Monday, April 22, 2019

The calms before the storms :)

Greetings! 

It's been awhile since I've written and if I wait any longer, too much will have transpired to keep this to a respectable length... I never know how to put all the stuff together so I'm going to try and do something a little different this time. 

Family! 

I'm growing in my ability to enjoy shopping and cooking and doing anything that I can to ease the weight on Diane's shoulders... especially while I'm in the same country. Having my girls along is an added bonus! 


It was with great sorrow that I had to take down this amazing tree in our front yard. It had a disease that couldn't be cured and would eventually have brought it down in a dangerous way. I invited the MKs over and made it a party! We had good food and fellowship and created a great memory! 

This experience taught me that knowing God is more complex than "will you heal the tree? Yes or no?" There was a beautiful process that I got to participate in because I was able to see the what and the how of what God wanted to do next. I have far too often just settled for a "yes or no" God and not embraced the wonder of the how and the what that are part of a much deeper relationship. Unlike my tree, I'm still growing :).  



My beautiful Serenity just turned 3... right after my amazing Creed turned 12. Every child except Liam was born in April or May. It has been fun celebrating my children and we are all enjoying the nicer weather! 

I don't have a picture of Creed but I do have a link to us singing to him if you are interested! 



It has been hard to see my parents go and they miss the grand kids so much... and they are missed so much. It's been nice to have Diane's parents around and my sister has done a great job of celebrating my kids. Cara, it means a lot to me how you celebrate them! 



We had such a great Easter weekend! The Easter egg hunt at church was amazing and so was the service the next day. We had a great family time just before I head out on Tuesday. So many pictures... too many to put here! Here is a link to the album if you are interested.
Easter Weekend! 

After the egg hunt we went to the zoo... by the end of Saturday we were all jelly :). It was nice to have Easter with Diane's family on Sunday and extra special to have Kelsey and Patrick in for the weekend. We all had a nice dinner together Saturday night, and then the typical festivities Sunday afternoon. 





MK! 

I really enjoyed being able to go to Philly recently for some training. I made the most of the trip and ticked some things off my bucket list as you can see. While there, I received some training in the brand new Teen Trauma Healing curriculum and I'm excited to put it to good use. The room we got trained in was spectacular. It was great to meet some new people and to learn some things that will make me better at my job! 


We enjoyed an MK hike just before a torrential downpour! It was great having my boys join; in fact, it was one of the things Creed wanted to do on his birthday and the Lord held back the rain just long enough for him to do it! 


I really enjoy having lunches with the MKs three days out of the week. It was so special that Diane could join me for one of them. I find the lunches help me to get to know the kids on a much deeper level! 


Remember these crazy guys who just got married? It was great catching up with them after their honeymoon! 



One of my great joys as a youth pastor is getting to do baptisms. I had the joy of baptizing Ben this past Sunday and if you are interested in checking that out you can follow the link. 


I also enjoyed being able to speak at Chapel recently. I recorded it and you can listen to it here if you are interested. 


We had an amazing senior dinner and Easter egg hunt with the MKs... so many good pictures... I'll share a link to those as well. I love these kids so much and will miss them tremendously when they graduate out! Hopefully we will stay in touch. It was so nice to have so many of them show up to help with my Church's outreach Easter egg hunt!



Prayer! 

I'm heading to Thailand next week! Please keep my family in your prayers and myself as I hope to bring comfort and hope to people who have lost a lot recently. Pray for wisdom and energy for me and grace to abound for Diane and my children. 

I praise God for all my kids and I delight in celebrating them as they get older. I'm so thankful for Gods work in and through my ministry! He is setting people free and it is so great to get to see it. 

I have been working with an MK for some time now who has been struggling to understand God's love for them. It has really impacted self confidence and motivation. It has been so incredible to see them coming alive recently in their understanding of God's deep love for them and to see this revelation setting them free! 

Gratitude! 

I'm so continuously grateful for you incredible supporters! I am overwhelmed by your love and made steadfast by your prayers. You seem to have an intuition for my needs and somehow provide before I even know to ask. God uses you to show me His faithfulness and kindness and I'm deeply touched by your loyalty and love for me and my family. Thank you for the sacrifices you make to give to this ministry, whether it be financially or prayerfully or through simple acts of service! God is using you to advance his kingdom! 

Random! 

I've been learning a lot about the joy of simply being with God! It's like his presence is a fire that warms me without me having to do or say anything! There is such rest and fullness in him and I hope that you are able to take some time today and just simply enjoy being with Him. Just sit somewhere nice and let your awareness of Him bring you life! 

Here is a verse that I'm clinging to as I look ahead at the business of the next couple months! May it also encourage you my dear friends! 

Image result for col 1:28-29

Easter was fantastic! He is Risen!!!! Here is my favorite Easter song! I hope you enjoy it too!


Blessings,

Caleb


If you want to support what I do a little or a lot, on a one time basis or with recurring gifts, click on the tab "Supporting the Work" at the top of the page and sign up for Chase Quickpay. You can then send your donation to HCLC - Caleb Robbins Ministry using my e-mail address caleb_robbins@sil.org. If you would like further instructions on setting that up, please click on the link at the top right of the page called How to give. Or feel free to contact me directly! 214 558 8431.

Another way to donate to my ministry is via check. If you write a check to "Holy Cross Lutheran Church" and put "Caleb Robbins Ministry" in the memo line, it will get deposited into my ministry account.

The address is:

Holy Cross Lutheran Church 
4400 W Arkansas Ln
Arlington, TX 76016

Diane is my beautiful wife and the mother of my precious children Creed 12, Asher 9, Liam 7, Echo already in heaven, Bella 4, and Serenity 3 years old.