Not a typical Christmas

This hasn't been a typical Christmas for us. This is the first year I wasn't running around worrying about last minute presents, in fact I didn't have to worry about presents at all this year. God presented our family with an awesome opportunity, instead of buying Christmas presents our family is leaving tomorrow for a 7 day mission trip. When the idea of not buying Christmas presents started to sink in I have to admit it really started to bother me. I started to fret and second guess myself. This second guessing didn't come because anyone expects gifts from us or because our kids were angry that there weren't any presents under the tree (they never once complained), but it came because I truly enjoy giving gifts.

As I sit here amongst the mess in my bedroom trying to pack for tomorrows journey, I realize that by falling God's call I learned how to enjoy Christmas in a way I would've never imagined. Usually I'm so busy with all my lists, making sure I spent evenly on the kids, worrying if everyone would like their gift, hoping not to duplicate and worst of all - fighting the crowds in the stores. But this year we didn't have any of that. We just enjoyed each other, we talked about the gift of Jesus more and we spent more time with family.

And I pray that as we leave tomorrow for Mississippi that we do more than just build a house. I pray we build relationships and that our relationship with our Heavenly Father is strengthened in ways we never dreamed possible. That our children see that the true gift, not just at Christmas but throughout the year, is the gift of helping and loving others; not because we have to, but because we choose to. I pray that the people we meet and those that just hear about what we are doing don't see us, but see Jesus Christ. I pray that these 7 days plant seeds that will impact lives greatly, seeds we may never even see bloom until we reach heaven.

I'm not sure if we'll have internet access in Mississippi, if we do I'll blog before I go to bed each night. If not I'll have lots to tell after the first of the year. In case I don't have access I want to challenge you as you make your New Year's Resolutions for 2010. In a fast paced society I challenge you to try and simplify your life, slow down and enjoy the little things in life. There is always going to be a bigger and better something out there, and chasing material things only leaves us empty.

Matthew 6: 19-21 says "Don't hoard treasure down here where it gets eaten by moths and corroded by rust or - worse! - stolen by burglars. Stockpile treasure in heaven, where it's safe from moth and rust and burglars. It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being."

I pray that you know that our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ has been pursuing a relationship with you from the beginning of time. There is no greater gift than the gift of love and salvation that He has to offer. He won't force it on you, but it is yours if you choose. No other king in the history of the world has stepped down from his throne. Over 2000 years ago He left all His glory to join us as a baby in a manager, not because He had to, but because He chose to. His love for us is immeasurable and will sustain you through all things.  His love will never fail, will never rust, can never be stolen.  He's waiting, if you listen closely you can hear Him calling your name, will you follow?

The Choice

I read something in my devotional this morning that I thought was worth sharing.  Too often we go around acting as if stuff has happened to us, and sometimes it does, but most of the time it is how we choose to react.  We can choose to live life with love or hate, joy or sorrow, peace or turmoil.  At the end it is our choices, not the circumstances, that matter.

I'm constantly amazed by the resilence of the human spirit and the awesome hand of God at work in our lives.  No matter what you are going through at this very moment I invite you to choose.

I choose love...

No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness.  I choose love.  Today I will love God and what God loves.

I choose joy...

I will invite God to be the God of circumstance.  I will refuse the temptation to be cynical...the tool of the lazy thinker.  I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God.  I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.

I choose peace...

I will live forgiven.  I will forgive so that I may live.

I choose patience...

I will overlook the incoviencce of the world.  Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I'll invite him to do so.  Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray.  Instead of clinching my fist at new assignments, I will face them with joy and courage.

I choose kindness...

I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone.  Kind to the rich, for they are afraid.  And kind to to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.

I choose goodness...

I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one.  I will be overlooked before I will boast.  I will confess before I accuse.  I choose goodness.

I choose faithfulness...

Today I will keep my promises.  My debtors will not regret their trust.  My associates will not question my word.  My wife will not question my love.  And my children will never fear that their father will not come home.

I choose gentleness...

Nothing is won by force.  I choose to be gentle.  If I raise my voice may it only be in praise.  If I clench my fist, may it only be in prayer.  If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.

I choose self-control...

I am a spiritual being.  After this body is dead, my spirit will soar.  I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal.  I choose self-control.  I will be drunk only by joy, I will be impassioned only by my faith.  I will be influenced only by God.  I will be taught only by Christ.  I choose self-control.

Love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  To these I commit my day.  If I succeed, I will give thanks.  If I fail, I will seek His grace.  And then, when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.

Can I just skip Mondays?

So the past 7 days have been full of injuries for our family. I felt like I lived at the Dr. last week...

Monday started the week off on the wrong foot last week. Drew and the neighbor boy were playing baseball in the yard when for some reason they decided that using a basketball instead of a baseball was a better idea. Well Drew quickly discovered that hitting a basketball will cause the bat to bounce back and hit you in the face. Suddenly the basketball was not such a great idea and Drew's eye was swelling. By morning it was swollen shut and he had quite the black eye.

Tuesday I went to the Dr. because I have been having lots of pain in my hip and lower back. After a 5 minute exam the Dr. says "You have hip bursitis, I'll give you a script for Naproxen and go to physical therapy". So by Tuesday afternoon I was in therapy.

Tuesday night just after Bible study as the girls were leaving, Mom and I decided to take Miss. Kathryn for a ride to see Christmas lights. In the process of getting to the van she was got knocked off the front porch by the dog on accident and landed on her eye on the step. You guessed it, another black eye. Poor thing she was such a little trooper, she only screamed for a minute and then was back on her original mission of us taking her for a ride to see the Christmas lights in the neighborhood.

So this morning as I'm emptying the dishwasher Tannin and Drew were
goofing off and Tannin fell over backwards onto the dishwasher and landed on a kitchen knife. I praise God that it went into his upper leg and not his back. He ended up having to go to the ER and got 11 stitches. He had a gash that was about 2 inches long and about 2.5 inches deep. We are watching it closely because even after we got home he was still bleeding. After a quick call to the ER they recommended we change the bandage and pressure bandage it. If it is still bleeding here by 3 I am going to have to take him back to the ER and possibly have more stitches, we are just praying that doesn't happen.

I think I should just invest in a bunch of bubble wrap and wrap my kids...

Conditional Love

So I've been talking to a good friend of mine about Jesus. He doesn't really know what to think about Jesus. He does know what he thinks about the majority of people he knows or has had contact with who claim to know this Jesus guy and call themselves Christians. He doesn't feel very loved by some of these people and he definitely doesn't feel welcomed in their churches.

It is ironic to me that he referred to the church as "their" church, not God's church. Sadly some churches have become more about themselves; having the biggest and best church, the richest church, the prettiest, the most popular, the most serving... Maybe we are drifting from what God intended the church and His people to be.

If you have read anything that Jesus taught then you know He talked a lot about love. He was always in relationship with people. In fact when Jesus was asked, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" he replied, "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind' - this is the great and foremost commandment, and there is a second like it, 'You shall love your neighbour as yourself'. The whole Law and Prophets hang on these two commands." (Mtt 22:37-40, Mrk 12:28-34).

We talk a lot about love, about unconditional love, but do we truly give it? I tend to say very few if any of us love unconditionally. We have a set of "rules" and if you don't follow those rules then we limit the love we give. This friend of mine said these "rules" really turns him off from wanting to ever go to church. He said he felt like he couldn't be himself around "Christians" and still be loved, he felt as if he had to become a clone of some sort. If he slipped up and cussed or if he wore strange clothes or tattooed his body or smoked a cigarette he would be judged, and nobody wants to be judged.

This really bothers me. Didn't Jesus say that is how people would know we were His? Jesus said, "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." (John 13:34-35). He didn't say love them if they don't cuss, love them if they turn from homosexuality, love them if they dress nice and take a shower. He said, "As I have loved you, so you must love one another. Notice the period, there is no stipulation to that love. And if you know anything about Jesus, He loved the unclean, the sinner. So why can't we? Why must we feel like we must change people in order to love them? Have we not learned by now that it is not our job to change people, but God's; our job is to love them, unconditionally.

I've seen it happen, I've been guilty of it. Someone does something that you don't approve of and so you withhold love to "teach" them. We withhold love to try and change people and that is the exact opposite of what Jesus taught us. He taught us to lavishly love people and He not only spoke it but He taught it through example. God NEVER withholds love from us to teach us. His love is unconditional.

We judge people subconsciously all the time. What would this world look like if we loved people not just with our words but with our whole heart. God is not a Republican or a Democrat; He is not rallying for gay rights or rallying against them; He is not a conservative or a liberal. He is love, and I believe if you and I gave unconditional love the world would change because God would be freely working in it.

My friend isn't offended by Jesus, he is offended by Christians. He said he wants to know more about this Jesus that I so dearly love but doesn't think he would be valued or loved in church. It breaks my heart to think that people feel safer outside the church than in it. I challenge you to pray that God will fill you with His love and that you can see people as He sees them. I guarantee you will see God work through that love, it will free you and change the world.