The day every father waits for

Today was a huge day that marks a new era in the Buckley family. Faith was finally ready to take over the yard mowing responsibilities! After mowing grass for the last 35 years, I am more than ready to let someone else have the blessing. She not only mowed like a pro but she didn't even mow over any fences or run into the house! The good news is I can watch her mow from the shade of the porch...the bad news is that her allowance is about to go up. The priceless part had to have been the smile on her face and grass in her hair. Maybe by the end of the summer she will be ready for weed eating and edging!


Faith's first mowing experience from Richard Buckley on Vimeo.

Another adoption!

This past Christmas as part of a ministry event called The Advent Conspiracy we willingly chose to do four things to focus on Jesus at Christmas. We worshipped more fully, spent less on ourselves, gave more to others, and loved the people God has placed in our path more fully. One exciting thing we did was allow each of our daughters to sponsor a girl from their native country (2 from China and 1 from Korea).

Joi's child was named Mi So and she was sponsored through Holt International. Joi has fervently prayed for Mi So. Every meal time and every bedtime prayer have included a special mention of her name asking God to watch over her. If I forgot to pray for Mi So, Joi made me "do it over" or she added her own "PS" to God after the prayer. The amazing thing is that Mi So has the very same foster parents as Joi did!!!! How cool is that. It's tempting to say "it's a small world after all" but it's much better to say "What an awesome and huge God we have!"

Joi is a new Christian and I love to see God affirm new believers as they grow in Him. This past week we got a letter from Holt International noting that Mi So has been adopted and has a forever home in the United States. You should have seen Joi's face when it sunk in! Amy and I had the honor of telling Joi the Lord not only heard her prayers but He has acted on them and placed this special child in a family where she will have the opportunity to hear the Gospel and understand unconditional love.

As we read the letter at the dinner table, we came to a paragraph noting that we had been assigned another Korean baby girl to sponsor and pray for. Let me introduce you to Mit-eum Song. She is the latest addition to our sponsorship family. Please pray for her to have a forever family soon...and remember, if you don't, Joi will be there to remind you!

Spiritual Retreats

Every month or so I like to get out in the middle of nowhere and have a spiritual retreat. For me there is nothing more refreshing than getting in the mountains or at least somewhere in the wilderness where the only sounds are crickets and flowing streams. Solitude and lack of the daily distractions ushers me right into the presence of the Lord. I have found this practice to be essential when I am in the process of making major decisions.

I am grateful for a wife and daughters who encourage me to go on these retreats. They know I come back a better husband and dad as God speaks to me about family and ministry matters.

I find it refreshing to sit up late into the night under the stars by a crackling fire seeking God through prayer and His Word. I always come back changed. I may not have all the answers I want by the time I leave but it is enough to know that I have been pleasing to my Father by practicing Ps. 46:10.

I am currently planning my next retreat. I've done Monte Sano and Sypsey Wilderness and but I'm currently looking for something a little more remote. Here's a video from one of my favorite retreats at Sypsey.

An Amazing Easter

We were sitting at the dinner table a few nights ago and I started a debate by asking "do people prepare their hearts more for Christmas or Easter?" Faith loves a good theological debate as is becoming quite the apologetics expert. My point was to show that most people spend the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas thanking the Lord for the celebration of the incarnation but don't spend as much time preparing their heart for the celebration of the resurrection. We have tried to be extremely intentional with our family by doing some special events such as:

• celebrating a Messianic passover so the kids can see how Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection is clearly prophesied in the Old Testament.
• Pulling out the Resurrection eggs and taking turns opening the eggs telling the story of Passion Week.
• Preparing a tomb cake (a bunt cake chopped in half and laid on it's side with a cookie that represents the stone that was rolled away). While we make the cake we are talking about different aspects of Christ's sacrifice for us.
• making resurrection buns on Sunday morning (biscuits with a marshmallow inside)...once you bake it the marshmallow expands and it looks like an open tomb).
• We also have tons of books we read with the girls (especially for Joi since she is a new Christian). We are currently going through her "Now that I'm a Christian" book and she is really looking forward to being baptized soon!

On Easter Sunday we attended our new home church of Capshaw Baptist Church. It was a great worship service where the Holy Spirit moved in a powerful way as we worshipped our hearts out and received an inspired message that was mightily used of the Lord.

Amy and I hope to live our faith out in such a way that our girls are inspired to do the same thing.

How was your Easter? Do you have any special family traditions that help you prepare your hearts for Easter?

No more sting!

Yesterday as we were eating lunch I saw a red wasp buzzing around the window right behind Joi. I knew if she saw the wasp she would go full throttle into drama queen mode. Our girls are extremely fearful of anything that stings...probably because they saw the effects of my encounter with a swarm of African bees in the D.C. area...just imagine my face swollen to three times it's normal size...very freakish!

So as not to alarm her, I nonchalantly got up to get my trusty wasp killer. I slipped in behind her and swatted the life out of the wasp. Of course this got the girl's attention. I showed them the dead wasp and told them they didn't have to fear it's sting anymore. You would have thought I had slayed a ferocious lion. They were extremely grateful...daddy to the rescue! The biggest impact was that they knew I had come to their rescue while they had no idea how close they came to a painful sting.

I immediately thought of what Paul said in 1 Co. 15 about the victory we have as Christians. So we had an impromptu discussion family devotion. I described that there was a time when we were completely unaware of what our adversary was doing to bring damage and destruction in our lives. But there came a day when each of us realized how messed up our lives where due to sin and Satan and we cried out to Jesus to rescue and save us. He took the sting of death away and has given us a new life free from fear. Tomorrow we celebrate that truth on Resurrection Sunday at Capshaw Baptist Church. I am grateful for the timing this wasp encounter for it reminds me of what Paul was led to write in the following verses.

54 When the perishable has been clothed with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality, then the saying that is written will come true: "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55 "Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?" 56 The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
1 Cor 15:54-57 (NIV)

What consumes me this Good Friday

See you at Capshaw Baptist Church this Sunday to celebrate His Resurrection!

A glimpse into the future

Somehow Joi sweet talked me into taking her on the "Speedway" track at Disney World. I remember doing this for the first time with my dad at Astroworld in Houston, TX. There's nothing like that feeling of actually driving a car for the first time. Granted we were only going about 5 miles an hour, it was still a thrill. As Joi drove I was REALLY grateful for that metal strip that kept her from getting off-track. That three inch strip was a the only thing between us and a scary off-road experience. Yet I know that someday the safety guards will be removed and she will be driving on her own in the real world...an even scarier thought!

In the meantime, our zig-zagging driving adventure reminded me that I have the awesome responsibility of keeping her on the straight and narrow spiritually so she takes the path God has marked out for her ( Pr. 22:6). What a ride it's been so far. To know that she loves Jesus and is growing in Him daily means the world to me. It is truly humbling to know that God has entrusted Amy and I with raising up three incredible daughters. I pray daily that they see Christ in us and that they see us continue to grow in Him as well.

Oh yeah, the ride also reminded me that my car insurance is going to go through the roof one day soon! Better start saving up...