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Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Life Lessons...
I don't know about you, but I am in a hurry these days. We've got Christmas programs at our church, errands to run, lots to do. I know I should follow my own advice and slow down a little. I need to remember that some things in life are much more important. Like something about the Savior of the World coming. Things like that!
I love this picture Susan sent to me. It shows the value of wisdom and patience. May you be blessed with both in this harried and hurried time!
I love this picture Susan sent to me. It shows the value of wisdom and patience. May you be blessed with both in this harried and hurried time!
Be calm...Be patient...Exercise some wisdom...Or you may get it...
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Christmas Is a Comin'
All right. Don't get me started. It has been an eternity since I posted. Should I introduce myself to you again? It's been so long... I pray you and your family are doing well in this season of anticipation. I know it's also a season of uncertainty for many, but it is still a time of transformation and a time for telling the story of the Savior.
I pray you are blessed with the story of the miracle of Christ. Christmas time is here! The time is flying; 2008 is almost over, and as the holidays near, I am reminded of the child born to set the world free. It is a season of miracles; it is a season of hope. Even in this uncertain time, we need to be reminded of what is truly important: hope. Hope in the miracles that God provides, often when we are unaware. To celebrate this wonderful season, I wanted to share a story. It is one of my favorites and I hope it blesses you and your family this holiday season. If you've never read it before, I hope you are also blessed by this story too. I promise to come around more often!
Several years ago, a brand-new pastor and his wife were newly assigned to their first appointment in ministry. They were sent to reopen a church in Brooklyn, New York, and they arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. So they set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve. They worked hard repairing pews, plastering walls, and painting, and on Dec. 18 they were ahead of schedule and just about finished.
On Dec. 19 a terrible tempest – a driving rainstorm – hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the pastor went to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked and caused a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, he headed home.
On the way he noticed that a local business was having a sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory-colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors, and a cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall! He bought it and headed back to the church. By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus and missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus, which would arrive 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, and other items needed to hang the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked, and it covered up the entire problem area.
Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was as pale as a sheet. “Pastor,” she asked, “where did you get that tablecloth?” The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 45 years before, in Austria. The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just bought the tablecloth. The woman explained that before World War II she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. But she was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.
The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home – that was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.
What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door. One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn’t leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war – and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike? He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 45 years in between. The pastor asked the man if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door, and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine...
This is believed to be a true story, submitted by a Pastor Rob Reid. Who says God does not work in mysterious ways? In all the mystery that is Christmas, a couple is reunited. God uses an accident, a storm, to cause a pastor to buy a tablecloth to cover a hole in the church’s wall. And as a result, a miracle. Christmas is a time for miracles. People can come together despite great distances. People can put the past behind them and reach for a future that is full of possibility and new beginnings. People can begin again with hope in their hearts if we will step back and give them the chance. And it’s all because of the greatest miracle of all – that on a night so long ago, by the light of stars and moon, a man and his young fiancée arrived in a small town only to discover that there was no room for them. No room. God, in his great mystery was born in a humble stable, a place no respectable person would be, but much less the savior of the universe?
But out of his great love for us, love beyond anything we could ever comprehend or even begin to fathom, God humbled himself to become like us. God bridged the great divide between heaven and earth out of his great love. Out of his great love, he came to a poor young woman from a poor town. To be raised by a poor carpenter. To be praised by dirty shepherds straight from the fields where they had been watching their sheep. It might not seem like a way to save the world. But God is all about surprises and overwhelming us with the mystery of his works. Out of his great love, God took on everything about us except our sin so that through Christ – the baby in the manger – we could be reconciled with him.
Christmas is more than an ordinary day. So much more. In this Christmas season we remember more than just angels singing and shepherds praising. We remember more than food and presents and fun. We remember that miracles do happen like tablecloths draping holy “accidents.” Miracles of life happen. Miracles of love happen. What love! God’s love is so real. Through God’s amazing love come to life among us, we remember that all things in life are possible simply because of a baby’s cry. Emmanuel. God with us. God’s great mystery of love for you and for me. In this blessed Christmas season, remember the children, remember our families, remember those who are in need...but most of all – remember our savior, born to set the world free. Amazing love on a cold Bethlehem night. Merry Christmas!
I pray you are blessed with the story of the miracle of Christ. Christmas time is here! The time is flying; 2008 is almost over, and as the holidays near, I am reminded of the child born to set the world free. It is a season of miracles; it is a season of hope. Even in this uncertain time, we need to be reminded of what is truly important: hope. Hope in the miracles that God provides, often when we are unaware. To celebrate this wonderful season, I wanted to share a story. It is one of my favorites and I hope it blesses you and your family this holiday season. If you've never read it before, I hope you are also blessed by this story too. I promise to come around more often!
Several years ago, a brand-new pastor and his wife were newly assigned to their first appointment in ministry. They were sent to reopen a church in Brooklyn, New York, and they arrived in early October excited about their opportunities. When they saw their church, it was very run down and needed much work. So they set a goal to have everything done in time to have their first service on Christmas Eve. They worked hard repairing pews, plastering walls, and painting, and on Dec. 18 they were ahead of schedule and just about finished.
On Dec. 19 a terrible tempest – a driving rainstorm – hit the area and lasted for two days. On the 21st, the pastor went to the church. His heart sank when he saw that the roof had leaked and caused a large area of plaster about 20 feet by 8 feet to fall off the front wall of the sanctuary just behind the pulpit. The pastor cleaned up the mess on the floor, and not knowing what else to do but postpone the Christmas Eve service, he headed home.
On the way he noticed that a local business was having a sale for charity so he stopped in. One of the items was a beautiful, handmade, ivory-colored, crocheted tablecloth with exquisite work, fine colors, and a cross embroidered right in the center. It was just the right size to cover up the hole in the front wall! He bought it and headed back to the church. By this time it had started to snow. An older woman running from the opposite direction was trying to catch the bus and missed it. The pastor invited her to wait in the warm church for the next bus, which would arrive 45 minutes later. She sat in a pew and paid no attention to the pastor while he got a ladder, hangers, and other items needed to hang the tablecloth as a wall tapestry. The pastor could hardly believe how beautiful it looked, and it covered up the entire problem area.
Then he noticed the woman walking down the center aisle. Her face was as pale as a sheet. “Pastor,” she asked, “where did you get that tablecloth?” The pastor explained. The woman asked him to check the lower right corner to see if the initials EBG were crocheted into it there. They were. These were the initials of the woman, and she had made this tablecloth 45 years before, in Austria. The woman could hardly believe it as the pastor told how he had just bought the tablecloth. The woman explained that before World War II she and her husband were well-to-do people in Austria. When the Nazis came, she was forced to leave. Her husband was going to follow her the next week. But she was captured, sent to prison and never saw her husband or her home again.
The pastor wanted to give her the tablecloth; but she made the pastor keep it for the church. The pastor insisted on driving her home – that was the least he could do. She lived on the other side of Staten Island and was only in Brooklyn for the day for a housecleaning job.
What a wonderful service they had on Christmas Eve. The church was almost full. The music and the spirit were great. At the end of the service, the pastor and his wife greeted everyone at the door. One older man, whom the pastor recognized from the neighborhood, continued to sit in one of the pews and stare, and the pastor wondered why he wasn’t leaving. The man asked him where he got the tablecloth on the front wall because it was identical to one that his wife had made years ago when they lived in Austria before the war – and how could there be two tablecloths so much alike? He told the pastor how the Nazis came, how he forced his wife to flee for her safety, and he was supposed to follow her, but he was arrested and put in a prison. He never saw his wife or his home again all the 45 years in between. The pastor asked the man if he would allow him to take him for a little ride. They drove to Staten Island and to the same house where the pastor had taken the woman three days earlier. He helped the man climb the three flights of stairs to the woman’s apartment, knocked on the door, and he saw the greatest Christmas reunion he could ever imagine...
This is believed to be a true story, submitted by a Pastor Rob Reid. Who says God does not work in mysterious ways? In all the mystery that is Christmas, a couple is reunited. God uses an accident, a storm, to cause a pastor to buy a tablecloth to cover a hole in the church’s wall. And as a result, a miracle. Christmas is a time for miracles. People can come together despite great distances. People can put the past behind them and reach for a future that is full of possibility and new beginnings. People can begin again with hope in their hearts if we will step back and give them the chance. And it’s all because of the greatest miracle of all – that on a night so long ago, by the light of stars and moon, a man and his young fiancée arrived in a small town only to discover that there was no room for them. No room. God, in his great mystery was born in a humble stable, a place no respectable person would be, but much less the savior of the universe?
But out of his great love for us, love beyond anything we could ever comprehend or even begin to fathom, God humbled himself to become like us. God bridged the great divide between heaven and earth out of his great love. Out of his great love, he came to a poor young woman from a poor town. To be raised by a poor carpenter. To be praised by dirty shepherds straight from the fields where they had been watching their sheep. It might not seem like a way to save the world. But God is all about surprises and overwhelming us with the mystery of his works. Out of his great love, God took on everything about us except our sin so that through Christ – the baby in the manger – we could be reconciled with him.
Christmas is more than an ordinary day. So much more. In this Christmas season we remember more than just angels singing and shepherds praising. We remember more than food and presents and fun. We remember that miracles do happen like tablecloths draping holy “accidents.” Miracles of life happen. Miracles of love happen. What love! God’s love is so real. Through God’s amazing love come to life among us, we remember that all things in life are possible simply because of a baby’s cry. Emmanuel. God with us. God’s great mystery of love for you and for me. In this blessed Christmas season, remember the children, remember our families, remember those who are in need...but most of all – remember our savior, born to set the world free. Amazing love on a cold Bethlehem night. Merry Christmas!
Laugh, live, and celebrate God’s love!
Oliver
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