The Best Gift This Year

The best gift this Christmas was having all my boys old enough to not only be in the Christmas Eve service but have them be old enough to understand exactly what was going on. While Max and Josh used to be so afraid of going on stage this year they had no problem being donkeys in our nativity account and Tate made for a fine Wise man.

At our church Richard sits in a red rocking chair on stage and tells the Christmas story and in between each part of the story we sing a Carol. Each child as we enter the church picks who they want to be and put on a head dress (or ears if they are an animal). Then when it is time for them to come on the scene they go up on stage. This year the stage was full!

After we go through the story of the nativity we take communion. This was our first time to have all three in the service with us and this year Tate had asked Jesus to be the boss of his life earlier in the year so he was going to get to take the Lords supper with us. It was the best part of my Christmas getting to explain to him what the bread symbolized and what the juice represented. To hear him ask why Jesus had to die and why he had to bleed was truly a moment I will never forget! The simplicity of a four year old agonizing over the fact that Jesus had to bleed and die for his sins was so simply warming and heart wrenching all at the same time.

We finished the service with a candle lighting as we had just celebrated in Christs birth through the nativity story. His death through Communion and now his Resurrection and life in each of us and through us to the world as we are commanded to be the light to the world.

After it was all said and done I got to visit several of our members. All of them are like family to us. One of the people we got to visit with was a former youth of ours. As he and his wife were in town to visit with family for the holidays they had brought an international student from the university campus where he studies and his wife works. They had invited this young lady from China and as she sat through the service the grace of our Lord descended upon her and her eyes were opened to the Gospel and she received Christ as her savior!

It doesn't get any better than that!

Trendy?

First of all let me just say that this pic is not being posted for artistic or photographic qualities what so ever! This is a cell phone pic that wasn’t even taken by me. I saw something similar to this but was too disgusted and embarrassed to take out the iphone and snap a shot so I came back and googled to find this pic.

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The reason for posting this “mess “on my blog, is for the content. While I am sure that this young lady, at least I hope, was unaware that she was making a fool of herself, and not just trying to be trendy, today this is indeed a trend that is growing. Indeed when I googled low rise or sagging jeans the amount of modeling or advertisement adds outweighed the real pics like this one at least 10 to 1.
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It is amazing what is trendy today!

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I recently picked up a book titled “Radical, taking back your faith from the American dream” by David Platt. IT is an easy read but an incredibly convicting and insightful one as well. In it David Platt challenges us to begin to rediscover the gospel and center focus of Biblical Christianity vs. our American version of it. It is amazing how much the church in the U.S. and yes, I have allowed myself centered Americanized culture to influence how I live out my life and my Christianity
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Case in point…

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I have become a huge Rangers fan this year. Not just because they are winning. Rather I became interested when they declared bankruptcy and had a change in ownership that involved a lawsuit, an auction and months worth of “dirty laundry’ aired for the world to see.
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Well now that they are in the playoffs and one win away from going to the World Series many more have become or at least begun to express their support of the Rangers. I must admit, I have watched every game at home in HD with the surround sound blaring and even converted Kim to where she is sitting down watching the games with me and she is even screaming at the umpires with me when bad calls are made.

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Even as diehard of fans as we have become I have seen some facebook posts recently from friends that have caused me to take pause. Below are a couple of versions I have seen this week.
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Our Cliff Lee, who art in Texas, hallowed be thy name. Thy win will come, thy will be done, in New York as it is in Texas. Give us this Monday our daily win. And give us our strikes and home runs, but do not let others strike and home run against us. And Lead us not into frustration, but deliver us from evil Yankee Empire. For thine is the MVP, the power and the glory, for ever and ever

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Or
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Our Rangers, who art in Texas, winners be thy name. The Yanks will come, they will be done, in New York as they will be in Texas. Give us this week a series win, and forgive us our bullpen loss as we cause losses upon their bullpen. Lead us not into theoffseason, but deliver us a Championship title. For the Rangers are the swingdom, t...he claw, and the antlers forever. It's time! AMEN!!!!!from Kathryn Hardaway
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Now please do not misunderstand what I am about to say. I am not saying that the individuals who are posting this are heathens! Rather, that in all my fan craze that I have been going through myself is there a line where that craze can go too far? Is there a place where the line between our Christianity and our version of it is so close or in tune with the life we live or culture we live in that the two can blur and cross into each other with such ease that we don’t skip a beat?

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Let’s consider for a second what the quotes are spoofing.
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Our Father Who art in heaven, Hallowed be Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever. Amen.

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These words have become so commonplace for us that we can rattle them off by memory. They are so familiar we do not pause to think about the meaning of those words hardly at all. We neglect the verse just tow before these that states we should “not use meaningless repetition.” In the original language the passage here in Matthew really states that we should not use “idle” words or “babble.” No instead Christ suggests that when we pray we should be very intentional with our affections and praise.
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To one of the facebook posts one person replied, “--God probably has a hand in the Rangers winning--I'm sure there have been prayers lifted up for them, right? : )”

Now I am sure this was a comment made not as a statement of belief rather as one intended for humor.

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But that is just it. We have trivialized the gospel down to that. Jesus died for us; prayers to God are for Him to provide for our needs and our whims. There are 6,783,421,727 people in the world today. According to the most liberal estimates, approximately one-third of the world is Christian. These numbers include all those who identify themselves as Christian, whether religiously, socially or politically. Likely, not all of them are actually followers of Christ. But even if they were that still leaves 4.5 billion people who are separated from God and will spend eternity in hell if nothing changes.
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CHRIST DOESN”T CARE ABOUT THE RANGERS!

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He is about His Fathers Glory! About His Fathers Will manifest in the earth! HE dares to ask for His daily need not desire. Remember this is the Christ who is a shepherd that would leave the flock for the one that was lost! He didn’t die so you could become “a better you” so that if you planted a seed he could bless you tenfold! He came to invest in Twelve lowly men and then left the salvation of the world in their hands commanding that they go and follow His example and carry on His legacy by living as he would. Even more than that by dyeing to themselves and allowing His Holy Spirit to transform them and move through them.
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Not so we could take His examples and make them cliché phrases to exalt our American pass time. A bunch of guys throwing and hitting a ball for a game.

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Am I a fan of the Rangers? You bet! Will I watch their games? You bet! Will I cheer for them? You bet! And enjoy every minute of it.
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Will I be so bold as to take what I consider to be words of my God and an example of what is truly important and minimize them to nothing more than a catch phrase that I will use for a meaningless pass time in lieu of the hundreds of thousands who have lived out those words and have been martyred for believing in them strongly enough to try and see them realized in their countries and cultures?

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I choose not too!
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Trendy, What is it really and is it worth getting caught up in? I think naught, after all “I wouldn’t want to get caught with my pants down.”

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Now there is a catch phrase for ya!