The Blues,Coldplay and Adoption

John Coltrane,

the best Jazz/Blues artist of alltime











I had the blues today.
Do you ever have a day like this?
You just walk around kind of feeling sorry for yourself.
This was my day.

Whenever I have one of these days,
I get in a mood to go to Barnes and Noble,
listen to Coldplay in the music section
while sitting on one of those strange wooden curved back chairs,
and read books on sports.
I know it sounds really weird,
but somehow it sounds oh so comforting to me.












But today was Wednesday, the busiest day of my week,
so no time for moody book chain adventures.

I was broken out of my state of sadness
by 2 things.
The first was our HS Associate Peter Pizzuto's
message tonight, which was great.
He spoke from 1 Peter 2, about our adoption
as Christians into God's family.

The second thing that snapped me
out of the blues, was a talk I has tonight with
one of our students named Tyrone.

Tyrone is an African-American, who has grown up
in the toughest parts of Southern California.

He has been shot, stabbed at and abandoned.
He currently lives in a group home.
As I talked with him after our Wed Night gathering
I felt God's heart for him.
God loves Tyrone so much.
God is pursuing Tyrone in incredible ways.
I have been watching this pursuit over
the last 4 months.

There is this really great passage in the Bible,
that I have always thought is great,
but great in one of those nice, safe, half-smile, isn't that special
for us, type of ways.

It is this passage...Ephesians, Chapter 1,
4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
(click here to listen to a great sermon on Ephesians 1 from Mike Erre, Rock Harbor)

Tonight as I talked to Tyrone and heard him tell me more of his story and heard him explain how lucky most of the students are in our High School group to have families...
and as I reflected on Peter's message tonight, this passage from the Bible came to my mind.
And you know what?

It rocked me.
It took on new meaning for me.
It isn't just a nice, that is so true, half-smile type
of Bible passage.

The idea that this passage is communicating is amazing.
No better than that, it is life changing. It is incredible.

We once were orphans, separated from God,
lost without a family.
God picked us.
He bought our lives at a price.
He calls us, choses us to be connected to him.
We are adopted by the King.

Suddenly, today, a day of feeling sorry for myself
turned into a night of joy as I realized this reality
of how things really are.
We are adopted.

My prayer is that Tyrone will get this truth
in his everydaylife...right now as a a 16 year old.

My Prayer for Tyrone

Lord, thank you for protecting, sparing Tyrone's

life on so many occasions.

God may he feel your love.

Lord, use your people to show compassion to Tyrone

in tangible, real ways.

God, I pray for a miracle.

I pray for the impossible.

I pray that a Christian family would hear about

Tyrone and be moved by you to foster care for him

for the rest of the school year.

But most importantly, may Tyrone

know he is adopted by you, a son of the King.

My Prayer based on Ephesians 1

Lord, thank you for choosing me.

I don't get how or why you did this,

I don't really get all the theological implications that accompy such thoughts.

Lord, one thing I do get

one thing, I got a little better grasp on tonight is this,

how amazing it is to be adopted by you.

Thank you Jesus.

Thank for going through with it.

Thank you for being willing to associate with me.

Thank you for taking me, a lost spiritual orphan

and adopting me as one of your own.