got some 17 more hours to kill before this plan lands on U.S. soil. Our flight took off an hour late because the airline gave the same seat # to me and another person and it took awhile for them to work it out and the other passenger wouldn’t budge (from the exit row seat I booked well in advance) and the gal’s dad from first class was arguing vociferously in Ethiopian with the flight attendants that his daughter shouldn’t have to give up her exit row seat. The plane was already taxi-ing down the runway while I’m still standing without a seat, and the stewardess told me I needed to sit somewhere else. I asked politely if there was any way I as the tallest person on the plane could sit somewhere with extra legroom, and she said sorry, but made me sit down in a cramped seat in the middle of the plane where my knees were already hurting before we took off (but I think my greater discomfort was inward).

I confess I was not in the greatest mood thinking of 17-18 hours with my long legs pushed up against the guys’ chair in front already before he’s even pushed it back and knowing I would be in some degree of pain and discomfort the whole flight. After our fiasco Thursday in DRC (local officials not allowing me to board the plane even though there was nothing wrong with my personal documents), now flying without my friends and my last $200 spent to change a flight that the airport official initially said there should be no charge for, anticipating a 34-hour layover in D.C. (that’s right, 34), I was not in the most sanctified frame, I freely confess. I was frowning at Providence rather than trusting God for His grace at that moment, to adapt a line from William Cowper’s hymn again. This was not how it was supposed to be, I reasoned in my heart; I was supposed to be arriving home Friday afternoon with my boy Mark Joseph to a joyous Layton family, and not only am I travelling back alone 2 days later, but I don’t even have my seat. Surely when things don’t go according to my script, I should get a special pass for the sin of grumbling and ingratitude, I secretly tried to convince myself.

But God who moves in a mysterious way, in His rich mercy, began moving in my heart. In God’s grace, which I need to keep in mind is defined as undeserved favor to me when I deserve to be infinitely more uncomfortable in hell right now, God has reminded me I have so much to be thankful for, practically and spiritually, and that’s what I want to share with you this weekend. I hoped to do so in person with many of you this weekend, but in God's providence I’ll have to do it from cyberspace rather than church, counting some of the blessings and mercies of Providence in my most recent travels:

1. I am thankful I had a little time in the internet café in Ethiopia on my layover before takeoff where I got to see a couple emails from my precious daughters who apparently are learning to type and their spelling is getting a little bit better (I’m also thankful that I found a total of $3 stashed away in a billfold I thought I’d lost, the exact amount to pay for the minimum ½ hour of Internet, which I needed to check for my D.C. plans)

2. I’m thankful my wife who is doubling as a travel agent this week was able to wire me cash and book me a hotel in D.C. as I was otherwise penniless and credit-card-less from Saturday morning to Sunday night.

3. I’m thankful I’ll get to enjoy some fellowship in D.C. this weekend with Bob Wheatley, who spoke at GCBC the first Sunday I was in Congo and is preparing to go to Congo himself in a couple days so I trust it will be a good time with him in God’s providence

4. I am so thankful to be in the air and on my way to U.S. soil (ok, after a quick pit stop in Rome to refuel, but at least we’re on our way and won’t deplane till D.C.). I understand why my friend Stuart (first father that adopted through Didier’s orphanage successfully after much more drama than we went through) when he got back in America literally got down on his hands and knees and kissed the ground in the airport. One of his newly adopted daughters, unprompted, also got down on her hands and knees and kissed the ground, apparently assuming this is what we do in America. The other wiser daughter looked at them like, “that’s weird, I’m not doing that!”

5. I am thankful I had good conversations with a Christian lady from Germany (Christian Free Church there) on the last flight about things of the Lord. She was coming back from Malawi and I exchanged email addresses with her and will try and get her the name of the church Brian Lovejoy ministered in there on his mission trip (Nancy Lovejoy, if you’re reading this maybe you can ask Brian to send me the name or info of the church?)

6. I am thankful I will have time I rarely get to do some extracurricular reading and study I don’t normally get to in the busy-ness of life and to relax and refresh a little with a warm shower Saturday and other amenities of life I’d taken for granted until the past couple weeks

7. I am thankful I got to spend more time with Didier Friday and had some good and profitable discussions with him, and I miss him already. But I am thankful I will see him again Lord-willing (more on that in a future post)

8. I am thankful to own a car (Didier is the only person in both churches who has a car), thankful I have electricity 24 hours a day in my home, along with running water, and so many basic conveniences that so much of our world does not have, like a real door on our home instead of just a sheet hanging for a door like in some homes here we saw this week

9. I am thankful that in times I have complained or grumbled in God’s providence that He has allowed me to keep breathing rather than striking me down like ungrateful Israelites in the wilderness (please read 1 Corinthians 10:5-6, 9-12, and I hope that example impacts you like it did me)

10. I am thankful that though our will wasn’t done Thursday (we would much rather be home in CA Friday than late Sunday night ... D.C.), I’m thankful that God’s will is always being done (Ephesians 1:11).

11. I am thankful that through our inconvenience Thursday we were able to make numerous face-to-face contacts that Didier believes will be very good for future adoptions with him.

12. We’re thankful for many similar things we’ve gone through (above is just one example of many things God did like this in the last few days) that Didier believes will make this process better for future adoptions.

13. I am thankful God is patient and gracious when we are not patient and gracious about the inconveniences that come our way, and that He uses those times in His long-suffering mercy to make us more long-suffering and merciful and thankful

14. I am thankful that God convicts me of my sin when I’m not thankful and how God is using this trip to rebuke my pride behind it and hopefully remove some of the layers of sin associated with it

15. I am thankful I have been able to have good conversations with another dad on this flight who just adopted a 2-year-old from Ethiopia named Joseph, a cute little guy who reached out his hand to mine and said hi. The dad is also from California and they also suffered the loss of that 2-year-old’s twin brother that they were in process of adopting but have seen God’s grace in the process and he said he’d be praying for us. It’s amazing how God’s providence works in mysterious ways to have us 2 strike up a conversation as I explained about the Joseph and I lost and that I’m from California and how I’ve seen God’s grace in the process as well!

16. I also can’t help but be thankful as I think of Joseph in Genesis, whose father Israel also mourned in losing his beloved son Joseph tragically, or so he thought (a son we in part named Mark Joseph after, Genesis 37:34). Joseph's story is one of the greatest story of God’s providence in Scripture, where we see God’s grace as well, that you can read in one setting, Gen 37-50. It's a story that didn’t make sense at the time to Joseph’s family, but later he helped them understand some of what “God intended for good” (Genesis 50:20). God in His providence and grace has been kind enough to show me some good He intended through my Joseph as well. I’m so thankful for that story of Joseph in the Bible, one of my long-time favorites, that is more “precious and magnificent” to me than before (2 Peter 1:4)

17. I am thankful to see many on this flight who share our heart for adoption. On my flight from Ethiopia to D.C. I have counted, I think, over 20 families bringing adopted African children to the U.S. on the same flight! It’s a beautiful thing and picture of God’s multi-ethnic family that the world can't help but notice and ask about. As Christians, it's been great on this trip to have many opportunities along with the Wilmarths to explain adoption spiritually, how God delights to adopt many sons who are not biologically related to His beloved Son, and if God didn’t have that heart, none of us non-Jews would be saved. And yes, we are really His children (1 John 3:1), though we’ve never seen Him, just as my son Mark Joseph was though he never saw me in this life. And though we don’t look like our Middle-Eastern Jewish Messiah physically, God is making us look more like Him spiritually everyday(1 John 3:2)!

18. I am so thankful for this picture before my eyes on this plane and wish everyone could see what I see with all these children, reflecting God's "multi-colored grace" (as the Apostle peter calls it). God is “Father to the fatherless … God sets the lonely in families” (Psalm 68:5-6). I knew that verse but I have seen that unfold before my very eyes in a very special way on this flight, in the grace of the Lord who welcomed children to Himself to teach adults spiritual lessons about His kingdom (Mark 10:13-16), and He has taught me in this way this day.

19. I am thankful that this week in the D.R.C. I got to literally see fulfilled the words of Jesus in Matthew 25:35-40 in some malnourished little ones brought into the orphanage a few days ago as new foster children: “hungry…fed … thirsty…given drink … strangers…taken in…clothed … sick…cared for” and Jesus says in that passage “In as much as you have done to the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto Me.”

20. We got to have a small part in that type of ministry in God's providence; holding and caring for them our last couple days there, giving them water for their parched lips, having just enough money left to pay for their medical exams and medications, comforting them at their first doctor’s visit ever and getting shots that were much needed but troubling to them, feeding one little one who was crying inconsolably out in hunger asking for food, helping one of the little ones whose stomach was so bloated after what must have been his first meal in quite a while, and other things beyond what I can write here. I think I understand Christ-centered compassion from that passage in ways I never could have without that experience (and how Christ-centered Christ-motivated Christ-directed compassion is different than the world’s mere charity, which we have to keep in mind as well).

21. Many in the world would consider these littlest ones the least of their concerns but I am so thankful for Christians like Didier who not only minister for Christ, but TO Christ in this way, according to the words of Christ in that passage. Not for the sake of social justice, but because of Christ, for the glory of Christ, empowered by the gospel and theology of what Christ has done for us and in us.

22. In an American culture that discards children in general, where many can’t understand why families would sacrifice so much in so many ways to bring more children into their home, and in a country where even many of its Christians view children as a burden rather than a blessing, it is refreshing to meet and see many who counter-culturally and even cross-culturally are demonstrating the Biblical view of children as a blessing and joy (Psalm 127:3, 5; Genesis 1:28, 9:1, etc.) they’re willing to pursue through the hardship that inevitably comes. It’s not about richer people adopting poorer kids to give them a heritage/inheritance, for us who believe the Bible, children “ARE the heritage/inheritance from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3); THEY are God’s gift, not us, and children enrich US in many ways (and yes, they sanctify us and show us our sin in the grace of our heavenly Father). For more on that, see pages 3-6 of this study very near and dear to my heart:
http://media.sermonaudio.com/mediapdf/730112111301.pdf

23. I am thankful that in a world with more than 100 million orphans, otherwise statistically mostly destined for abuse, crime, human trafficking, early death, etc., I’m thankful that many Christians are leading the way in adoption (James 1:27, caring for orphans in affliction, what Scripture calls “pure religion”). I am thankful that whatever the make-up of our family, Christ is with His followers always as we seek to fulfill the Great Commission in our home (Matthew 28:19-20, making disciples from the nations - including for some families, adopted children from other nations - and all of us teaching all Jesus taught, including some of the things in this blogpost)

24. I am thankful on this flight for the parents’ sake that the approximately 30 newly adopted kids have done remarkably well on this flight so far. I am thankful God has put me on this flight to see something so special like this. It is sad that I am not one of them bringing my son home and it is sad that the Wilmarths are not on this flight, but I am thankful for God’s grace that allows His children to be sorrowful yet rejoicing, as Paul explained, and am doubly thankful that as Christians we do not grieve as the rest of the world does, without hope. A lost family member can never be "replaced," and whether a baby dies before you bring him home from the hospital or from another country, whether 3 months or younger or older, whether his skin is your color or not, it hurts deeply, but I know the deeper love of a Father who watched His own Son die. And I've experienced the love of His Son who knows the weaknesses and temptations of humanity, and is able to help us as a result, and who call us "brothers" (Hebrews 2:10-14, 17-18, 4:14-16)! I'm thankful that in my natural grief there is supernatural joy and hope to see many little guys and girls being brought home, and to know God has used this trip to help that happen more and more through my beloved brother Didier

25. I am thankful God graciously recently provided me a laptop that has several hours battery power that I’ve been able to use on this trip to the glory of God to share what He has done. The internet speeds in Lubumbashi are so slow that it can literally take most of a half-hour just to log in and get to your inbox to send a quick email or two, and not enough time to try and type up a substantial blog with a French keyboard where you have to hunt and peck because the letters are different. But in God providing this laptop shortly before I left and another PC Jaime could borrow while I’m gone to post my blogs and updates, I’ve been able to write my daily blogs in the evenings and save them on a flash drive to send by email the next day from the internet café to my sweet wife who I’m super thankful for and who I can’t wait to see and kiss and snuggle with soon along with my kids. That may be more than you wanted to know, but that's what happens when you have a lot of time to type ;)

26. I am thankful that God has allowed me to have a ministry to more than a few people on this trip, including many online who read this blog and pray for me. I am thankful for how God can use technology, even Facebook (which I normally avoid and have an aversion to) to share what God is doing with so many far beyond this church. I know I have not been on this journey alone – many of you have been with me. I am so thankful for you my Christian family and friends who have been with me in this journey. And I will be VERY thankful when I am home and with my family and friends!

27. I am incredibly thankful to my precious wife and family for their patience and doing so well while missing "Papa Phil" (as the Congolese call me) for so long, and for the help and support of both our parents and families and incredibly kind church family

28. Above all I am thankful to my heavenly “Papa” (Abba, or in Swahili, “Babba”), whose relationship and love I’ve come to understand in greater depths and ways I couldn’t have apart from this journey.

29. Oh yes, I’m also thankful God allowed someone in another exit row seat to be willing to give up their seat and switch with me so I have room to type without a seat in front of me pushed back into my lap! Some of you shorter people may not understand how thankful I am to have extra legroom on this flight but this is truly a praise of no small magnitude for me and a “travel mercy” that I was not owed by God. This may not sound as spiritual as the others on the list, but I am very thankful that God cares enough to orchestrate things like this as well, and that He is a compassionate Father to His adopted children, mindful of our weak frames (Psalm 103:13-14). I hope you will read Psalm 103 after reading this, as v. 2 and the rest of the truths in that Psalm God has helped me with in this trip (how true and marvelous v. 10-12 are for weak sinners like us!)

30. Above all, I am so thankful for God saving and adopting a naturally rebellious child of wrath like me who deserved nothing but His infinite punishment (Ephesians 2:1-3), but God (v. 4) gives me instead His intimate relationship and fellowship in Christ (v. 6-7), His inheritance with Christ and all things (Romans 8:15-17, 32), and His infinite inseparable love (Romans 8:35-39), plus as an added bonus: everything I need for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3), and every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3)!


This is a great exercise, my friends, and I want to exhort and encourage all of you after reading this to take time to rehearse what you’re thankful for to God. Scripture commands our soul to do this (ex: Psalm 103) and I have found it so good for my soul! Not just at times when you naturally feel thankful at how everything is going, but at those times when things aren’t going according to your plan and desires, we are called to do this. For me it was a very helpful exercise to write these things down so I can go over them again in the future.

We can’t control and do not know the will of God in His sovereignty and providence for our future, but we do know, as 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “This is the will of God concerning you … give thanks in all circumstances.”

I feel like I'm in the pulpit ... and maybe it sounds like it to you ;) I wish I was this Sunday morning, so if I sound a little “preachy” or "sermonic" ... what can I say? If God makes one to be a preacher, it’s like fire in his bones, it comes out. I am thankful God is allowing me to still be a preacher without a pulpit this weekend (at least not a traditional one). So, let’s close in prayer … :)