What is Christmas?

   
      My husband and I were talking about Christmas and traditions this holiday season.  We were wanting to get some traditions of our own for our young family.  We talked about my family Christmas' and his family Christmas' and we also went back to research how Christmas began.  We always hear that the true meaning of Christmas is Christ's birthday and that He is the reason for the season.  But when we looked back - we found that that just isn't true.
   
      There were many holidays that people celebrated around the time of the winter solstice.  Many countries had their own individual reason for celebrating and their own traditions as well.  They were pagan holidays, worshiping false gods and including much consumption of alcohol and feasting.  One article described them as a mix between Halloween and Mardi Gras.  In Europe, people in poverty were known to go to the homes of the rich and demand they give food and drink for a party or else they would bring acts of mischief to their property.  The Christians tried to come in and give an alternative by making a Christian holiday with the name of Christmas around the end of the 4th century.  The name took but the raucous and rowdy ways remained. In the early days of America the Puritans made it illegal in Boston to celebrate Christmas because of this.  Yet in the early 1800's,  Washington Irving wrote "The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon", a story of an English squire who brought peasants into his manor to celebrate Christmas in a warm and peaceful manner.  This along with Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" began to transform Americans way of thinking about Christmas and they began to make the holiday about generosity and family.  It was also around this time that the tales of St. Nicholas began and a holiday was declared in his name on December 6th. A new story was introduced showing St. Nicholas as coming down chimneys in order to bring gifts to children on Christmas Eve rather than Dec. 6th and that stuck more prominently.

      So what is Christmas all about?  It would seem that there are many "reasons" for the the day of celebration, however it is not "truly" about Christ.  The Bible never tells believers to remember the day of Christ's birth.  However it does tell us in Romans 14:5-6 (NKJV)    ^"One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.
 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks."

     I wanted to bring this up just to say that there really isn't grounds for us as believers to go around telling people that the "real" meaning of Christmas is Jesus' birthday or that they are wrong for celebrating Santa or anything else at Christmas.  There is more evidence for other celebrations than for Christ's birthday!  However as a believer we can certainly use the holiday to proclaim Christ's name and share the message of salvation with others.

      Daniel gave us a great idea this year to make ornaments that show the message of the Gospel.  We made a star to represent God in the beginning as a pure and holy being and Creator of the world.  An apple with bites taken from it to represent the fall of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.  A manger to represent the humility of Christ to come to the earth in the human form of a baby and live among people.   A cross to represent the price He paid for our sin by shedding His blood and giving His life as a ransom for our lives.  A broken heart that is now mended to show that Christ has restored the believer to fellowship with Himself and that He holds us in His hands and we are safe with Him forever!!!   It was a great time together as a family and Lord willing we will have it on our tree in the years to come to remind our children of what Christ has done and to create curiosity in others so that they will ask and we can share the Gospel with them too!

 

Praising the God of the Harvest

       Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth, worship the Lord with gladness; come before him with joyful songs.  Know that the Lord is God.  It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.  Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, give thanks to Him and praise His name.  For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations."   ~Psalm 103 

        All around are sights and smells of fall.  Pumpkin patches, tractors in the corn fields, trucks making numerous trips back and forth on the roads, pot lucks with dishes made from fresh picked produce!  All these things bring feelings of joy, family, and celebration!  One little 2 yr. old boy after the service here was dragging his mother out the door because he'd been promised he could ride with Dad in the combine!  We are excited to be here at harvest time and celebrate the bounty of the farmers here!
        In a way we find ourselves in a time much like they are.  In a harvest time.  They have planned and planted, tended and waited, and are now working and gathering the fruit of their labor.  They depend on this harvest to support and supply them for the coming winter and through to the next year.  In the same way we are celebrating our support and provision that was planned in advance, waited on with prayer, and now has come in, allowing us to draw from it for the coming work and the coming year.   We are thankful for God's faithful hand in our lives and the support team He has raised, surrounding us with gifts, prayer, and encouragement.  We are also reaping a harvest of seeds not sown by us but rather by those before us.   To have come here and been so welcomed by the people, so blessed with all the work they have put into the parsonage, and to have their hearts so open for the teaching of God's Word is because of God's work in people's hearts and the many Village Missionaries before us.  For that we are thankful!

          There truly has been a lot of work put into the parsonage with new paint, new central air heating and cooling, new water heater, and still more improvements!  We are feel really blessed!  I enjoy the signatures of an old house - the old windows that you have to prop open with a stick, the old door handles, with the wide and designed wood trim.  I appreciate the root cellar that brings back memories of gardens with my family and jars and jars of home canned produce, and the new paint that matches so much of my decor!  The Lord even added a sweet touch by remembering my delight in all the roses on Plum Street in Cotopaxi, and allowed the little pink rosebush here to still be blooming outside.  I also take delight in the dirt street we live on and all the pick-ups and farm trucks going back and forth, giving me a feeling of being right at home! 
         Daniel has been able to settle into his office and realize that all those books many of you helped us move, doesn't look like very many when compared to the many empty shelves at the church!  He has plans to continue building his library!
         Hannah's smile has begun to build a reputation for her as we've met people on walks around town and at a gathering at the library on Fridays for coffee and conversation.  She's amazing at socializing!  She's also been a great joy to have laughing and playing on the floor and who makes meal times so much more entertaining now that she's eating solid foods with us!

          Below are some pictures of Hannah, our house, and the church.

 

                                               
   What a privilege it is for us to be serving at this little church!  Please pray for us as we make adjustments, get to know people, and seek God's will.

Thank-you for your time & God Bless!                                                                                              

Turning the Page

This chapter of our story is coming to a close.  Just as a book gives you signs and little hints of wrapping up one segment and yet giving headway and hints into the new and upcoming intrigue of the next chapter, so it is with us.  Daniel was able to preach on our final Sunday here at Cotopaxi Community Church and I was able to see how much the people love him and how much this church played in developing him into the man he is now.  The preacher and becoming pastor that he is now.

We are two weeks away from moving to our first mission field.  We are changing from the Mountains to the Meadows as far as physical location.  Only God knows the changes He wants to bring about in our hearts and minds. We look forward with anticipation and strong confidence as a player in an orchestra looks ahead to each measure of written music.  They trust the writer in having it all correct to sound it's best.  They trust the conductor to keep them in time and in unity with all the other pieces to be able have harmony.  And as they approach the end of a page and prepare to turn the next, there is no stress and worry about whether the next page is in order or whether it will sound right.  Whether they need to proofread it first.  They just turn the page and continue on with only a fresh breath as their concern.  In that same way are we.  Trusting our Author and Conductor and ready to turn the page with a fresh breath to take on the next measure and then the next and then the next.  One step at a time, one day at a time, to follow into something orchestrated beyond just us and fit in to the work as a whole.  May God be praised for it all!

Undivided Heart

                I came across a sticky note I had stuck in my Bible, specifically in the Book of Psalms.  On it was a short list of passages and I had scrawled “Study Out”.  I remember writing the note because I was in the midst of writing several papers my Sr. year of Bible college and knew that I didn’t have the time to put the research and thought into these passages that I wanted to.  So I had made a note for when I was through with school and would have the time.  Almost a year and a half later, being married and with a 4 ½ month old daughter, here I am looking at this sticky note.   The first passage on it was Psalm 86:11 and I started there.

                “Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in Your truth:  give me an undivided heart, that I may fear Your name.”

                The Hebrew word for heart is also used for consider, mind, and understanding and its definition is “most interior organ”.    Our definition of the word heart today is the seat of the affections or sensibilities; the source of life and motion in any organization.   However insight from the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary shed light on what the word meant in the day of this Psalm.  “Heart – the Hebrew language had no word for conscience, so the word heart was often used to express this concept.  ~Job 27:6, I Samuel 25:31,/ I John 3:19-21”                “The heart is the root of the problem, this is the place where God does his work in an individual.” Ez. 11:19 “The heart is the dwelling place of God”.

                So saying the verse by adding the additional meanings would read something like this:
Join my will, my understanding, my mind, my source of tenderness and thoughts, my inmost organ, the center of me to fear, to dread, to make afraid, to reverence Your name, Your renown, Your character, Your position.

Put this way it reminds me of Rom. 7:21-25a:    So “I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me.  For in my inner being I delight in God’s law;  but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me.  What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?  Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!”
I in and of myself cannot walk in truth, cannot follow God’s way, cannot be good.  Only by Him teaching me, helping me, and changing me can I accomplish this.  It gives me relief because I do want to do good, I want to live my life in a way that honors the God who took the Cross for me!
Gal. 5:16-18 “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature.  They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.”  The Bible says my heart can be deceived, we see evidence of that in the first sin in the Garden of Eden.  My heart is desperately wicked and is the root of problems.  I cannot trust my own heart, how then should I follow it?  Rather I need to follow the Holy Spirit of God.

                What does Psalm 86:11 mean to me?  Lord, take my heart.  Put all of its aspects together & cause is to do only one thing.  Fear thy name.  Teach me Your way, Unite my heart that I will be able to walk in your Truth and Fear thy name. 
Rather than . . . walk in my own way, in others’ way, in Satan’s way and be behind all kinds of wicked and hurt and trouble.  Let me not fear or come to revere anything or anyone more than You.  I, in myself am faulty and will fall – but if You have my heart Lord – there will be good.  There will be glory, for You, good works for You, honor for You!  May people not see me or my way but You and Your way and may they give You their hearts, their fear, honor, and glory! Amen!

New Years Resolutions

    I've been thinking lately about New Years Resolutions.  What are they and why do people make them?  How do people succeed in keeping them? What are the reasons for why some people don't? Is there anything in the Bible that can be applied to them?

A resolution by definition is: A promise to ones self to do something good or to stop doing something bad.
It is very much a "me" oriented ambition and sets its achievement on ones own willpower and drive.  It is common knowledge that people who make New Years Resolutions have high hopes in the beginning but by the end of the year, most people have failed to keep them.  Statistics show 92% of all resolutions end in failure. After doing some research on the web I discovered 3 main reasons why resolutions fail.*
1. People make unrealistic resolutions.
2. People don't equip themselves with the mental ammunition to fight off doubt and continue with their goals
3. Using guilt and fear as motivation or resolving to stop doing something
On the positive side, there are consistent reasons behind the people who do succeed in keeping their resolutions.  Such as setting small, attainable goals rather than ones that are large and overwhelming, setting a plan and having specific actions to carrying it out, sharing with others and gaining accountability, and believing in yourself and your willpower to persevere.*

     I would like to bring out three Biblical applications that we should be remembering when Resolution-ing.  Remembering our position in Christ.  Remembering the Lord's Sovereignty.  Remembering the strength of the Lord.
   The Bible reminds believers that we are not our own, Christ's sacrifice has given us freedom from slavery to sin and we live lives in Him after placing our faith in Him. I Cor. 6:20 says "You were bought with a price.  Therefore honor God with your body."  So in making any goals for ourselves, we can apply this Biblical concept and make sure that our goals in some way will bring honor to Christ.  It is He who made it possible for us to live the lives that we have and we owe him our lives.  When considering a goal, we should consider whether the object is to attain something for ourselves - or for Him. And if we keep that objective in mind - it will change the way we perform in carrying out our goal and our dedication to seeing it through.  This perspective of seeking to glorify God first will also keep us from being pressed into a goal by peers and then being driven to keep it because of their pressure as well. Col. 3:23 says  "Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,".
   The Bible also reminds us of God's Sovereignty and our lack of control or power over anything in our lives.  He is all knowing of you and of the future, and would be the best person to give you guidance in what would be best for you. James 4:13-15 says  "Now listen, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money." Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. Instead, you ought to say, "If it is the Lord's will, we will live and do this or that." Once you have established a goal and set about making a plan for how to carry it out - God's Sovereignty is there for you again.  Prov. 16:9 says "In his heart a man plans his course, but the LORD determines his steps."  God is in the business of details.  We don't know what is going to happen in the next second let alone the next few days.  We have no idea the details of our lives - but God does!  He knows about the unexpected and unforeseen events in our lives, they are no surprise to Him. Seeking the wisdom of God is our best foundation for reaching success in our New Years Resolutions!
   Our next best support is remembering the strength of God.   A worldly mindset holds with believing in yourself and your own willpower.  But as Christians we have an entirely different confidence.  I do not believe in myself - I know that I am weak! I know that I can become discouraged, frustrated, and give up!  But instead I choose to accept the strength Christ offers us through His word and through prayer.  Phil. 4:13 says "I can do everything through him who gives me strength."  The Lord wants to be involved in your life,  but He doesn't force His way on anyone.  He has given us freewill and choice to allow Him in.  He offers us help, peace, strength, comfort, and hope for life.  But we have to receive it.  It is a gift - just like at Christmas time.  We are given gifts - but they are not ours to have unless we take them.  So it is with the gift of God.  He offers eternal life, redemption from sin, and His personal touch in our lives - but we have to take it to have it.  "I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life."  John 5:24

    I hope these Biblical insights will help you in your New Years Resolutions and encourage you in your faith!   *www.bulletproofexec.com & www.forbes.com