BaylyBlog: Out of our minds, too...

Our Little Brown Bear...

Readers know our children have adopted two sons from Ethiopia and are in the process of adopting a third child. So a favorite theme of family feasts is our adoption by our Heavenly Father and our adoption of these little ones bearing His Image.

Since the fam reads, writes, and designs, they got talking and decided to do a book on adoption. They still hope to tweak it some, but here it is. It's titled Our Little Brown Bear and it features the Ummel family--Doug and Heather with their blessings Jonathan, Nathan, Bayly, Alison; and little brown bear himself, Josiah. Hope you all like it.

And for those keeping track, our children now have ten blessings from God with three more on the way (two mothers expecting and one adoption in process). What joy! (TB)

Roe v. Wade's 39th anniversary: The Lord's throne is in Heaven...

(TB: On the occasion of the thirty-ninth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, I post this message. It would please me if you would take the time to read it. Thank you.)

I remain amazed that abortion could even become a political issue in a country with pretensions to being civilized. It is as if we were to debate the merits of legalizing cannibalism, with the liberal side chanting the slogan "Keep government out of the kitchen!"

There is no danger that the other side will ever be persuaded that it is wrong; there is, however, the very real danger that we will become discouraged, worn down, and inured to an evil that should always horrify and sicken us. The erosion of our consciences is surely part of the destructiveness of this abominable "procedure."   - Joe Sobran

The Lord'€™s Throne Is in Heaven

(For the choir director; a psalm of David.) In the LORD I take refuge; how can you say to my soul, "Flee as a bird to your mountain; for, behold, the wicked bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string to shoot in darkness at the upright in heart. If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?" The LORD is in His holy temple; the LORD'€™S throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. The LORD tests the righteous and the wicked, and the one who loves violence His soul hates. Upon the wicked He will rain snares; fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup. For the LORD is righteous, He loves righteousness; the upright will behold His face. (Psalm 11:1-7)

Thirty one (now thirty-nine) years ago today, on January 22nd, 1973, the Supreme Court of these United States issued its infamous ruling, Roe v. Wade, in which the Court declared that a mother's intentional killing of her unborn child was a fundamental right guaranteed under our Constitution. Since that ruling, it has been a commonplace to observe that Roe v. Wade, the Court's repeal of the laws prohibiting abortion on the books of all fifty states, was simply the exercise of raw judicial power with a legal justification based upon a mist and a vapor--€”or as the Court itself might put it, emanations from penumbras.

Our Supreme Court: intentionally conniving at murder...

Since 1973, no one has made a name for himself defending Roe. v. Wade’s history, biology, ethics, logic, or justice; and only a few have been foolish enough to claim this ruling will stand the test of time...

Welcome to the family, Norton, Jasmine and Joy...

Christ the Word rejoices in God having added three precious babies to our midst this week. 

Jasmine and Joy Drees are home from Florida, arriving today from Florida six weeks after birth, including four weeks of hospitalization and two weeks awaiting adoption approvals. The twins join Paul and Renee Drees together with siblings Josiah, Madalyn, Sam, Summer and Lily. We rejoice that Joy and Jasmine are healthy, and that the obstacles that hindered their coming home have been removed. God be praised.

We're also thrilled to welcome Norton Zion Clark to our family. Norton, son of Kevin and Jennifer Clark and younger brother of Wolfgang, Stella and Joaquin, is a signal to me of what a precious gift it is when God allows a pastor to serve in one location for multiple decades. Norton's parents once played with Cheryl's and my babies. Now my children play with the Clark's babies. Joy. (DB)

Thank you, WORLD...

WORLD just went to print with a cover story mentioning our son and his wife, Joseph and Heidi Bayly, and their adopted son, Tate. (The online version of the article includes the video below.) The piece is about African adoption. Mary Lee and I have two grandsons who came to these United States from Africa and we hope to have another, soon. Doug and Heather Ummel's son, Josiah, as well as Joseph and Heidi's son, Joseph Tate Bayly VII, are both from Ethiopia and Joseph and Heidi are working towards adopting another child from Ethiopia as soon as the Ethiopian goverment does its paperwork.

It would be churlish of me to keep my recent post critical of WORLD up on Baylyblog, so I've removed it. I thank WORLD for its advocacy work on behalf of orphans in their distress. This is true religion.

Red and yellow, black and white...

A father of the fatherless and a judge for the widows, Is God in His holy habitation. - Psalms 68:5

If Jesus loves the little children, all the children of the world, what judgment of His wrath must He be preparing in the face of the wholesale slaughter of our little ones? And what does it say about our love for Him that we claim to be His adopted sons, yet are unconcerned for these little ones He loves? Has He not told us He is a Father to the fatherless?

These little ones' blood flows day by day in your own city--just down the block from your church office and almost kitty-corner to the Kroger where you do your grocery shopping. When you're driving your car filled with much-loved children on your way to home school co-op, little babies are being ripped apart inside the brick wall of that building on your left three buildings back from the stop light.

Remember? Your God is a Father to the fatherless.

India's child murders are sex-specific. So many of her little girls have been killed that for every 1,000 boys under age six, there are only 916 girls. Most of them are cut apart while in their mother's womb. Some make it to birth, though, and are starved to death. Little baby girls with toothpicks for arms and everyone knows why...

"He started disciplining me like I was one of his sons..."

(Tim, w/thanks to Taylor) Read this wonderful story and ask yourself where the church turns boys--undisciplined angry ones, at that--into men? Youth groups? Home school co-ops? Christian school science labs? Crew? Membership classes? Men's retreats?

You say your church is not a parochial school filled with inner city kids and your own fathers are the ones training their own sons. I say, "Yeah, right."

Face it. Each of our churches has a bunch of young men every bit as much in need of the discipline of playing on Bob Hurley's basketball team as the kids at St. Anthony High in Jersey City. In the ministry today, we're surrounded by man-boys whose fathers have turned their backs on them. These young men crave discipline--which is to say they crave fatherly love...

Death and life are in His mighty hands...

(Tim) The past two weeks the Bloomington Baylys have had sorrow and joy. Sorrow in the death of my dear cousin, John DeWalt, who succumbed to a long illness connected with diabetes. He died two weeks ago this coming Monday and some of us were able to travel to Pittsburgh for the funeral. There we grieved, and yet celebrated his homegoing with his mother, Inis (Mrs. Curtis) DeWalt, his sister Beth DeWalt, and his brother Paul DeWalt (along with Paul's wife, Patti, and their three children--Zachary, Sarah, and Jacob).

A week ago today, we had the joy of joining brother David's family in the celebration of the marriage of David's eldest son, Nathan, and his lovely bride, Aleaha (pron. a leah). It was a joyful day.

Then the past three days we've had the joy of gathering here in Bloomington for our family Thanksgiving celebration and being joined by my mother-in-law, Margaret (Mrs. Ken) Taylor. That's the pic you see above. For the record, we now have ten grandchildren. (I apologize to my dear wife, Mary Lee, for the mysterious white-out on her forehead, but otherwise it's the best pic.)

Names? Well, let's do it by families...

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away...

(Tim) Two weeks ago, son Joseph and his wife, Heidi, were blessed by God with an unborn child. Joseph and Heidi adopted a son, Joseph Tate Bayly VII, a little over a year ago, so we were all joyful at the news of a younger brother or sister joining their family, giving Tate some company.

Sadly and joyfully, the Lord took their unborn child home this past weekend. Joseph and Heidi have faith in God's goodness and loving care, but of course it's hard. This is their fourth miscarriage and they yearn for a home filled with children. Would you please pray for them; that God would comfort them and, if He so wills, bless them with a fruitful home?

And if you're in the Indianapolis area, I encourage you to lend your support to the new church plant Joseph and Dave Abu-Sara are leading, there. ClearNote Church of Indy meets Sunday mornings...

Corrie ten Boom, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Oskar Schindler, and Leah Winandy...

(Tim, w/thanks to Alan) Now that it's safe, movies are made and books written about the men and women who feared God and took action to save the lives of Jews during the Third Reich. Corrie ten Boom and Dietrich Bonhoeffer are the best-known in evangelical circles. Oskar Schindler was the inspiration behind Steven Spielberg's Academy Awards Best Picture, Schindler's List. Too, there's the relentless (and unjustified) attack on Pope Pius XII for his purported failure to defend the Jews.

But back when Hitler was still in power and the Jews were still being slaughtered, who then was making movies about Corrie ten Boom, Oskar Schindler, or Dietrich Bonhoeffer?

No one. Our Lord made it clear prophets don't get garlands until they're dead and buried.

And while, elsewhere on this blog, the debate rages over whether any pastoral prayer should include a petition that God our Father would cause our civil magistrates to repent of their hatred of justice and mercy and bring an end to the slaughter of untold millions of unborn babies they have presided over, there are a few heroes at work in our cities today...

Taylor Isaiah Bayly I...

(Tim) Taylor played varsity soccer this past year and this pic ran in the Bloomington paper. Am I proud of my son? Yes, I am. More for his heart than soccer, though. He submits to authority! Can you imagine that? No matter how normal it is to you, it's always amazing to me. After all, I was his age a few days ago, and submission wasn't ground zero in my character traits.

If your daughters are home schooled and you think he's handsome, just send me an e-mail with proposed dowry. We're building a house.

JK.

Joseph Tate Bayly VII...

He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will... (Eph. 1:5)

(Tim) Since their return from Ethiopia where they spent two weeks, starting May 17, and picked up their son, Joseph and Heidi have been learning to be father and mother. Recently, they returned from a trip to Sawyer, Michigan and Pardeeville, Wisconsin, where they spent time with the Taylor and Staveness/Healy clans, respectively. All of us here in Bloomington have been rejoicing at God's kindness to Joseph and Heidi (and the rest of us) in giving them this wonderful child to raise as a Covenant child. What a joy he is to us!

Just trust us...

(Tim) For several weeks, now, the news has been filled with articles reassuring Americans that government medicine is inevitable and poses no danger to us. They tell us government medicine will not fund abortions except in the most extraordinary cases where any reasonable man would agree the baby must die. It will not require the wholesale slaughter of the old and feeble--what we are taught to refer to as "euthanasia." After all, termination counseling isn't mandatory; it's simply an option offered those who may find it helpful.

A front page article in the Indy Star yesterday (picked up from the LA Times, by the way) blamed Rush Limbaugh for all the fear. "Nothing bad will happen," the civil authority tells us. "Just trust us."

Trust you?

You have got to be kidding! Trust you? You can't be serious!

Look at your track record. Your government education is so bad you'd sooner die than enroll your own children in the public schools serving your neighborhood there at the White House. And this is equally true of Presidents Clinton, Bush and Obama.

Trust you?

And He will give you the desire of your hearts...

(Tim) Praise the Lord! He has seen the affliction of his beloved and comforted them! Joseph and Heidi just heard the Ethiopian court has approved their adoption of Mamush, here pictured. Lord willing, they'll be travelling to Ethiopia this Saturday to begin the process of bringing their son home. Read more about it, here.

Lord willing, Ethiopian court will act this Monday on Joseph and Heidi's adoption...

(Tim) Our eldest son, Joseph, and his wife, Heidi (see pic), are in the late stages of adopting a child from Ethiopia. This coming Monday, the Ethiopian court will act in their case, Lord willing, after which they may be free May 16th to travel to pick up their little boy. As longtime readers will remember, Doug and Heather Ummel (Heather is our firstborn) have a son, Josiah, who was adopted from Ethiopia a couple years ago.

Here's a pic of Josiah, along with some helpful adoption resources.

Would you please keep Joseph and Heidi, and the Ethiopian authorities, in your prayers? And if you're interested, here's the blog where Joseph and Heidi update us on their son's entry into God's Covenant Community. Here's Heidi's latest update...

An open letter to African brothers in Christ on the occasion of Obama's Inauguration...

(Tim; this from and by Rev. David Wegener of Ndola, Zambia)

* * *
This is an open letter from an American Reformed Christian living in Africa to my African Christian friends on the occasion of the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the U.S.A.

20 January 2009

Dear African Christian Brother:

I would ask you to pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ in the church in America, particularly for those who believe in the complete truthfulness of Scripture.

I’ve just begun a new term at the college and one of the courses I teach is a survey of church history. Last week we learned about Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, who was asked to curse Christ or die. The old man replied, “for 86 years I have served Him and He has done me no wrong. How can I blaspheme my King who saved me?” Minutes after making this good confession he was burned alive... We also read about Blandina, a slave girl who endured indescribable tortures before being killed for her faith. In a few weeks we’ll study Athanasius, who was exiled from his pastorate five times because of his faith in our triune God and his willingness to stand alone against the world for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints.

Books, a crackling fireplace, and Mother...

(Tim) I have tender childhood memories of sitting in front of the fireplace roasting my back, my two younger brothers lying on the floor falling asleep, while Mud (affectionate diminutive of Mother) read to us. Dad was on the road speaking at conferences much of the time those years, and when he was gone our evenings had a certain leisure. Not that we lived under joyless discipline when Dad was home, but like most men, Dad was sort of daddish.

So the Life without Father routine was that, following dinner and devotions, a fire was built, and as it crackled, Mud read to us by the hour.

Books were the main course in our home, just as they were in the homes of three other families whose children were all growing up at the same time within the same congregation, College Church in Wheaton: the Ken Taylors (Mary Lee's family), the Ken Hansens (ServiceMASTER's founder), and the Hudson Armerdings (Wheaton's prez). All the children of these homes loved to read.

Why?

Because none of our parents were willing...

The best New Year's resolution Christians could make...

(Tim) Things are quiet here at the church-house. It's New Year's Eve and I've been doing odd jobs in between reading Christmas cards and letters that piled up the past few weeks.

Just now, I finished my second letter in a row from friends with lots of children--one family with eight and the other nine. And last night, we sat and talked through the evening with our dear friends, David and Jill Crum, who are in town to visit their six sons now living here in Bloomington. David and Jill have been blessed by God with eleven children--ten sons and one daughter.

These are happy, happy families God has used to propagate a godly seed for His Own glory. And not one of the mothers or fathers cast a longing eye at other believers who chose money, career, or status over another child. They're all poor, and they're all joyful. Trust me. (If you want to test it, send me a private e-mail and I'll put you in touch with them so you may ask them yourself.)

So here's the New Year's Resolution I'm so impertinent as to suggest, dear brothers and sisters. Why not follow these three pastors and their godly wives and dedicate this coming year to being fruitful and multiplying? To propagating a godly seed. To making love and life, both at the same time? And if you and your wife are not able to have children, take in foster children or adopt a child.

What could you expect if you did so...

The Christian home is an acid test of true Christian faith...

(Tim, w/thanks to David Lehr) In a nation where the majority of citizens claim to have "a personal relationship" or to be "living a narrative" with Jesus at the center, how is it that babies keep being murdered at a rate of 1.3 million per year? How is it that women continue to take on more positions in which, by design and intent, they exercise authority over men? How is it that the family meal has died? That what my Dad called "that huckster" now owns the center of our living room and dying room? That no one practices hospitality any more--except possibly at restaurants or hotels? That husbands love internet sluts instead of their beautiful wives? That one fifth of our nation's women now arrive at their early forties never having given birth to a child?

Really, the older I get, the more sense it makes to me that the New Testament epistles place such constant and heavy emphasis on simple (or should I say basic) household matters. Do we really think that killing babies, women sleeping with women and men with men, children defying their fathers, mothers abandoning their children and home for a public life, husbands loving prostitutes instead of the virtuous wife God gave them, wives refusing to submit to their husbands and taking over the leadership of the church, smutty plays and drama and poetry, and spoiled cats and dogs are things unknown in the world of the early Christians?

Cindy McCain rocks (I): And contra Barack Obama, she thinks babies born alive should live...

(Tim) Last night, Michele Peatie left a kind comment here in which she mentioned her blog, Unborn Word of the Day. My curiosity piqued, I went and read some of her posts including this on the occasion of the centenary of the birth of orthodox Roman Catholic French composer, Olivier Messiaen. If you're not familiar with Messiaen's music, try this.

Further down the page was this gem of a post, "Living Pro-Life - 3 Politicians." Here Mrs. Peatie tells the stories of two female politicians' response to their Down Syndrome children, as well as the adoption by Senator John McCain and his wife, Cindy, of a special needs child from Mother Teresa's orphanage in Bangladesh.

A teenager now, the McCain's daughter, Bridget, would not have survived without surgery and years of rehabilitation. Cindy brought her home and, with her husband, provided her surgery, care, and love. Actually, Mrs. McCain brought back two babies: The other is also a teenager, now, and was adopted by one of McCain's aids, Wes Gullett, and his wife. Her name is Nicki. She too needed much medical care and Mr. Gullett says he "never saw a hospital bill" for her care, implying the McCain's paid for it all.

Turning to another politician who shows love for the poorest among us, this woman is a member of Feminists for Life and the Governor of Alaska...

Transracial adoption and the Gospel of Jesus Christ...

(Tim, w/thanks to Jake) As longtime readers know, the Baylys are pro-adoption and have already welcomed one non blood-related son into our family. His name is Henock Josiah Ummel; he's the third of four children given by our Heavenly Father to Doug and Heather Ummel (Heather's our eldest); and he's from Ethiopia. (Sorry all the pics are missing on that link)...