Monday, December 3, 2007

What will you give Jesus this Christmas?

Saturday 3 AM: I put the finishing touches on the house in preparation for the ladies Christmas brunch. The brunch would begin in 7 hours. I was kind of crabby due to lateness of the hour and the extra busyness that a perfectionist puts on herself. I decided to run through the Powerpoint for the talk and then go to bed. The title of the talk, "What will you give Jesus?" As I flipped through the slides, this small inner voice said, "You are going to talk about focusing on Christ this Christmas, but it's 3 in the morning and you are focusing on what?" I ignored it for about 5 more slides. Then a picture of Jesus on the cross appeared on the screen with the words of John 3:16. I turned off the computer and simply fell to my knees in the middle of the livingroom. After admitting or should I say confessing my lack of "practicing what I preach," I just got "still and knew that God is God!"



Saturday 9:30 AM: I looked out the bedroom window, as I brushed my hair one last time, before everyone arrived. There were 27 ladies standing in front of my house! In the land of "everyone is always late" they were early! Almost all of them were from Valle Dorado (mother church to the church we are planting!) As I opened the door, the van pulled up with another 16 ladies from Las Trojes!

Saturday 10AM: The music started and 43 ladies broke into song. Joy to the World filled the cul de sac where we live! After singing several Christmas carols, they each introduced themselves by answering several questions. One of them was, How long have you been saved? All of them were saved! Their time saved ranged from one and one half years to 51 years! Thus my livingroom/diningroom area was filled to overflowing with Christians! I know that many of you attend churches with many more saved women than that. Here in Mexico that just isn't an everyday occurrence! I do not have the words to describe the next 4 hours of praying, teaching, sharing, laughing, crying, singing, eating, doing the craft, and fellowshiping. What a privilege to witness how God answered your prayers for the brunch! A couple of times, I just stood back and observed everyone. My joy was complete when I saw the woman who has been saved for 51 years exchanging phone numbers with the woman who has been saved one and one half years!

Our challenge in the talk was three fold.

This Christmas we will:

-recognize that the cute baby in that manger scene was born knowing full well He would die a cruel death to pay for our sins in 30 some years.

-in gratitude, choose to live the same kind of sacrificial life for the honor and glory of our Lord.

-choose to sit at Jesus' feet instead of going to Walmart, the zocalo, or the Christmas bazaar!

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