The Mind of a 5 Yr Old

Last night while driving in the car, the inevitable question came from our 5 year old Alex – “Why did God make people with different colored skin?” My wife, Krista, did a great job in explaining why God would do that, how God loves to make people unique, and then proceeded to talk about interracial couples and how their children are a combination of their skin colors.

Then another question came out of the back seat – “Well, why is Daddy black but you (meaning Mommy) and I are so white?” Krista’s response, “Why do you think Daddy is black? Is it because of his black hair?” Alex – “No, his hair is grey!!!”

I love my son.

Roes Update – July 6th, 2006

Dear Friends and Family,

First we are pleased to announce our commissioning service has been scheduled. On July 23 our sending church, Lake Forest Church in Huntersville, NC will be highlighting missions during the service as well as praying over/sending out both us and another couple from our church. We invite each of you to come and be a part of this memorable occasion for us. Especially those of you who have committed to sending us through your prayers and/or financial giving. You are part our team and we want you to experience this with us. Our commissioning will be during both the 9 am and 10:30 am services (same thing each time). If you need directions, email us back or go to http://www.LakeForest.org

Of course the timing of the commissioning is a little early for us. We continue to be in the mid 70 percentage of our needed monthly funds, but moving forward every day. We are still praying for a late summer/early fall departure.

We also wanted to give you an update on what our team is doing in Europe. Attached is a picture of eDOT’s recent installation of a e-Learning Center in Yalta, Ukraine. The team of 10 people, including eDOT’s Larry and Debbie Peck, taught three classes a day and had a total of almost 60 students. The team also trained church leaders so that computer classes can continue after the team has gone home. Just one eLearning Center has the potential of impacting the lives of over 1000 people per year for Jesus Christ.

Please pray with us for the following:

• Pray for the commissioning service (and please come) that God will be glorified and that we will be blessed as we continue to be equipped for the work God has called us to.
• Pray for the ongoing work of the eDOT team as they wait for more help (like us) to arrive.
• Pray that we will continue to be humble in our plans and trust in “The Planner” for the appropriate contacts and movement in our fund raising efforts.

God bless,
Krista, Courtney and Alex Roes

The attached picture was the same one that you can find on the God & 10 People – What Could Happen? blog

How Evangelical are you?

Like I’ve said before, I love to take online quizes and tests. Here’s one that I just found through LarkNews.com that helps you figure out how “Evangelical” you are. Take the Quiz here.

Happy 4th of July for all my American friends and family. I know that this is the 4th of July for all of the world but for those in the US, it always seems to be a little bit more special.

Also, please feel to participate in the polls that we will have on this site. These can be found down on the right side.

Please note, LarkNews.com is a saterical site. If you have no room in your belief system for humor, please do not follow the links.

Superman, beliefs, and reality

Yesterday, Krista and I had a nice date afternoon where we went and saw the new “Superman Returns” movie. I know, a lot of Christians are saying that the Superman movie has a lot of parallels to Christ but I don’t want to get into all of that. Instead, I would like to comment about two statements that are made in the movie.

Warning: Spoiler alert- At one point in the movie after Superman has returned to Metropolis, he flys up into the sky with Lois Lane and he asks her why she wrote her Pulitzer winning article “Why the world doesn’t need Superman”. Her reply was, “I learned that I didn’t need a savior.” Because of Superman’s super hearing, he responds, “All I hear is people needing a savior”

As a Christian, I think its important to listen to the questions people have and not just spout out things. One of the big questions I hear, from atheists especially, is “What do we need saving from?” I can’t just answer the question directly because there’s a fundemental difference between what they view as reality and what I do. The first has to do with beliefs. Most atheists, agnostics, unitarians and others believe that beliefs are not reflective of reality but of the individual that holds them. In other words, they say you can understand more about a person by what they believe but not necessarily about how the universe works. However, to those of us that hold onto beliefs, we see these beliefs as how the universe really is.

So let me tell you about my beliefs; how I understand reality to be:

• I believe that there is a God.
• I believe that God is a good God who is the creator of all things and is still deeply involved in all that He created. He loves His creations.
• I believe that God created mankind (women and men alike) to be unique creations where we have both a soul and a physical body. These are supernaturally intertwined.
• I believe that our souls were created to be linked to our Creator.
• I believe that because God’s nature is pure good and therefore can not be intermixed with anything that is not good, there are a set of rules by which we are to live our lives to keep that link between God and our souls. Please do not stop reading but continue on, especially if you think all Christians try to do is ram rules down peoples throats!!
• I believe that there really was an Adam and Eve, first of God’s human creations, that decided to break the rules which broke that link between their souls and God.
• I believe that because this link of soul and God is supernatural, it can only be reconnected supernaturally.
• I believe that the Old Testament in the Bible reveals many things but one of those is that we humans can not do the reconnecting to God ourselves. It also shows how God does not just walk away from His creation that rejected Him but is adamently pursuing them to reconnect.
• I believe that God so loved the world, that He sent His son Jesus Christ to make that supernatural reconnection.
• I believe that Jesus Christ is 100% man and that He is 100% God. While not a different God than God the Father but is of the same essence as God the Father. This is not the place to go into all of this, but someday, I’d love to talk about how the trinity is only one God but how God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all God.
• I believe that Jesus willingly sacrificed Himself so that when He died on the cross and then was resurrected from death, He provided the way for all to be reconciled with God the Father.
• I believe it was because Jesus was both God and man, because of His supernatural birth to a virgin, and because He was able to live by the rules set forth by God’s nature that Jesus was the only suitable being by which this reconcillation could occur.
• I believe that God now gives us the choice as to whether we want to be in an intimate relationship with Him. He has provided the way for it to happen but does not force Himself upon us.
• I believe that the way to this intimate relationship is by having faith (which is more than belief) in Jesus Christ and by that faith, our souls are reconnected to God the Father.
• I believe that when we have faith in Jesus, He sends us the Holy Spirit to work in our lives revealing God’s goodness.

This is the reality I believe truly exists. Therefore, when someone asks “What do we need to be saved from?”, I can understand that the answer “Ourselves!” is not acceptable to them. They do not believe the reality that I just described exists so they see no need for a savior. But this is reality and whether they see it or not, they do need a savior. Part of what God asks us (Christians – those having faith in Jesus) to do, is help those without faith to understand reality so that they can make an informed decision about whether they want to reconnect their souls with God or not. We do this by reflecting God’s love.