Friday, January 30, 2015

What I learned....

"You call me out upon the water".  Jesus called us out onto the waters with Jacob.  Adopting him was no easy task.  Loving him - well that was the easy part.  And then Jesus lead us to a place to make all of us - more than we were.

It was a place of sickness, suffering and uncertianty.  Jacob got sick.  I've said in earlier posts that Jacob was fine - "we're the ones that are all banged up".  It was true.  But in that hard place the God of the universe stretched us.  He confronted each of us and we wrestled (just like Jacob's namesake).  I praise God that we somehow held on - we did not let go.  And then He blessed us.  He increased the borders of our trust in him-  better.... He blew those borders up!  He did all of this by taking us deeper than our own feet could ever, ever wander.  A place we (and none of you) would ever choose to go - the sickness and later the death of our son.

In the last 11 months Jesus taught us how to walk with him on a really choppy patch of water.  It was abousutely terrifying - but we went, maybe we were dragged?  The point is Jesus came and got us.  Why, why did he pull us out of the boat? Because He knows that its only when you get out of the boat of security, a "happy life", comfort and certianty that we will ever learn that his grace abounds "in the deepest water" and that he never fails and He "won't start now".  "...Love never fails."

So the biggest thing I learned in all of this  it's this Jesus:  "I am yours...and...you...are mine".

I just want to thank all of you again for your fantastic love that you lavished on us as we went through all of this. I am so incredibly thankful for the church - the bride.  Not the bulding, not religion, not rules and customs - but thankful for all of you who nursed our battered and bruised souls during this storm.  Free men and women serving the King, not out of 'ought to' - not out of some false obligation - but out of a genuine love that only people whom Jesus has set free can show.  

In my many drives to Denver, I speant lots of time yelling at God.  But that time always wound up in worship...This was a common theme for me....watch:



Until all are set free...

Marshall

Friday, January 9, 2015

The Best Story Ever

Did you ever get wrapped up in a story that became an epic?  Yeah - I think that is very rare. But - not bragging...we did.  Jesus told this AMAZING story through Jacob Worthey - and we got to get in on it.  Not that we were special.  Not that we were better than anyone.  It's just that He yelled at us particularly loud and we heard - praise God through all the noise we heard!

Jacob was given the name "Sagrada" by his care takers in Leyte.  Do you know what that means?  Sagrada means holy.  Jacob is HOLY.  That was a foretelling of something so incredibly beautiful - It's CRAZY!  Praise the living God for this story - its your story too.  He is your son and brother too. Pay attention to the gift....we and you  -together we are blessed.

We love Jesus ..we love you.  We pray that you all get it - The King beckons...answer Him....The quotes you will see in this video belong to Jacob.  He said these things and we got to hear them... we are so truly blessed.  Watch this and hear them with us.


"that was a great game"  
...One of the lost boys in "Hook"

Marshall, Lorrie, Hannah, Joshua, Noah, Naomi  ...did we tell you that we love you? - we do.

Saturday, January 3, 2015

Home.


Jacob Ford Worthey
May 20, 2000 - January 3 2015 (Earth)
January 3, 2015 - ∞ (With the King -and an even bigger family)

We thank the High King for the privilege that was ours to give this amazing person his first glimpse at Family.  Now he knows better than we do what that means.  Do not despair - instead rejoice!  He is who Jesus meant him to be when he 'meant' our Jacob.  We love you all fiercely.

Marshall, Lorrie, Joshua, Noah, Hannah, Naomi and....dare we say....Jacob.

Watch Jacob's Celebration Here:



Friday, January 2, 2015

The Spectacle and what the story is not...

For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like men condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men.  I Corinthians 4:9

Paul was admonishing the church at Corinth.  The Spirit brought this to my mind a few days ago as I was asking myself for the one thousandth time...."why this suffering...why this much?"  

A "spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to men".   We are a spectacle.  Not an ugly kind of thing but a beautiful kind of thing.  This is a mystery I am only now coming to grips with: You were meant to see this.  You were meant to see Jacob's entire journey.  

You are wondering..."the Leukemia?"  Yes but that is only a small part of what the High King himself wants you to get.  He wants you to 'get' his life.  Abandoned in a box by a guard shack at the orphanage.  Grew up in that same orphanage - beloved by those who cared for him....never found a family until that day with the chocolate bar offered to him by his best friend's new family.

Jesus uses hundreds of you to help us get him home through the adoption process. Many of you got to know him when he got here in 2012. That smile.  That laugh.  That speed!  Man is he fast! Getting glasses.  "These are mine?"  "Yep, Jacob they are yours."  "I can keep them?"  "Yep."  "Really?"  You see -he never owned anything until he came here.  That summer we were evacuated from Green Mountain Falls because of the Waldo Canyon fire.  That question when he saw the flames 3 miles away "...does this always happen?" 

That beautiful group of vagabond evacuee people God placed at the lodge.  We're worried about our homes - he's in heaven with all of these people that he really loves and who love him back.  Scott Stearman comes to mind - they are friends to this day.  We had a hard time convincing Jacob after we went home:  "...well yeah they are all 'like' your family but we are your family - that make sense Jacob?"  We were wrong - they are his family too.  This boy loves you at the drop of a hat.

Camping.  Jacob wanted a sleeping bag for Christmas this year - so he can sleep outside with Joshua, Noah and Hannah.  Trips to Utah - to Zion.  Jumping off of a 20' boulder into an ice cold canyon pothole then lying next to his sister Naomi on a warm rock under the sun.  Climbing a 5/7 at Penetente with his brothers help - then running back to the car in the rain as lightning closed down the route that day....laughing hysterically all the way.

Playing.  One of the most beautiful things I have ever seen is my two little Pinoys rolling on the grass and laughing until I am sure they are going to wet themselves.  That game with Aden and Naomi - Keep the ball from hitting the deck - belly laughs all around.  Snow forts and snowball fights.  A love for ...Asleep at the Wheel? Running through the woods with 15 other kids playing "monster' at the lodge.

Teaching.  One day at the hospital Dad was having a bit of a moment and being himself - let the offender know he was shall we say...not amused.  Dad comes back into the room.  Jacob:  "You were kind of mean to him Dad - you should apologize" - He was of course  -right.  I try to convince him to have some fun and shoot the nurse when they check his vitals at night with the Nerf pistol.  Jacob:  Why? they are so nice to me."  Jacob is a gentle, loving soul.  I want to be more like him.

This spectacle....this life.  I can't think of a better spectacle of Jesus' love for us than his giving us Jacob's story.  I wont fully understand the richness of this story until Jesus explains it to me one day - kind of like an 8 year old trying to understand the beauty of a Renoir - I know it is beautiful but I can't explain it to you well right now. Here is what I do understand:

I do know Jesus chose us (and some of you) to be his family. Jesus is telling Jacob's story - to you. His story is a "spectacle"  that points squarely to Jesus' love for you.  I think many skeptics would say  ..."well yeah *if* there is a God - he clearly loves this boy".  And you would be right - but still falling way short.  He loves you just as much as he loves Jacob. Feel that.  Let it wash over you.  He loves....you.

Leukemia is NOT the story.  I want to leave you with this picture.  Jacob and Naomi drew on our white board soon after we got Jacob home from the Philippines.  Read what they wrote that day - I praise God....I get to be his Dad, a husband to an amazing woman and a Dad to four other amazing human beings that inspired Jacob and Naomi draw this picture.



Preparing for Home.

Marshall



Thursday, January 1, 2015

The list



Today is a hard day. All of you, all of us, who have been praying for Jacob, and holding up the Worthey family are starting the new year on our knees with breaking hearts. I remembered a conversation Jacob and I had a couple of weeks ago, and thought today would be a good day to share his words.



Jacob and I were working on an art project together, tracing our hands and coloring them with markers to make them look 3D. He didn't think his was turning out so well, and I mentioned that it would be cool to work on art projects in heaven.

This started a thread of ideas on what we thought heaven was like and what we might do there. I mentioned that we could travel to other planets and explore the universe. Jacob was surprised that there would be a lot of things to do in heaven.

After a few minutes of coloring, he looked over at me and said, "I wish there was a list."

"A list for what?" I said.

"A list of who gets to go to heaven."

I smiled. "Well Jacob, guess what? There is a list! It's called the Book of Life."

I wondered if Jacob might have missed a few important points in learning about heaven, so we talked through it.

Earlier in the day, a volunteer had come in to let Jacob 'shop' for Christmas presents for his family. Though he couldn't leave the room to browse the gift tables, we pored over photos on an iPad, and he carefully chose something for each member--even the dogs. I mentioned that Jesus' gift of salvation to us is like a present. We can accept it or not.

"Jacob, what if you gave Naomi her gift that you'd picked out, and she said she didn't want it?"

A huge grin spread over Jacob's face. "Oh, I get it! I already did that. I asked Jesus into my heart."

"Well," I said. "Then you're already on the list."

"Cool," he said, and picked up his marker.

As we all face the possibility of saying goodbye to this sweet, brave boy today or in the days to come, remember that while our hearts break, he will be running into the arms of his Savior.

And a big part of that wonderful picture is because Lorrie and Marshall and their family opened their hearts to a child who was abandoned and rejected.

If they had not adopted Jacob, his life would have ended long before this.

If they had not sacrificed to bring him home, each of us would never have heard of him--would never have been touched by his life.

And biggest of all, he might not have the assurance that he's on the list.

Rejoice with us, that Jacob's name is written boldly in the Book of Life.

Everyone who conquers will be clothed in white, and I will not erase his name from the Book of Life, but I will announce before my Father and his angels that he is mine.
Revelation 3:5, Living Bible

~Debbie