But the best part of the day and where I actually learned something from my daughter was going to the places that she spends time with the Lord. Chelsea's life has taken a radical turn since coming home from China. She has a deep and sincere desire to know God and to serve Him faithfully and her passion for following His will has led her to spend an awful lot of her time in His presence. One of the places that she does this is a place called Pray Amarillo or the Amarillo House of Prayer. It is a church building that has been renovated into a place for 24/7 prayer. They have worship music playing at all times and encouraging scriptures on the wall and a wonderful atmosphere for entering into God's presence and genuinely seeking His face. While I was there, I just kept thinking, why couldn't our church be a place like this, a house of prayer for all nations, as the Scriptures say? I'm sure that God isn't through working in my heart about that possibility.
Then, yesterday afternoon, we attended one of the churches where Chelsea is actively involved, Family Fellowship. The service was exciting and moving and they had the Lord's Supper in an interesting way that I had not seen before. There was a common piece of unleavened bread and a large cup of grape juice and the people passed in front of the servers and received a piece broken off from the bread then they dipped it in the cup and partook of it. It was a moving depiction of the broken body of Christ and the blood that He shed for us.
Pastor Dale Travis preached on Stewardship and spoke of responsibility and accountability. As he shared from Psalm 24:1 about the fact that everything belongs to the Lord and that one day, He will ask us to give back what He has given to us, one thing came to my mind. On July 21st, 1985, just six days after Chelsea was born, we stood before the congregation at Bethesda Baptist Church in San Antonio and dedicated her to the Lord. We committed on that day to raise her according to His Word and to prepare her for the things that He might want from her. God had given her to us to keep and to care for, but only for a while. In January of this coming year, He will ask us to give her back to Him as He takes her to the uttermost parts of the earth in service to Him. It won't be the first time that He has asked us to give her to Him. But it will be the longest and the farthest that He has taken her away. But God never asks us to sacrifice for Him without promising great blessings in return. We look forward to seeing what God does with the surrendered life that Chelsea has offered to Him.
This morning, we will attend Chelsea's other church, Arden Road Baptist Church. Arden Road is a conservative, independent Baptist congregation that rounds out Chelsea's overall worship experience. It provides solid biblical preaching and teaching and opportunities for Chelsea to minister to a group of teenage girls.
It is exciting to see your children grow up, and even more exciting to see them mature in the Lord. I am thankful for the opportunity that God has given me this weekend to see Chelsea in her natural environment and understand her heart just a little more.
Oh, and one more thing she taught me. Shelley can be beaten at board games. I don't remember having seen that before. :0)
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