The Christ Child

Scripture: And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." (Luke 1:8-12)

And so began the humble beginnings of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It never ceases to amaze me how God chose to come into the world wrapped up in a tiny, defenseless baby Who would have to rely on His mother for all of his human needs for the first few years of His life. God. Who spoke life and light into existence, Who has no beginning and no end; omniscient, powerful, almighty God ... was once a tiny little baby who had to be cared for like any other infant. Wow!

It also gives me pause to wonder: was Jesus always aware of Who he was? At 6, did He know He had come into this world as Savior? Did this knowledge come to Him later? Did He ever feel the weight of the responsibility? Did Mary ever have to tell Him "no" when he tried to touch the cooking fire? Or did He already know it was hot? Was He a typical 2 year old Who said "no" and "mine" as He exerted His independence? But He was Jesus - did He bypass that stage?

Mary must have felt honored to raise Jesus; but did she ever worry about "messing up" as a mom? Can you imagine raising the Son of God, and Who you would be accountable to?

I realize these are rhetorical questions, and God had everything planned from the beginning from Who would raise to Jesus to how He would ultimately die and rise again. But in our human capacity, you have to admit, it is a fun brain twister to ponder the life of Christ, especially since nothing is spoken of His formative years.

I also marvel at the fact that shepherds and the magi were led to go see the Babe and pay Him homage, for they knew Who this baby was, and the prophecies He would fulfill. Again, I can't help but ponder ... can you imagine coming into the world and everyone knowing your destiny even before you were aware that you had one yourself?

Beyond all our musings and reflecting, there is only One Messiah, Christ, Savior. And I thank God the Father for limiting Himself in order to come into this world neatly packaged as a tiny little human baby to rescue us through His birth, death and resurrection. Oh how He loves us ...

Merry Christmas everyone. May you feel the warmth of His love and comfort as we all celebrate Jesus' birth; Christ the Savior.

Prayer: Father, we do thank You for showing us how much You love us through Your Son, Jesus, Who was fully God and fully man. And although we can never completely wrap our brains around that, it was because You loved us so much You sent down a Savior. Mere words cannot express our gratitude. May we all reflect upon the true meaning of Christmas as the world tries to pull us away from it's focus.

Prayer request: Lord, in all the hustle and bustle of the season, let us not forget why we are celebrating, and more importantly, WHO we are celebrating. Amen

The Changing Face of Christianity

Scripture: So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness. See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ. (Colossians 2:6-8)

So how did we lose "Christmas" and allow it to be turned into the generic word, "holiday"? How did the rainbow end up being the symbol for gay pride instead of a symbol of the promise that God would never destroy the earth by flood again?

We've been hijacked!! Christians are losing the symbols of our faith. Not that symbols are the central focus of our faith, but it's disturbing to see our Christian symbols disappear.

When my roommate excitedly told me how she was going to decorate for Christmas, I admit, I curled my nose at the idea. I'm not much for decorating. There's people who are creative with home projects and there are people that just simply aren't. If it wasn't for my friends, I would still be decorating any given room using cardboard boxes and milk crates as chairs and tables. My idea of "decorating" would probably still be the use of posters of rock bands on the walls. (Can girls have "Peter Pan" syndrome?)

I gave her a suggestion that she refused to consider. I told her we should test the "Big Bang Theory". You know how scientists believe that the earth, human-kind and the universe all happened to fall into place perfectly when, during some astronomical explosion a gazillion years ago, everything suddenly and spontaneously came into being? I told her to blow up the box that contained the Christmas decorations in the middle of the room to see if the cheery "shrapnel" would hang itself perfectly on the walls, the tree, and to see if the stockings would line up nicely ....

My roommate, you'll be happy to know, is the more sensible of the two of us. :)

It's tough to be Christian in the world, and much tougher during our holidays, when believers are being told their symbols are "offensive" to others, and yet, we are to be tolerant of everyone else's window displays, billboards, magazine covers and commercials and not to be so "uptight".

I believe times are changing, and it's time to change the way we spread the Word. The Gospel never changes, but the way the Word travels has evolved over time much the way the Bible is copied over and over again has changed - compared to the scribes of ancient times. It's time to "think outside the box" in order to reach the youth of today. There are so many ways I know we can use Myspace, Facebook, emails, texts and other forms of electronic data to our advantage. I have a friend who is ingeniously using Facebook to reach others and spread the gospel.

I think a sect of Christians should go "underground" like they do in other countries where it is illegal to BE a Christian, and have secret Bible studies. Kids love covert activities. Especially if they sound taboo.

Christians need to band together tighter than ever before and start brainstorming on how to reach Americans who's hearts are wounded, scarred and hardening towards all that is good. As darkness threatens to snuff out the light of the believers, our light needs to start shining brighter!

Prayer Request: Pray for the youth in America. Pray that God can heal them of the many emotional wounds we can't even begin to understand. Pray that the Lord can help us find ways to reach them.

Prayer: Lord, sometimes it feels like we, Your children, are as small as David, standing against Goliath, as we navigate through a world that is turning against You. Help us to be effective as we reach the youth and Americans in general, for Your kingdom.

Feeling Small?

Scriptures: “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small in the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2)

One of my high-school friends was a very good basketball player. Even though he was only 5’ 3”, he was quick, agile and accurate. As a result, he was elected to play in our school’s basketball team.

One time, I saw him with his face down. So I asked him what went wrong. He shared with me the reason for his low spirit. He had a game that day with a pretty strong team and he was made one of the starting line and that made him very happy.

At one point in the game, he and his teammates were having troubles with their opponents’ defensive strategy. So he decided to dribble around, trying to break the opponents’ defense formation. Little did he know that the players on the other team were more than well trained and they moved much faster than he expected. So, while he was threading in and out, he found himself trapped by 3 “giants”, each of them more than 6’ tall.

I can still remember the way he described it, “It was like stepping into a forest with huge, giant trees all around you. I could not even see any light from above.” Then he went on to say, “I never felt this useless in my life, feeling so small.” At that time, I didn’t know what to say to him for I knew exactly what it felt like.

So often life comes with obstacles that prevent us from achieving our goals and make us feel small. The problem of feeling small is more than just the frustration over one thing. It often discourages us from moving on to other things in life and makes it difficult to be functional in life. Feeling small twisted the way we see ourselves and others. It deprives us of our sense of worth and meaning for life. It’s a terrible thing to have in life.

But thanks to God who does not see things the way we do. Our passage today is a well-known prophecy for the birth of Christ Jesus. Throughout the records of the birth of Jesus, we find something in common: the place He chose for Jesus to be born was a small town called Bethlehem, the parents He chose to raise Jesus was a materially poor couple, and the first witnesses to the birth of Jesus was a group of shepherds, people considered socially lowly then.

These are, in the eyes of man, insignificant places and people, small in the eyes of this world and, maybe, in their own eyes too. But, when used by the hand of God, they became great! No one knows where that manger used to hold baby Jesus is now; no one knows the names of those shepherds who visited baby Jesus in the manger, either. Yet, their roles in the redemption history cannot be over-stated.

As Christmas is quickly approaching and many of us may be feeling pretty small psychologically and financially, the blessings God has for us in this Christmas season are still great because what’s small in this world may be great in the Kingdom of God. This was true back then, when Jesus was born. It is still true today.

Through and beyond that manger, God had the greatest blessing for all mankind. Lowly as they were, that group of shepherds became the first missionaries that proclaimed the good news of the coming of Messiah. If a manger in an unknown inn in Bethlehem 2000 years ago was precious enough for His glorious purpose, aren’t we much more precious to Him?

So, this Christmas, let’s look beyond our feeling small and our circumstances and celebrate He who came and made all small things great for His glory. Remember, God is still in the business of doing extraordinary things through ordinary people, like you and me, in ordinary places, like the very places we are.


Prayer Requests:
For all Christmas celebrations

Prayer:

Our heavenly Father, thank You for blessing us with the best gift of all, our Lord Jesus, who brought light and meaning into our lives. As we are getting ready for the celebration of His birth, help us to invite Him into every celebration of His birthday and making Him the focus of this Christmas season for we pray in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen!

A Wonderful Way to Explain Death

A sick man turned to his doctor as he was preparing to leave the examination room and said, 'Doctor, I am afraid to die. Tell me what lies on the other side.'

Very quietly, the doctor said, 'I don't know...'

'You don't know? You're, a Christian man, and don't know what's on the other side?'

The doctor was holding the handle of the door. On the other side came a sound of scratching and whining, and as he opened the door, a dog sprang into the room and leaped on him with an eager show of gladness.

Turning to the patient, the doctor said, 'Did you notice my dog? He's never been in this room before. He didn't know what was inside. He knew nothing except that his master was here, and when the door opened, he sprang in without fear.

'I know little of what is on the other side of death, but I do know one thing.... I know my Master is there and that is enough.'


May today there be peace within you.

May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be.

I believe that friends are quiet angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly.

Two Horses

Scripture: "My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me." (John 10:27)

My aunt sent me this inspirational forward.
I just had to share it, because I was so touched by it.
The author is unknown.

Just up the road from my home is a field, with two horses in it.

From a distance, each horse looks like any other horse. But if you stop your car, or are walking by, you will notice something quite amazing ...

Looking into the eyes of one horse will disclose that he is blind. His owner has chosen not to have him put down, but has made a good home for him.

This alone is amazing.

If you stand nearby and listen, you will hear the sound of a bell. Looking around for the source of the sound, you will see that it comes from the smaller horse in the field.

Attached to the horse's halter is a small bell. It lets the blind friend know where the other horse is, so he can follow.

As you stand and watch these two friends, you'll see that the horse with the bell is always checking on the blind horse, and that the blind horse will listen for the bell and then slowly walk to where the other horse is, trusting that he will not be led astray.

When the horse with the bell returns to the shelter of the barn each evening, it stops occasionally and looks back, making sure that the blind friend isn't too far behind to hear the bell.

Like the owners of these two horses, God does not throw us away just because we are not perfect or because we have problems or challenges.

He watches over us and even brings others into our lives to help us when we are in need.

Sometimes we are the blind horse being guided by the little ringing bell of those who God places in our lives.

Other times we are the guide horse, helping others to find their way.

Good friends are like that. You may not always see them, but you know they are always there.

Please listen for my bell and I'll listen for yours.

Prayer: Lord, like the horse with the bells on his harness, help us to hear Your voice, and obediently follow You. Guide our steps and lead us where You need us to go. Help us to not question or hesitate, but to follow Your beautiful voice. Amen.

Prayer request: For those of us who have become "hard of hearing", pray for open ears and open hearts to hear His voice more clearly and for us to follow more quickly.

The Strength of Your Faith

Scripture: “In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith – of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire – may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. “ I Peter 1:7

I watch the news frequently, admittedly, probably more than I should. Rather than play music while I sit at the computer and sign up for various temp agencies and posting my resume on one website or another, I listen to the news. I fully blame my mother. . She was a “news hound” if there ever was one, watching the news regularly. The older I get, the more I find myself being just like her. (I kind of like that!)

As unemployment rises, I hear statistics on how stressed out, bitter, angry and agitated the unemployed are. How many of those individuals polled, I wonder, consider themselves Christian? Not that I want to come off as judgmental. Nor do I think that as Christians, we should be joyous and happy and never feel any negative emotions. It is human, natural and expected to feel anything but elated when bad things happen.

But in life, we practice various disaster drills, depending on where we live. We have fire, earthquake, hurricane and tornado drills. Everyone practices drills in order to prepare for when the real thing happens. I believe this is a part of what faith is. We have faith in God to answer our prayer lists, our wish lists, to get us to our destinations safely, and we ask Him to bless the food we eat.

But when it comes to crunch time, and a crisis happens, does our faith strengthen – or weaken? Our faith should be a constant “practice drill” for God to come through for the big things in our lives, because all along, we should have been relying on Him for all the small things. Our faith is often tested through such “fire drills”. When I lose my truck keys and I am already 15 minutes late, when I get a prayer request for a friend of a friend’s troubled teen, when a friend asks for prayer for an audition to go well, I pray, and I pray for these “ little”, non-crisis events constantly. When a real crisis hits – I’m ready with a prayer and the belief that God is going to come through in His own special way in His own timing. My little prayers are, in essence, “practice drills” for the major things in life that come at me.

It is through such trials that we learn about ourselves, and the mettle of our faith. James 1:3-4 states, “..because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.” Our faith is constantly being challenged as Christians. And just like working out with weights on a daily basis, hopefully these trials strengthen us as believers.

After moving through all the emotions of shock, despair, disappointment, anxiety, anger or whatever we feel at first, the idea is fall back on our faith, keeping in mind Who is REALLY in control. It is the hardest thing to do in our Christian walk. But absolutely necessary.

God provides, and we mustn’t lose sight of that. Luke 12:6-7 says, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” What an awesome promise. God knows the number of hairs on our head, and cares more for each of us than any of us will ever know!!!

Rest in his strong, capable arms. He will carry you through your every trial and tribulation. Hang onto him, and however bleak your world seems, keep hanging on, because He will see you through.

Prayer: Lord, help us to rely more in you. Strengthen our faith. Help us each to surrender more and more to you each day, becoming a bigger reflection of Who You are. Amen

Prayer request: Pray for those who are in need of having their faith strengthened and the need to feel His presence in a big way.