One Day...

One day, I will be able to take a nap in the afternoon. I will be able to enjoy an evening to read a book in peace. I will be able to take my time to quietly shop at the grocery store. I will be able to go out to eat with my wife without having to hire babysitters. I will be able to go to bed and wake up when I want to. I will be able to eat a meal in peace without my children noisily interrupting.

One day, I will not have to fight frustration while I discipline the children. I will not have to clean spilled milk off the floor that my son made while trying to pour his own drink. I will not have to scrub crayon marks off of the walls that my daughter doodled. I will not have to pay so much money to feed growing kids. My wife and I will not have to juggle so much of our crazy busy schedule or have so much laundry and dishes to do.

One day my life will not be so busy and my home will be quiet. I'm not looking forward to that day. I have to ask the Lord for grace to remember this each time I become frustrated or stressed, longing for a peaceful moment.

God says that children are a heritage He gives me, and I am blessed to have many (Psalm 127:3-5). I am often reminded from older Christians that I will one day look back on these days as the best days of my life. I need to hear that encouragement often. I think that this is something we all need to hear.

Dear reader, I don't know what chapter of life you are in. A teenager may think that one day she will be an adult and life will be more fun out from under her parents' house. A stressed out young mother may think that things will be more stable when the kids are a little older. A man may think life will be more enjoyable once he retires. An empty-nester may think his life will be more fun when he has grandchildren. Worse, perhaps you think you have nothing more to look forward to in life.

Truth is, right now is the best day of your life because God has given this day to you to rejoice in and glorify Him. Each morning, He is faithful to give us grace to see His new mercies (Lamentations 3:23). His new mercies are good and perfect gifts for you in this season of your life. We live life now to glorify God, and we also do look forward to one day.

One day, we will not age. We will run and not grow weary. We will not attend any more funerals. We will not long for better days. One day our tears will be wiped away by our Lord for the last time. That is a day I look forward to. That day is what brings me joy today. No matter the stress and noise today may bring, I know today has purpose in the everlasting day that is to come.

Let us rejoice in all things (I Thessalonians 5:18, Philippians 4:4), even the trying things today may bring. Let us not grumble (Philippians 2:14), for today God has given us mercy. Let us not grow weary in doing good (Galatians 6:9), for the everlasting day is coming...one day.

Getting Young Families in the Local Church

“I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes.” –Romans 1:16

Lately, the Lord has placed me into situations not only around Hamilton but across the state of Ohio to discuss the church and disciple-making. Listening to prayer requests from various church leaders, one is nearly universal: please pray that more young families come join our church. I get the sense from these same church leaders that they believe our culture has harder hearts than ever before in history because church marketing, events, and programs from the past are no longer working.

Young people can still be saved. No one is too hard-hearted for the mighty outstretched arm of the Lord whose love endures forever (Psalm 136:12). What if getting young people to attend church services and events is a misunderstanding of Jesus’s Great Commission? These things are not wrong to do, but they make terrible replacements for personal disciple-making.

The gospel of Jesus Christ passionately shared from the lips of a Christian is the power of God to save those who believe. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead can be in your mouth! When you, dear reader, proclaim the gospel, it is like Christ at the tomb of Lazarus calling the dead man to walk. 

You, dear Christian, are commanded to personally proclaim the gospel and personally make disciples of Jesus (Matthew 28:18-20). No matter your age, you can proclaim the gospel that saves to your neighbor no matter their age, for the gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes. Open your home, your dinner table, your living room, your life to your neighbors, then open your mouth to proclaim His gospel.

You dear Christian reading this, go and make disciples of Jesus to all peoples and teach them the Word without shame or hesitation. For God is good and He is mighty to save.

Heavenly Father, bless Your servants with confidence in Your Son’s gospel and Your power to save. May we be found faithful to proclaim this glorious gospel to everyone. O Lord, save our hearers! Strengthen Your church! We ask for Your power and strength in the authority of Christ’s Name. Amen.

My Prayer with Selah Joy

God has blessed my wife and I with a little girl, Selah Joy Hancock. She was born March 10th, 2015. Our first daughter.









I pray that our God would be gracious to my wife and I as parents. May He bless us sinners with His Spirit through His Word. Bless us the unwise, O Lord, with Your wisdom. Bless us the stumblers, O Lord, with the Light unto our feet. Bless us the unloving, O Lord, with Your unfailing love.
Be kind to us, O Lord, and may Your Word be on our hearts to teach our children and lead them in Your everlasting way. May we show Christ to Selah, in our instruction to her and our lives before her. Bless our marriage to display the love of Christ to His church.
You and You alone, O Lord, are our righteousness. Apart from Christ, we have no righteousness, no wisdom, and we can do nothing. We rejoice in Your grace that we are found in Christ. Jesus is the propitiation of our sins, the treasure of our heart, the delight of our life.
In Your grace, O Lord, You display Your perfect patience in these sinners' lives. Display Your glory in the life of our family, in our parenting, in our worship of You. Your Name is great and we delight in the work of Your hands. You have knitted my daughter in my wife's womb. You have been kind to Your servants and blessed us with an arrow to sharpen with Your Word. May we be found faithful to the glory of Your great Name.

May 2014 Newsletter

This month, I would like to speak directly to husbands and fathers. We men have a calling from the Lord to lead our family. 

First, we must first be trained in righteousness.

II Timothy3:16-17 reads, “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.” We must first believe and know the Scriptures we are to teach our family. The Bible corrects us where we fall short, trains us, and equips us for every good work, including the good work of loving and leading our wives and children.

Second, we read Scripture with our wives.

“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word” (Ephesians 5:25-26).

Men, love your wives, not simply saying you love her, but from the heart of selflessness, give yourself up for her. Love your wives enough to learn the Scripture with her and allow God to convict sin and apply His grace in Christ Jesus. The Bible cleanses us and our wives; the Lord strengthens a holy marriage.

Third, we teach the Bible to our children.

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

Not simply discipline and instruction, but making our children disciples of the Lord. We are to train up our children in the ways of God from His Word, for there is no better way to prepare them for the world. All other instruction is secondary to the instruction of God.

Husbands and fathers, nourish your family with the milk of the Word of God. Yet first, you must first long for the pure milk of the Word (I Peter 2:2).  You will teach and live what you desire. Desire God in His Word, and desire Him for your family.