While watching this video I couldn’t help but be reminded of how amazing of an artist our God is. Only He has the power to create such breathtaking shows of light and color! All praise to the most high God…!
I am seriously amazed daily at the awesomeness and creativity of my friends, and Jared and Eryn Erickson are certainly at the top of my awesome list….for several reasons.
Continue Reading…
Today is Sanctity of Life Sunday, which is the Sunday that falls closest to Jan 22. Jan 22 is the day in 1973 when the United States Supreme Court decided on the Roe V. Wade and Doe V. Bolton cases which legalized the murder and dismemberment of unborn (aka – abortion) babies in the United States. Sanctity of Life is the Sunday closest to that horrible day where we celebrate life. Not destroy it.
Do me a quick favor; stop reading this post for a second and find a mirror. No seriously. Go look at yourself in it. Don’t you like living? Life is pretty cool, huh? (I’ve yet to meet anyone who says, “You know Rick, I really wish my mom would have murdered me before I was born.”)
Our son Noah was born on December 15, 2010. It was seriously one of the most awesome days of my entire life. Here is a crazy statistic, on the same day we were celebrating the birth of our son, we should have been mourning the murder of the other 115,000 babies who were killed that day. (There are approximately 115,000 babies murdered by abortion every day in the world. Crazy, huh?)
I was recently introduced to the website Abort73.com by John Piper. Their website is the most accurate, and informative I have ever seen. (They are also the ones who created the video posted above.) I would HIGHLY suggest visiting their website and clicking through all of the links about this horrible injustice. They do a much better job then I ever could, so please take the time to read through their site.
I really enjoy their section on personhood. Here is an excerpt;
“Embryos and fetuses are fully and individually human from the moment of fertilization on. If this were not true, if unborn children were not genetically-distinct human beings, there would be no need to even talk about rights of personhood. “Removing a fetus” would be the moral equivalent of pulling a tooth.
Finally I can’t say enough about how much respect I have for John Piper and his strong stance on the murder of unborn babies. He was written and spoke much about this, and tonight will be broadcasting live about this very topic (I highly suggest tuning in.) I have posted one of videos that I really liked in the past, and below you’ll find another. His website has lots of great resources if you’d like to learn more about the proper response we should have toward this great injustice.
One last thing. I know that this is a topic that brings a tremendous amount of pain, and heartache for those who have participated in this in their past. First, let me say that God can heal the deepest of pains. He loves you more then you could ever fathom. Even though some say God is simply an “imaginary being,” He isn’t. He is very real. And one day those who think He isn’t will meet Him (sadly the hard way.) He longs to know you, to love you, and to heal pains you never thought could be healed. If you have any questions about this at all, please contact me. I’d love to pray for you, or help you any way I can.
My friends at Focus on the Family have some great material that you can read if you have ever gone through this process, or are thinking about it. I highly suggest visiting their site, and reading through some of their material.
As you’ll hear John Piper say in the video above, I’m thankful that God knitted me together in my mothers womb. That He is the creator of life. And life belongs to Him, and to Him alone. It is absolutely none of our business, and to tamper with things that belong to God alone is incredibly dangerous. Let me be very clear, I HATE ABORTION! It sickens me that we live in a world that you even have to discuss if it is “right or wrong” to murder millions of babies every year. Babies that can’t run from their murders. Babies who have no choice in the matter (even those who promote this injustice claim to be “pro-choice.”) Babies who want a mommy and a daddy. Babies who want to cry. Babies who want to smile. Babies who want to be loved. Babies who are fearfully and wonderfully made.
Dear God, please have mercy on us for how bad we have messed this world up.
If you are a Christian, please take a few minutes right now to stop and pray for God to put in end to this horrible tragedy. That God would touch the life’s of moms and dads thinking about murdering their unborn baby. And that God would protect these wonderfully, made in the image of God, babies.
I have more to say, but I hear our 5 week old son in the other room, and I can’t wait to go hug on him!
If you have been following our story, you know it’s been a crazy 3 weeks at the Smith household. Long story short our son was born with down syndrome. A few days later we were told Noah’s new born screen came back positive for a very rare genetic disorder called Glutaric acidemia, type 1. GA-1 is extremely serious, and extremely serious. We have been told the odds of Noah having Down Syndrome, and GA-1 were astronomically high. There are three “rounds” of testing Noah must go through in order to rule out that he has this. Each of those tests can either come back positive (which means he has it), or negative (which the doctors remind us doesn’t mean he doesn’t have it, rather that we now move on to a more detailed test.) We received Noah’s blood and urine tests back today, and they both showed negative on the levels that could cause GA-1. (Basically having to do with the build of proteins in his brain, and looking for levels of certain things, but I’ll spare you the medical jargon.) We have been PRAYING NONSTOP that these tests would come back negative, and asking EVERYONE who would pray, to please pray! We are praising God so much today, and at the same time praying for the test round of testing.
We will meet with a geneticist (wow…I never though I’d be making an appointment with my sons geneticist 3 weeks ago, you gotta love God!) in the upcoming week that will let us know what the next step is. We will be doing either a DNA sequence, or a skin biopsy depending on what the details of this last test were. This test will take another 6-10 weeks to come back, so we will have lots of time to pray and trust God. Please keep praying for our family. We’d be glad to send you a picture of Noah to put on your refrigerator to help you to remember to pray for our son if you’d like. Just click on the contact link above, and send me your address!
We are learning so much about God through all of this. I plan on sharing much about that in the coming months as I continue to process all of this. Thank you for your care, your love, and friendship. The love and encouragement we have received regarding our family has been overwhelming. Words can’t say thank you enough. I am convinced that it is a result of everyone’s prayers that Noah is doing so well. We understand that we are no where near out of the woods yet, but we are a step closer. We are still begging God to bless us with a son who “just” has down syndrome! GA-1 is so much more serious then the down syndrome that we have almost completely forget about it. It’s amazing what we have learned about prayer and about our Great, Awesome, Loving, Faithful, Trustful God through all of this! I can seriously and with full integrity say that God really is enough. No matter what you are going through out there, He really is enough. His peace is amazing. We are getting to see areas of God love and grace that I never knew existed. What an honor it is to get to go through this process. I promise to keep everyone posted. Thanks for loving my son and my family.
In Grace, and Truth,
-Rick
(Spoiler Alert – If you watch the entire video you’ll see a Noah cameo at the end!) 
I am 150% drained, so I apologize for the rambling in this video. I wanted to bring everyone up to speed on our son, and ask you to pray with us for some very specific items. If you are in a rush, or don’t want to watch the entire video, feel free to skip to 9:53 in the video to hear some very specific prayer requests. It would be an honor to us if you would join us in praying for these things.
This is a very scary time for us, and I’ll be honest, I’m more scared and anxious then I have been in my entire life. I’m not even really sure what I’m scared about, but I trust God. We keep reminding ourself that this is no surprise to God, and no matter what the test results end up being, Noah is Noah. He has always been the son we have now. From the moment he was conceived he has been the son we have now. It’s his DNA. If you are anything like me then you don’t know much about what a genetic “disorder” is. But the quick version is – 1) Noah is not contiguous. 2) Noah didn’t “catch” anything. 3) Noah isn’t sick. These issues we are talking about concern Noah’s DNA. It is his make up. It is the very core of who he is. Don’t get me wrong – it’s extremely serious (especially the new genetic issue they are testing for. We would just really love for Noah to be have down syndrome, and that’s it. (In fact the odds of Noah having both of these genetic issues would be astronomical, so much so that doctors would write about him in research studies. (We prefer that not to happen though!) So really we are just learning more about the awesome son God blessed us with. I can’t wait to see how God unfolds all of this.
I want to think you for all the encouragement, and prayers. It means more then you know. Above all, thank you for praying for our son. Please keep praying. I’m serious. Praying is life changing.
-Trusting,
Rick and Abbie
The cool thing about life is you never know who you’re going to meet, where you’re going to meet them, or what fun you can have. (Like dancing on a Friday night in Times Square!)
I met the guys from Lanzanator and The Beat Calculator while I was in New York. They are a super cool improv group. They are from Dallas. We were in New York. They were shooting a video. I ended up in the video. I am an awesome dancer. We became friends. End of Story.
Check it out!
(Be sure to check out 2:41 to see some of my super-nova dance moves!)
I first heard “How He Loves” while speaking at a Disciple Now weekend in Oklahoma back in January. I had never heard the song before, and I couldn’t even make it through the entire song without tears streaming down my face. The lyrics are that powerful.
Take a look at this video as John Mark McMillan talks about where the song came from. (No, it’s not a David Crowder song.) It’s a powerful story about how God will loves us no matter what, and how He isn’t afraid of our honesty.
The metaphor, “If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.” is perhaps the most powerful one I’ve ever sung. How true, and how good.
Man, the grace of God’s love for us is mind blowing.
He is jealous for me,
Loves like a hurricane, I am a tree,
Bending beneath the weight of his wind and mercy.
When all of a sudden,
I am unaware of these afflictions eclipsed by glory,
And I realise just how beautiful You are,
And how great Your affections are for me.And oh, how He loves us so,
Oh how He loves us,
How He loves us allYeah, He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves us,
Oh! how He loves.We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
And Heaven meets earth like an unforseen kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,
When I think about, the way…
I’m in Atlanta this week at The Orange Conference, and while I’m in town my friends Jared and Eryn (both who work for Orange) offered to let me stay at their place. Since they are both working CRAZY hours at the conference, they are staying in a hotel across the street from the arena where the conference is located. Which means we (a cool guy by the name of Kyle is staying here as well) have their house to ourself…!
I’m sure they wouldn’t want me to brag on them, but I was excited to find out they have a HUGE bathtub. (For those who don’t know, I’m a “bath” taker. So what, I”m not afraid to admit it.) Not to mention their entire place is awesome! (dual shower heads + dual sinks = AWESOME!) Kyle and I got to their place around midnight tonight, and take a look what we came home to…! Thanks Eryn and Jared, it’s going to be a great week!
All week long we will be live streaming from backstage at The Orange Conference. This is totally cool, and totally FREE…!
Here is a sneak peak “behind the veil” before we get started. Enjoy..!
Please excuse the low quality of this video, I’m going on about five hours of sleep in the last three days so I’m a little out of it. Now on to the important stuff! Tomorrow is the start of the one conference I look forward to all year – The Orange Conference.
If you are attending, please be sure to make the short journey to the top of the arena to The Orange Leaders Lounge. I’ll be hanging out there pretty much the entire conference, and you won’t want to miss some of the cool things we’re going to be doing! During the conference you’ll have a chance to come up and meet Donald Miller, Rev Run, Reggie Miller, John & Nancy Ortberg, just to name a few…! In other words, we’re going to be having a GREAT time up there…and rumor has it you’ll be able to come up with your team and great a FREE picture taken in front of some awesome masterpieces created by Hannah Joiner! We’ll also be giving out some prizes, and running contests throughout the conference, so stay tuned..! (You can follow me on twitter for the real-time updates from The Orange Leaders Lounge. @Rick_Smith )
If you aren’t able to attend the conference I am very excited to announce that we are doing something super cool this year at Orange – a live video stream from backstage. You can click this link, and get your fill of “Orange” for the next three days – FOR FREE!!!! This is a great chance for you to get a “sneak peek” at some of the cool things going on backstage at Orange. You’ll also be able to hear some great insight from people who are passionate about helping the church partner with parents and students! (And if your around your computer at 1:10 on Thursday you’ll be able to see, and hear from me! I’m excited to be a part of this, and I think it is super cool that we are able to do this totally free for all of you out in “internet land”!!!)
Again, if you’re at Orange, come up and say hi. If not, check out the link above and enjoy the FREE, live stream…! See you, or tweet you, soon….
p.s. – if you have an iphone, or iPad be sure to download the official Orange iPhone App..!
-Rick
Everyone has rhythm. Yelp, even me. The question is how’s yours?
Lately mine has been fast. Too fast. Sure, a fast rhythm can be exciting, but I find I feel more connected to God when I slow down. If we aren’t intentional about slowing down the rhythm of our lives from time to time, April turns into May, and 2009 turns into 2010, and life gets away from us.
We look up and find we aren’t any closer to God in 2010 then we were in 2009. And then 2010 becomes 2020. And there we are, still chasing iPads, and iPhones.
I want to make sure I take time to slow down and connect with God.
It may just be me, but God seems to really like slow rhythms.
You want to see something that is mega, epic, cool? Check out this short video! My good friend, John Dyer, the director of web development at DTS is wicked smart (and a mega geek – which is another reason I like him so much!) As you probably know by now, the iPad dropped today, and John allowed me to get a sneak peek at something VERY AWESOME that he is in the beginning stages of developing. What is this mega, epic, awesome thing? Well I”m glad you asked. Check out the video below to find out!
As you can see there are many things he is still working out, but to even to have something as innovate as this in the pipeline, I think is epic! I don’t want to get to ‘deep’ here, but it really excites me when Christian organizations are on the cutting edge of technology instead of doing the same ol’, some ol’. I could be wrong, but I’m pretty sure it honors God when we creatively use technology for purposes like this…!
If you have an iPad and want to check this incredible technology out, John has allowed me to post the link for your touch screen pleasure.
(**Disclaimer – My comments regarding other seminaries in no way should be taken seriously. I am not making any theological statements regarding any seminary, or implying that a theological institution is in ANY way “better” then another by the sorts of technology it uses. Those of you who know me in “real life” understand my humor, so if you don’t please take my comments in jest.)
