Christmas

So many great things have been written about Christmas over the years that by now all that needs to be said has been said. While that may be true, the audience keeps changing so the story must continually be told to an ever increasing and expanding audience.Go and make disciples.

The Christmas season is not bound and contained by the month of December. If we look close enough we can find it year round. 2009 brought many Christmas memories for me, few of them in December. But God revealed them to us through his Spirit.

In February I traveled to Africa and witnessed hunger, poverty, and despair in the slums of Nairobi. I also witnessed hope, love, and Christmas in those slums. Christmas came in the form of men and women who have dedicated their lives to sharing Jesus Christ, and providing a way out of poverty through education. These men and women have a vision of eliminating poverty and ignorance through the power of the Holy Spirit. Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hear us

As I prepared the message for Good Friday, I explored what Jesus meant when he said it is finished. Jesus forever ended our separation from him. We would never again have to be isolated or alone. Christmas came on the cross when Christ gave us the most precious gift, his life for ours. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Christmas came again to me in October as I shared the life giving message of Jesus Christ with a cancer patient days before her death. Although I do not know where she placed her faith for the majority of her life, I do know where her faith was when she went home to be with Christ.

Three days from now it will be Christmas. This year the only gift I want is the ability to always remember my role in the Christmas story, and to live it out. You will be my witnesses...

Merry Christmas