The Growth of the Family and the Furthering of the Gospel

• Children teach me that God is sovereign.  Ideas of family planning (while helpful) are ultimately in the hands of a sovereign God and He can choose to override our plans at any point He so chooses.  I would much rather trust in an all-knowing God than in a little-knowing man.
• Children are one of the greatest evidences of God’s creative brilliance.  Hearing a heartbeat, seeing an ultrasound, and looking at the face of a baby for the first time confirms in my heart all over again the reality of our almighty God. 
• Children are a gift from God.  In an age when many struggle with the pain of infertility, the anguish of miscarriage, and long adoptions, the gift of children should never be taken lightly.  I would rather have kids than any material blessing this side of heaven.
• Children are the best way in which I can play a role in multiplying worshippers of God.  Much talk in the church revolves around evangelism; however, I believe that one of the best ways to promote the spread of the gospel is for godly Christian families to have children that they can disciple, train, and send to the ends of the earth.  Now, Sarah and I are in a place to not simply replicate our lives with two children but to multiply our influence with three.  I can think of no better place for God to place children than in the home of a couple that will love them well.
• Children are entrusted to parents from God Himself.  He says that those who are faithful with small things, He will entrust with great things.  For whatever reason, God has shown us favor in entrusting us with the "great things" of three children.
• Children allow my wife to give her best time, effort, and energy to the most important work she could do.  I am so proud to have a wife that desires to love and care for her home more than she desires to have a high paying job or meet some worldly standard of what a woman should be.  She is a hero.
• Children are one of the best tools God uses to conform me to the image of Jesus.  My kids are often a reflection of my own sinfulness and a tool that God uses to point out my pride, selfishness, and insecurity.  The more children I have the more tools God has put in my life to teach me about holiness and allow God to change my heart and life.
• Children teach me how God loves me.  There is never a moment that goes by that my girls are not loved and treasured.  Understanding my love for the girls paints a small picture in my mind of the way in which God must think of me.
• Children bring great joy.  In a world of pain, hurt, loss, frustration, and failure, there is no greater oasis in my life than to spend time with my family.  I love them dearly and treasure my moments away from the grind of a day to sit with my kids and play.  
• Children aid me in learning to love my wife well.  Watching her love and serve the kids in a tireless fashion prompts my heart to love her as Christ does the church.
• Children are a tool God uses to push me deeper in the Word.  In a desire to shepherd my children to love Jesus and place their faith in Him, I am motivated to spend disciplined time in the Word each day seeking to know the Lord better and in turn know how best to raise my kids. 
• Children teach me to have faith in God to do what I cannot do by myself.   Planting a church and raising three children under the age of four will not be something I can do on my own.  God is using this season in my life to teach me to have faith in Him to do for me what I don’t have the ability to do. At the end of my life I will be able to look back and celebrate the provision of God and His daily sustaining grace.
• Children teach me simplicity.  I mean, this is the big question right?  How do you pay for three kids?  One of the things that the Lord is going to teach Sarah and I over the coming years is the beauty of a simple life.  Being ok not living up to the middle American standard set by those our age living in two income families without kids, is a choice that we are more than willing to make.
• Children teach my other children how to love their neighbor.  They will never know how to love and serve their enemies if they cannot love and serve their own siblings living under the same roof.  Having three kids living together will give me a daily chance to teach them what neighbor-love should look like.
• Children give me a tool to build relationships with those that don’t know Jesus.  One of the greatest evangelistic tools God gives us is a healthy home lived out in the public eye.  One of the blessings and curses of being a pastor is that you live in the public eye.  Now, I get to live in the public eye as a father and a husband.  This should give me ample opportunities to start conversations with those far from the Lord and seek to paint a picture of Biblical love for the world to see.

3 Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward.
4 Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.
5 Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.