Christmas WIth Skyler

I absolutely love Christmas. There, I said it. I love everything about Christmas.
Yes, I know Christmas has been commercialized. Yes, I agree that most people have forgotten what it means to celebrate Christmas.
No, despite everyone else ignoring the true meaning, that is not going to stop me from celebrating Christmas.
It is the day that God loved ME and YOU enough to send His Son down to our earth, to be born in HORRID conditions, yet become the greatest man that ever or will ever walk this earth.
If that isn't enough to celebrate, email me, we need to talk!
I also love seeing the decorations. True, I think starting in October to put out Christmas items is a bit early, though I must admit to getting the itch by the end of the month to bring the stuff down from the attic myself.
I also love the colder weather and the possibility of snow. Now, down here in the Southeast, we really do not get much for snow. (Waaahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!  :-(  .... LOL) (had to get one good cry from that statement!)
Last year as my family sat down on Christmas Day for our dinner, it started to snow, and it snowed most of the evening. ahhhhhhhh ..... that was the first time in almost 50 years that had happened .... (personal plea God, don't let it be another 50!)
I also love watching kids get a magical treat from all of the hubbub. Their eyes become as bright as the lights on the decorations, and they jump for joy at the sight of Santa. (personally, I see nothing wrong with Santa. It gets them used to the idea that you can get something from someone who otherwise owes you nothing. It is a perfect intro when they grow up into the idea that God gave us His Son, even when we didn't deserve it to die on the cross for our sins! AND TRUST ME, ME AND YOU DIDN'T DESERVE IT!!!!! But He did it anyway, and I love Him and praise Him for it!
So I digress.
One of my favorite things each year is to go to McAdenville, NC Christmas Town USA to see the lights. I never had the opportunity to be there for the opening ceremony where the light switch is flipped for the first time that season.
This year my wife worked it out where she could be off that day and we went. We took our dog Abby with us and sat up folding chairs and placed her between us.
We weren't there long when a child walked up with her mom and asked if she could pet the dog. I told her yes (our boxer is a big baby) and so she started to ask questions about the dog and us. It wasn't long until she asked if she could sit in my lap. I told her to ask her mom, and she said yes, so I put her on my lap. Her name was Skyler and she was 4 years old. She wanted to sit on my right knee where she could also pet the dog. Best of both worlds, I guess.
So we sat there, and as any 4 year old  would do, she had lots of questions. Fairly smart ones too. As the ceremonies started, she would watch some, ask questions some, fidget some, typical 4 yr old things.
And as she did so, I watched her excitement grow as it neared time to turn on the lights. She was so focused on that one aspect of the evening that I'm not sure if she really paid too much attention to anything else.
There were speakers, singers, a children's choir and an  unveiling of a Thomas Kinkade painting that was done of the town.
But Skyler wanted to watch the sun go down, as she knew it would signal time for the lights to turn on. Periodically she would hop down to go visit some of her friends, then she would climb back on my lap and we would watch the sky slowly get darker.
Finally, it was time to turn the lights on. Everyone counted, 10.9.8.7.6.5.4.3.2.1.....
BAM! Lights everywhere. The whole town lights up at once. The wide eyed child on my lap brought a big smile to my face. We sat there for a few moments, then she hopped down to go see Santa who had arrived and was perched in his sleigh.
Driving back home last night, I couldn't help but think.
Shouldn't we be like Skyler? Shouldn't we watch in anticipation, waiting on when we see Jesus returning in His glory? Granted, we should pay more attention to the events going on around us, and we should involve ourselves more deeply, but we should never lose sight of the ultimate goal in our life. To be with Jesus for eternity.
We shouldn't worry about what we'll get this season, or who we'll see, or who we'll spend time with, or how our house will look for the guests who arrive each year. Sure you'll enjoy the presents, you'll stealthily throw out the fruitcake, and you'll get one too many kisses from Auntie. Enjoy the time and the experience. But don't forget that we're celebrating the start of what we are looking to finish one day. Christ is coming once again, this time it won't be in a manger, but on a much grander scale. This time no one will be traveling to Bethlehem. We'll be traveling to Heaven to spend eternity with the one who loves us the most.
So as you look around at the sights and listen to the sounds of the season, watch and listen for His coming. We know not the day nor the hour, but we need to be ready for whenever He comes again. And let's do it with that gleam in our eye, just like little Skyler did!

What are you doing here?

This past weekend we were in Virginia and planned ahead of time to go to an Easter Sunrise Service. When we got to the place where the service was being held, a lot of the people looked at us strange. Like, “why are you here?” Even though we were supposed to be worshipping with other Christians on a special Holy holiday, they made us still feel like outsiders. Only 2 people actually spoke to us. Neither one of them was the pastor of a local church that was holding the service. May God bless those two.

Sometimes we wonder why our churches don’t grow. People visit, and no matter how they might be dressed, or you may not recognize them from the surrounding area, do you look at them like, “what are you doing here?”

Do you take any time to go up to them and introduce yourself and acknowledge them, or do you simply wonder why they never come to another service? I can tell you why!

When people make you feel like that, you have no reason to go back to the church. Your church gets labeled as being full of hypocrites because you are not friendly, it doesn’t matter if you are shy or scared to approach new people. It’s how you are perceived.

People wander into a bar, and chances are someone will start up a conversation. The bartender will ask them what they want to drink. And usually someone who is seated at the bar near where they are standing will start up a conversation.

So if partiers and drinkers can be friendly, and the church is unfriendly, why do you think the bars are full and the churches are empty?

People do not come to church anymore out of habit or respect to God. Most of them could care less about God. And why should they? When they go to church, all they will see is people standing and fidgeting during singing and prayers, acting like they are bored to death. Then some people even start to nod off during the sermon.

Bars have dancing. Bars have music. People will ask you to dance with them. Sometimes they may even get you to sing at a bar, especially if there is karaoke. So why go somewhere once a week where the atmosphere is different? Bland, boring, and anyone can tell that everyone in the place (and sometimes the pastor/priest) would rather be somewhere else.

We have got to get back to worship. We have got to include people in our worship. You see that someone is obviously struggling with something, and is sitting all alone. Get your rear end off of the seat and go sit by them, or stand by them if that is the case. Take their hand and hold it. Put your arm around their shoulder, and let them lean on you and cry if they need to. START PRAYING FOR THAT PERSON!!! It doesn’t matter what their trouble is. It doesn’t matter if they NEVER TELL YOU what their trouble is. Start praying. Ask for the Holy Spirit to come and give them peace. Beg God’s mercy upon them and whatever situation is going on in their lives. PRAY FOR THAT PERSON! THEIR FAMILY! THEIR JOB! THEIR HOME! COVER ALL OF THE BASES!

BE AN EXAMPLE!   Let other people see what you are doing, and they will know that this is a church that cares, and hopefully they will come to know that you serve a God that cares. Don’t wait for later. Do it then. It won’t be disruptive if they are silently weeping on your shoulder while you lift up silent prayers to Jesus.

If you see someone sitting by theirselves, go sit with them. It doesn't matter if they are there for the first time or the one-thousandth time. Go let them know that someone cares! God cares! And I would hope that you do too!

Just before Jesus was captured by the Romans and crucified, He was in the garden praying to His Father. He had asked the disciples to pray with him, but they fell asleep, maybe even figuring that He could handle it on His own.

Are we going to be like the disciples? Are we going to leave someone alone to bear the burden and anguish that they are going through, or are about to go through?

Let’s stand up and stand with our fellow brethren. Let’s start to be available to our brothers and sisters and anyone else who is around us. The world is hurting bad enough without Christians adding any more hurt to anyone else, especially in our churches.

Put Your Actions Where Your Bible Is!

Hmmm ... I know what you're saying right about now:

"Okay. Whew. Dude. That was a lot to take in during those last few blogs, wasn’t it?"

So how do we use this knowledge today? The happenings that are mentioned in the previous few posts are not just for “back then.” They are for “here and now.”Problem is, most of us are too self-conscious to let ourselves truly worship in front of others. There are many things that need to happen in our worship. NO, they do not have to happen at the same time. But they should be an integral part of our worship efforts on a regular basis.

(1) Block out all that is around us and surrender to Him

(2) Prayer

(3) Singing/Playing of Instruments

We’ll look at these in depth in the next few blogs.

 

SURRENDER! Makes you think about the times when you’re watching a movie and the cops have the bad guys cornered. What’s the usual line? “We have you surrounded. Come out with your hands up and surrender.”

Did you know that God has you surrounded? His Holy Spirit is everywhere, along with angels. Satan will try to poke his pitiful crowd in the midst somewhere, but he is too small (only 1/3 of Heaven followed him, so for every demon, there are 2 angels) to do anything unless you let him.

So when you walk into a church service, know that you are surrounded there too. You’re in His house. So of course He’ll be there too. Satan will often times show up and see if he can yank anyone out, but when the Spirit fills the whole place, it’s all over but the shouting. (so to speak).

Try this next time you’re in church. There is usually something that is done at the opening of the service that requires you to stand. Opening Hymn, prayer time, whatever, it doesn’t matter. There is no real order of service that is better than one or the other.

Start out by surrendering. You say, “How do I do that?” Well, I’m glad you asked. Go back to what I mentioned earlier about the cops and bad guys. When the bad guy decides to come out and save their hides, what do you always see them doing? They have their hands raised, with the palms pointed toward the person that they are surrendering to. It is a sign to show that they are not hiding anything, and that they have no other weapons. Try to do the same. Raise your hands. You can keep your eyes open or shut, but try to focus toward Heaven, and tell God that you surrender. All of the junk that you walked into the church with. The bills, the kids and their unruliness, your spouse and their tardiness/nagging, everything. Say, “Okay God, this is all yours. I’m not going to try to deal with this in my own mind. I need you to use your mind and show me what is best to do.” Ask God for forgiveness. Yes, all of the other people may have done you wrong, but you’re not perfect either! Then pray. This is the next hardest part for most people. More on this in the next blog.