"Good News" is an understatement...

Well, this is another Eric Ludy video. But it's also absolutely incredible. I'm not talking about the quality or the narrator, although both are good. I'm talking about the message; namely, the Gospel.

If you have not yet experienced what is shown in this video, cry out to Jesus. Tell Him you need His righteousness. Tell Him that you cannot make yourself good enough to go to heaven. He will not leave your cry unheard, unanswered. This Resurrection weekend you too can have new life.

If you have experienced the King's saving grace, remember that it is not because of anything we have done; it is His grace. Preach the gospel to yourself. Return to your first love, be refreshed and renewed to serve your Savior-in His power.

Please hear this as though you have never heard the Gospel before.

Please hear it as it should be heard; utterly fresh, beautiful, mind-boggling, God-glorifying, soul-saving, life-changing, and worthy of tears and shouts of joy.

Please watch this video this Easter weekend, and be so filled with praise to the King who died and rose that you might know love and serve Him that you can't help but go and tell others.



Happy (almost) Resurrection Day.

He is not dead.

He is Risen!

Christ Our Substitute

While reading Don't Call It a Comeback: the Old Faith for a New Day (edited by Kevin DeYoung), I came across this quote:

"This is the wondrous exchange made by His boundless goodness... Having become with us the Son of Man, he has made us with himself sons of God. 
By his own descent to earth he has prepared our ascent to heaven.
Having received our mortality, he has bestowed on us his immortality.
Having undertaken our weakness, he has made us strong in his strength.
Having submitted to our poverty, he has transferred to us his riches.
Having taken upon himself the burden of unrighteousness with which we were oppressed, he has clothed us with his righteousness."
(Don't Call It a Comeback: the Old Faith for a New Day, pgs 37-38, quote from Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion)


Praise Him for being our substitue!

She's Home!!!

Welcoming home Meddie Grace Nordstrom!

There is no doubt Mrs. Nordstrom understands adoption; her love and  tenderness and love for her baby girl is unconditional and deep. Meddie loves her new mommy and clung to her while she took in the 80+ people who were at the airport to greet her. They all spoke funny and stuck their white faces in hers and took lots of pictures! 

Mr. Nordstrom has waded through stacks of paperwork, stayed up late praying, endured roller coasters of emotion, made dozens of phone calls, written hundreds of emails and blog posts, traveled halfway around the world (twice!) and in short, has let nothing get in between him and his new daughter. 

I have been blessed with Katie's friendship for eight years now, and can never get enough of her bubbly cheerful personality. It has been a joy and honor to get to watch Katie grow spiritually through this adoption process. I see her becoming more like Christ every day!

Katie used to be the only girl in her family. Meddie used to be an only child. Guess what Meddie's name means? "I have a sister". Now they both do. Wow is God good! Meddie also has four new brothers, but (sorry guys!) I didn't manage to get any good pictures of them. 

Praise God for his goodness in knitting a family together from across two continents, languages, and cultures.

Gifts for Meddie from her new brothers and sister.

         Human adoption is a lovely but dim illustration of God's adoption of his children. Ephesians 1:5 says, "In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will." 


         This was not because we reached out to God or deserved to be His children-quite the opposite! As sinners, Ephesians 2 says were dead in our sins and unable to reach out to God, and Titus 3:3 adds that we were "hateful, hating one another." And because God is entirely holy, the penalty for even one sin must be death.

          Thankfully, that's not the end of the story. God is merciful and good beyond our wildest imagination. Jesus Christ lived a perfect, utterly perfect life on earth, and willingly suffered a horrible death on a cross, bearing our sin before God as a substitute. He rose again on the third day and now reigns at the right hand of God.

          In John 14:6, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." And Acts 16:31 says, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." Christ has made a way for us to be adopted, to be the children of God. Praise Him!

Video: We Love Because

We Love Because from Christian Alliance for Orphans on Vimeo.

My mom, Lissie and I were talking the other day about some good friends of ours who are adopting a little girl from Ethiopia. You can find their blog here: Room For More They became fired up about adoption and orphan care about a year and half ago on Orphan Sunday. Since then, we've watched them through the ups and downs that accompany an international adoption of an older child. We've cried tears of frustration and sadness with them, and jumped up and down for joy with them. They are getting ready to go meet their little girl in just a handful of days now and you can feel the excitement building, not just in their family, but also for us and others close to them!

So we were talking and Lissie made an interesting comment. She said:

"Mr. Nordstrom's passion and zeal for the Gospel has grown since God tugged at his heart about adoption."

Her comment made me pause and think. I definitely had to echo her sentiments upon reflection. His passion - no, not just his, but his whole family's passion for the Gospel - has grown since God placed orphans on their heart. Adoption is such a beautiful picture of what God has done for those who are His children. The Gospel is laced and intertwined with adoption, all the way down to the details. I think this video really helps to show the inseperability of adoption and the Gospel.

~ Tessa

Video: John 10:10

John 10:10 from Children's HopeChest on Vimeo.

~ Tessa