Let the Glory of the Lord Endure Forever

When my dad was 15, he was diagnosed with Ankylosing Spondylitis. Since, he has had close to 20 major surgeries, been close to death 3 times and he is only 54 years old.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works
Psalm 104:31

My mom was date raped in high school

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

My mom came from Florida, my dad from Washington, to meet at Oklahoma Baptist University and marry 3 years later

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

My mom pulled the goalie and got pregnant with their first son, they named him Seth David McBee, which means "Anointed, Beloved, Son of Light"

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

My grandmother, my dad's mom, died when I was three, I was the only grandchild she had and she loved me very much, but loved Jesus more. We later named our second child, Coleman (my grandmother's maiden name) after her. She was a great woman of the Lord.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

My brother was born when I was four, he was named Samuel Joseph McBee, which means "Asked of God, Jehovah has added, Son of Light"

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

We were so poor when I was in grade school, because my dad was a sign painter and a pastor, that I had to literally dumpster dive for clothes, furniture and mattresses.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

My dad lost his business because of the Oil Bust in the 1980's, he started to work for Merrill Lynch, which meant we could buy new clothes and stop jumping into trash cans.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

We moved to Washington, from Oklahoma, where I met the love of my life when I was 14, started to date her when I was 17 and then married her when I was 22

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

In High School, I loved playing sports, I loved being popular, loved getting drunk, loved marijuana, loved stealing for the rush, but I hated Jesus, but pretended to like him on Sundays.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

In High School, my brother could care less about popularity, but still was. He preached (very loudly...think Whitefield) during lunch one time, to the whole school, while being told to stop by the vice-principal. He didn't stop. He wrote his entire senior class about His Saviour and sureness and hope of heaven. My brother was my hero and helped change my views of the cross.
Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

I went to Seattle Pacific University, to study business so I could be rich by being a stockbroker. Instead I found Jesus to be real through my new friends, being rich didn't seem so awesome anymore, but I still wanted to be a stockbroker. I broke up with Stacy because, as my whole extended family put it, "I was an idiot." Stacy found Christ to be real during this hiatus and that he was her only hope, not me. I praise God he used my idiocy to show her his wonderful light.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

I married my wife while still in college, she was a massage therapist and was my sugar momma until I was done with school.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

Three years into our marriage, we decided we wanted to have kids. My wife had 2 miscarriages and I can't wait to see my unborn babies in heaven praising Jesus.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

My wife got pregnant for the third time, we were scared. She started to get bad back pains and spotting blood, we thought we were going to only meet this baby in heaven as well, God smiled and 9 months later he gave me my first child, my son. His name is Caleb James McBee named after the courageous spy who stood for God's plan instead of man's.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

We were poor and Stacy was trying to work while Caleb was a baby. We decided God wanted her to stay home even though it made no sense economically. We didn't care. Stacy hasn't worked since. It's been almost 7 years.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

When Caleb was 2, we decided to take the biggest risk we ever took, I left my job, we left our community, and we built a house and opened a new business within a month of each other. We have almost gone bankrupt a couple of times, but God always provides.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

We found a church where God called me to be the Youth Pastor/director (while still running my business), and God, once again, used an ass to speak his truth for over 5 years.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

My second son was born, his name is Coleman William McBee, he thought crying was more important than doing anything else and he stayed awake sometimes literally all night long. My wife became severely depressed, I figured out that I was not her Saviour but Jesus was. She was told by some people that she should just smile and get over it. This didn't make sense to us, we started to leave moralism.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

We started to be severely attacked spiritually by others. Moralism kills. The Gospel gives life.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

We had the toughest two years financially and it tested our marriage and our faith, we found out that money was an idol, but we found Jesus to be better than money and more rewarding and sustaining.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

We left our church, and we found out that ministry was an idol, we also found out who were our real friends. But, we also found a great church in Harambee, where Jesus is the most important. We also found great leaders in Doug and Nancy Cassell, they love Jesus more than their spiritual appearance among others. We love that.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works

We don't know what God has in store for us. We have found that we have a lot of hatred and idols that need to be smashed. We have found that our identity can't be in anything but Jesus, because everything else fails, he doesn't. We have found that if our hope is in anything besides Jesus, our hope will fade to bitterness. I'm excited for this Advent season, because I want to smash idols and hatred and turn my affections more to the Saviour who came as a dumb baby to save a dumb people, for the power and praise of our God. He loved me this much. He has brought me through all the things above, why can't he bring me through this too? No reason, I guess, but my lack of faith in Him is amazing after I see the road he has brought us on to this point.

Let the glory of the Lord endure forever; Let the Lord be glad in His works