From the heart of the father...

Hey All…

 This has been an important week for the Eads family. It involved a five-day trip to Kentucky, spending stupid amounts of money on furniture and other apartment essentials, and hours of foul moods, sliced fingers, and bruised extremities building those said pieces of cheaply manufactured furniture. Oddly, when paired with my study of Old Testament prophecy squeezed in-between lugging boxes up two flights of stairs, I feel like I have a fresh perspective on God and the end of the world. I’ll tell you more about it in Deeper Thoughts below…
 
But first… Our calendar is simple today:
 
·      Tomorrow morning, we will honor our men for their role in our lives—fathers, brothers, husbands, sons—as we contemplate Father’s Day. Hint for the fellas… they say the best way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, so we’ll have a little gift to tell you of our love.
 
·      Ladies: Mark your calendars for two upcoming events:
 
o   Saturday, June 29 – Join us for a unique ladies’ service project to help our beloved Carol Treachler with her move out west! Click here to email Tracey Schlitzer for details and to be involved!
 
o   Saturday, July 20… 8:30 – 9:30 a.m. – Let’s meet with God again! Join us for a prayer walk at Morven Park in Leesburg. Click here for more details!
 
·      As you travel and such this summer, let’s work hard at staying connected. Remember you can keep up with our worship gatherings via our online livestream (or on-demand playback from our YouTube channel). But also, Sherri and I would love to keep up with you—not to stalk you, but to be mindful to pray over you and your family. Let us know what’s going on with you so we can be on the journey together with you!
 
OK…that’s it today for you email skimmers… we’ll have more great stuff coming this summer!  BUT…
 
 Some Deeper Thoughts…
 
The world is going to end someday. God will have a very direct hand in it. He told us all about it at least 2,800 years ago now. And it is entirely rooted in His wild love for His children.
 
God is a very protective Father. Anyone who aims to destroy His kids will meet with Him in a vibrant and unforgettable conversation. This is what the “End Times” are all about.
 
I caught just a glimpse of His Father’s heart while lugging a fifty-pound boxed mattress up to the second floor on Wednesday.
 
Moving Rachel to her own apartment this week completed an important transition in our family. It is a bittersweet moment to arrive where both our daughters are now in their own homes, with their own careers, and--much to their annoyance—their own bills. Those of you who are parents know how meaningful these milestones are and how much joy you have for your kid’s success. You also know how hard it is to acknowledge that the nest is finally empty for good—where holiday visits will be brief and conversations less frequent. But your joy over their success is abundant.
 
I am a relative newcomer to this father’s heart deal. I came into Amanda and Rachel’s life as they were a pair of shy and quiet fifteen-year-olds. They were nineteen when Sherri and I married. My love for them grew quickly during our courtship, but I knew whatever that would mean for them was completely up to them—step-parenthood, especially with young adults, is entirely about presence and not at all about position. So, I am sure you can appreciate how profoundly meaningful it is to me that both our girls have chosen to welcome me into their lives. I learned from them just a tiny bit about how God must feel when we choose to welcome Him into our lives.
 
But how does all this relate to the “End Times?”
 
(If you’re new to Mt. Hope, we are into our third week of our summer teaching series called “God’s Game Plan—Beginning, Middle, End: A study in biblical prophecy.” All of this is to explore how God has revealed to us the entire picture, including the future ending. He wants us to be prepared, to have abundant hope, and to live our lives uniquely focused and devoted to Him as we wait joyfully for His return.)
 
Any parent (or stepparent) feels a fierce protectiveness over their kids, no matter how capable they are of their own provision. God is no different.
 
2,800 years ago, while describing how God was going to ensure His children ultimately made out OK, He spoke of the ultimate goal: “never again will my people be shamed.” He said it twice. He was certain of their provisions: “you will have plenty to eat.” And He wanted to be sure they knew He was going to be right there: “Then you will know that I am in Israel” (in other words, “I am right there by your side”). (See Joel 2:26-27).
 
This is pretty much identical to our parting words with Rachel as we drove away from Lexington.
 
The prophet Joel was revealing God’s heart—the Father’s heart—for His children, the people of Israel, at a time when they were experiencing great difficulty. A massive locust plague had decimated their economy and their stomachs. Nothing was left to eat. Anywhere.
 
Long story short, God promised to relieve them of this terrible plague as they got their relationship straightened out. But then He quickly pivoted from that immediate difficulty to the end of all difficulties. Not only was God going to right the situation then, He is going to right the entire situation forever.
 
But because there are evil spiritual forces that are harshly arrayed against His children—and those forces agitate and convince humanity to hate the people of God—there will need to be an ultimate intervention where the Father fights all those who seek His children’s destruction.
 
God calls this intervention “the valley of decision” (Joel 3:14). It will be an unforgettable conversation. It will all be sorted out for good.
 
Tomorrow morning, we are going to unpack the Father’s heart for His people Israel. We will see where we fit in this puzzle and what we need to do as a result. It will make a lot of sense to what you see in the modern news over in the Middle East. And it will ultimately give you a lot of hope for all the heartache you presently see in our world.
 
If you want to do some advance reading tonight, dig around the short Old Testament book of Joel. It’s a quick read—much of it poetic and a tad cryptic. I’ll do my best to bring it to life for you in the morning. Oh… and we will connect it to this great outpouring of God’s Holy Spirit in the New Testament book of Acts—see how Peter explained God’s present movement coming out of His ancient prophecy through Joel in Acts 2:14-21.
 
I’m really looking forward to studying God’s Word with you tomorrow.
 
Much love to all…
 
Chris Eads
Mt. Hope Pastor
Friend