Brutally Honest Love

One of the greatest joys of being a husband is boasting about my wife.  My favorite preacher on the planet is my bride.  Keeli boldly goes where few dare.  This isn’t just when she ministers to hundreds at a time, but she also demonstrates valiant boldness when speaking to individuals.  Most of the time, I’m thinking, “I wouldn’t say that to someone.” She can be brutally honest and simultaneously loving.  She has made I Corinthians 13 a reality… Especially the passage that states, “Love rejoices in the truth.” In the moments Keeli speaks the truth of God’s love to people, I begin to see how selfless love is.  Knowing the truth and holding it from others is an instrument of control and manipulation.  Unfortunately, we see this in the church at an uncomfortable level.  Imagine being invited to speak at a church and being told, right before you begin, not to mention the Holy Spirit because some might see Him as controversial or divisive (even though He is the key to unity).

How selfish it is for someone to have experienced the healing power of God and not offer it to those in pain?  How selfish is it to know the benefits of being baptized in the Holy Spirit and not teach it?  How selfish is it to build a ministry based on a preacher’s closeness with God rather than helping bring others to the realization that Jesus has already closed in on us?  How selfish is it to know Jesus' limitless love and not shout it from the rooftops?  Each time Keeli teaches people how to hear the voice of God, leads them to Jesus or in the baptism of the Spirit, or releases the healing power of God into their bodies, I see how unselfish she is.  When I hear others say, “Why haven’t I heard about this before?” I realize just how fearless my wife is because of the boldness she has received from the Holy Spirit.

Since the moment I fell in love with Keeli, I felt it was my duty to make sure she was able to fulfill her call to preach the Gospel each time the door opened.  We were married and opportunities followed.  She was invited on multiple occasions to address crowds with the Gospel.  To my shock and awe, she declined.  I asked her why she didn’t go and this was her response:

“I married you so we could go together.”

The opportunities didn’t end there.  We still get invited to speak but we never fly solo.  We believe there is something that has been missing from the message being preached.  Crowds of hundreds or thousands of people cannot compare to the best ministry life has to offer: family.  In the words of Keeli, “We always go together.” As my wife forfeited opportunities to travel abroad to do what she loves to do, she remained with her family, waiting for the opportunities to do the very thing we love to do more than anything – together as a family.

-Jonathan Fawcett

The Ox and Chihuahua

“Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?”--2 Corinthians 6:14, NKJV

Jonathan and I celebrated our third wedding anniversary!  He surprised me at work with lunch (I thought he was the UPS man so I ignored him initially), he tidied up the home, bought me roses, took me to dinner and the list goes on.  I am very blessed and thankful for the man I get to spend everyday with.  How did I end up with such a good guy?  I trusted God and I did not waiver on what I wanted to do in life.  I did not melt at the first guy who told me I was the “one” or that I was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.  Honestly, words can be cheap.  All it takes is one chick flick for a guy to know what to say.  Jonathan tells me I am beautiful several times a day and it still makes my heart flutter but he does not stop there.  He calls me for who God calls me.  He does not just see me on the surface but he recognizes the purpose I was created for and the dreams I long to become a reality.  He encourages my passions and works to provide and take care of our home.  Above honoring me, he honors God.  I fell in love with the man I could dream with.  When I talk about seeing entire nations come to know Jesus or providing clean water for everyone in the world he dreams with me to see those things become possible.  We plan to be millionaires by the time we are 30 and we know we will be. Our Daddy is the King.  Therefore, our inheritance is the world!

Growing up, when I would hear the Scripture about not being unequally yoked, I instantly thought of eggs.  It was several years before I began to understand the context.  I was not sure what chickens or breakfast had to do with a relationship.  However a good tip for the ladies: Always have the ingredients for chocolate chip pancakes on hand.  Those provide awesome wife-points when made!

Thankfully, at this point in life, I now understand what this scripture is referring to.   Just in case you are still unsure let me help.

Yoke – A device for joining together a pair of draft animals, especially oxen, usually consisting of a crosspiece with two bow-shaped pieces, each enclosing the head of an animal.

(It has nothing to do with eggs.)

Basically you need to be able to run together and walk together.  Now when I hear the scripture about not being unequally yoked I imagine two strong oxen joined together, walking side by side, doing their job efficiently.  Now imagine if you joined a Chihuahua to an ox…the ox would either stand still (highly unlikely) or the little dog would be pummeled and ran into the ground.  The little dog would never be able to keep up.  You should never consider dating someone you couldn’t agree with and walk out life together.

A relationship should be exciting and fun to dream about the things you can do as one, as well as dream about all the places you can go together.  I can assure you, it is worth waiting for.  Jonathan and I keep a Dr. Seuss notebook of “Oh The Places You’ll Go.”   We record the things we dream of doing in life and we love when we have accomplished something in our dream book.

We were created to enjoy life in abundance.  So ladies: Do not marry a little boy but get yourself a man who you dream with.  Gentlemen: get yourself a woman who already knows she is beautiful by which you can affirm that in her.

Enjoy life,

Keeli

"The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.”

--John 10:10, NKJV

Anniversary

July 31, 2010 was the day Keeli and I were married.  It was a good day.  It was a great day.  But not the best day.  Everything ran smoothly, the ceremony was powerful, the music was perfect, and the bride was beautiful.  Yes, it will be a day that we celebrate.  But a wedding doesn't make a marriage.  The best is not behind us.  The best is today.  And it will be surpassed by tomorrow.  The sacrament of marriage is a necessary glory to step into in order to step up to the next glory.  One of our favorite pastimes is remembering how Jesus rescued us by closing certain doors, promoting us by opening new ones, and directing our steps to see our family equipped to prosper.  When our family advances, the kingdom advances.  Our wedding was one day we will always cherish.  But it will never measure to the lifetime we will spend together, continually falling in love with one another. A celebration of matrimony is like heaven: all the people you love is in one room together, sharing in the joyous occasion.  But we have made many great friends since our wedding day.  We wish there was a way they could have been there to celebrate our union with us.  So I created this... Enjoy.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_v8QIaUlgM&w=640&h=360]

Jonathan Fawcett

Miracle of Marriage

One of the greatest joys, honors, and blessings in my life is family.  Keeli and I were married on July 31, 2010.  I can’t give you a formula for falling in love, but I can give you some insight from my own experience.  First, I didn’t just fall in love and stay down.  I fall in love every day I wake up.  Marriage is a miracle – a cycle of bliss that gets better and better. How many weddings have you been to where you heard, “In sickness and in health,” or, “For better or for worse,” and maybe even, “For richer or poorer,” in the vows?  You may have even said these in your own wedding vows.  But are these Biblical to speak over your marriage?  If the power of life and death are in the tongue, why would you speak sickness, poverty, or worse over your future?  Why would you declare an expectation of those things over the future of the person you love the most?

If you are married and guilty of speaking vows like this, it doesn’t necessarily mean your marriage is doomed.  Repentance is simply changing your mind.  We have the mind of Christ and His mind is not on sickness or poverty for His bride.  Many are offended at the Gospel (aka the “too good to be true news”).  Health and wealth are in heaven.  Jesus wanted to bring heaven to earth.  But those things are obtained when we seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Vows often reflect what a bride and groom expect for their future.  Sickness is not in the kingdom of God.  Poverty is not in the kingdom of God.  Worse is not in the kingdom of God.  Jesus would never speak an expectation of sickness over His bride.  Money fights end most marriages.  Sickness steals joy from marriages.  We wanted our marriage to be one where we are seeking the kingdom of God in agreement together.

Keeli and I wrote our own vows.  We stood at the altar and continue to stand on the promise that Jesus is taking us from glory to glory.  Renewed minds begin to think in these terms: Health and healthier, wealth and wealthier, better and better-er.  Not because of our works but because of His finished work on the cross.  He is the Solution who brings solutions.  He is the Creator who brings creative ideas.  He is the answer, the source, and the grace to accomplish anything.

Since we said “I do”, many may believe that we dropped off the face of the earth and don’t pay much attention to the outside world.  I, personally, thrive in an atmosphere of people, conversation, and diversity.  But at the end of the day, I can’t get home fast enough.  I just can’t wait to see the most beautiful face I ever laid eyes on.  It’s hard to leave her in the mornings but it’s a joy when I get home.  Even the most mundane and painstaking tasks are enjoyable because of the company of my best friend.

One of my favorite things to do with Keeli is dream with her.  It keeps the best in front of us.  We keep a book of dreams, visions, and plans for the future.  We have already checked a few items from that list.  We take the steps to see those dreams become reality.  How many realists do you know who see miracles, healing, signs, and wonders on a regular basis?  I am not in denial that bad things happen.  We are believers in Love Himself.  True Love will take you from glory to glory.

Jonathan Fawcett