History’s Great Gift-Givers

By Hally Franz –

By my latest count, there are 10 consignment or second-hand stores in my town of 10,000 citizens. That’s one used-goods establishment for every 1,000 people. Does that seem like a lot to anyone else?

Let it be known that I am completely supportive of endeavors to reuse, recycle, re-purpose, and even re-engineer objects in order to give them added life. However, I still find myself coming to one conclusion—we all have just too much stuff. Brain science, right?

Perhaps we should keep that in mind as we do this year’s Christmas shopping for friends and family. Before we populate our homes with a fresh set of electronics, clothes, tools, gadgets and toys (only to do a big household purge in January), maybe we should also consider two of the most famous and generous gifts ever given by man.

At two critical points in the life of Jesus, he was the recipient of wonderfully heart-felt expressions of love. Soon after his birth, esteemed wise men came to see him, and, as we know, they brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. The Magi traveled to view this prophesied Messiah, pay their respects, and honor him with gifts worthy of a king.

Then, near the end Jesus’s life, Mary, sister of Lazarus, demonstrated her deep love for Jesus by washing his feet with perfume and drying them with her hair. While some were offended by her gift, Jesus recognized this gift as far more than a gesture.

In these examples, the “gifts” did include tangible items that were given. In fact, Mary’s perfume was extremely expensive, as were the incense, spice and precious metal brought by the wise men. But, it seems to me the greater gift was in the lengthy journey of the wise men and the humble service of Mary. It was their magnificent expressions of devotion that most clearly demonstrated the love each had for Jesus, not the sharing and giving of the material items.

As I review this year’s gift-giving list, I think I’ll look for occasions when a visit, time spent, or a service provided might mean much more to someone than just another package under the tree.

PRAYER: Most righteous heavenly Father, as I select gifts this year for my loved ones and friends, help me to remember the spirit of giving demonstrated by Your servant, Mary. Help me to have a heart for giving like hers.

“Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume” (John 12:3 NIV).

Cookin’ Up a Good Life

By Dawn Wilson –

Ask my family. I’m not a good cook. I’m a good baker. I’m a cookie pro. But the other stuff—nope.

Mud pies are more delectable than my beef casserole. My husband’s dinner beverage of choice is Alka-Seltzer. My sons refer to our smoke detector as “Mom’s oven timer.”

I’ve managed better in recent years. Holiday dinners now consist of Costco ready-mades.

Although my family remembers my cooking adventures with exclamations of “Yikes!” or “Oh, wow!” (and “wow” is not meant to be positive), they have other memories of home that more than make up for my recipe experiment “catastrophes.”

Looking back, I think my sons had a pretty good life, and our granddaughters are getting healthy servings of the good life, too.

By “the good life,” I don’t mean everything was peachy-keen. We weren’t “rolling in the dough,” and we had more than our share of problems; but there was something that held us together like that stuff that makes bread sticky.

No, it was someone … God.

God is the not-so-secret ingredient that helped us respond to each other in love. He showed us how to stay on mission as a family. We took Matthew 6:33 seriously: “But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you” (ESV).
The “all these things” included our food, shelter, and clothing—the basic necessities of life. Though others may not agree with our analysis, we felt rich because God was our Blessed Provider. We observed some other families with far more material possessions who struggled with their relationships, were never happy, and always in conflict or discontent. We knew we had it good.

As our sons matured, they realized how unique our family was compared to the many they saw in the world. I kept reminding them, “Knowing God makes a difference.” They saw other families suffer the consequences of making wrong choices—many of them falling apart in divorce or alienation. Then my boys compared others’ lifestyles to how we tackled stresses with the truth of God’s Word and practiced love and faithfulness. They understood the difference.

Along the way, God threw in some surprise adventures, like ministry opportunities as a family in Canada, and community holiday activities that filled our hearts as we honored the Lord.

Yes, in seeking God we enjoyed such rich blessing. The “all these things” meant so much more to us than possessions. We experienced the guidance of the Scriptures, a loving and supportive church family, encouraging friendships in Christ, and the joy to cooperate with God as He changed all of our hearts.

We know the “good life” doesn’t come from our good works, but from God’s good mercy and grace. It’s all about God’s good work in us (Philippians 1:6). His recipe for cookin’ up an amazing life can’t be beat.

Poor Baby Jesus

By Susan Dollyhigh –

Baby Jesus, lying in the manger, tumbled around in a few loose strands of hay. Drew, my four-year-old grandson, turned the plastic ornament until the manger sat upright.

“Look, Nana, it’s Baby Jesus,” Drew said. “I made this at church.”

“Baby Jesus,” Drew’s two-year-old sister, Annalise, echoed.

“Oh, Drew, it’s beautiful!” I said.

“Sit down, Nana,” Drew said. “I’ll show you some more things I made.”

I sat down on the blue-carpeted floor beside Annalise. Drew pulled crinkled drawings, popsicle-stick figures, and other treasures from his box, showed them to us, and then piled them on the floor. Annalise held onto the plastic ornament, and each time Drew showed us something new, Annalise held the ornament up and said, “Baby Jesus.” He was clearly her favorite of Drew’s treasures.

When lunch time rolled around, I told Drew that we needed to clean up before going downstairs.

“We’ll help you, Drew,” I said. I handed Drew his papers and stick figures, but when I picked up the plastic ornament with Baby Jesus inside, I rolled it across the floor – and that was not acceptable, even to a two-year-old.

Annalise picked up the ornament, held it close to her little body, glared at me, and said, “Poor Baby Jesus.”

Feeling reprimanded by this two-year-old, I crawled over to Annalise, looked into the ornament, and said; “I’m sorry, Baby Jesus.”

My apology was intended to appease Annalise, but sitting there on my knees, I felt a true pang of sorrow in my heart. In a precious moment, my grandchildren had shared with me their love and awe of Baby Jesus. In my haste to clean up, I completely forgot about Him.

So many times during the Christmas season, I do the same. I set out the manger scene, and get caught up with decorating, shopping, and baking. And I toss poor Baby Jesus to the back of my mind.

This season, I want to hold this baby in my heart, just the way Annalise held Him in her hand. When I decorate my tree, I want to remember Baby Jesus. When I buy a gift for a loved one, I want to remember Baby Jesus. When I bake goodies for my family, I want to remember Baby Jesus. And when the Christmas season is over, and its time to clean up, I don’t want to toss Baby Jesus across the floor. I want to carry Him in my heart into the New Year.

“While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth
to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them” (Luke 2:6-7 NIV).

Prayer: Father in Heaven, thank You for reminding me through my grandchildren that this holiday season is all about Baby Jesus. In Jesus’ precious name, Amen.

Tragedy in the Midst of Beauty

By Gillis Killam –

While flying over the Rocky Mountains from Prince George, BC to Vancouver, I was awed again by the beauty of snow-covered mountains. I saw intriguing designs in the drifts of snow carved out by the winds over the mountains that stood majestically like large pyramids perfectly formed in the snow. Few, if any, were the marks of man’s traverse in this area as it is so rugged and vast.

I thought of my Creator God who, with his fingers, designed the world with so much beauty and design that caused me to gaze in wonder.

As I looked down through the clouds rolling by the plane’s windows, at times blinding me to the view below, I was reminded of a tragic accident that took place some years ago near to where I was now flying. A group of three people was on a small Cessna plane flying up the Island from Victoria to minister in a church. They never arrived. The pilot must have been disoriented flying through thick clouds, and mistakenly thought he was still over the Island, when he was actually flying over the Mainland Mountains. He flew directly into a mountain and all perished.

We all ask the question, “Why?” It’s a question we all ask when tragedies of various kinds happen to people we know. We don’t know the answer to the “Why” of this tragedy that took two young people and the pilot, who were so committed to the Lord. However, the good news is that they went home to be with the Lord because each had given their life to Christ and God wanted them home with Him.

A scripture that my wife often refers to in times like these is:

“The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death” (Isaiah 57:1-2 NIV).

What seems a tragedy to us as believers really is not something out of God’s control. Charles Spurgeon once said, “When the time comes for you to die, you need not be afraid, because death cannot separate you from God’s love.”

Prayer: Thank you Lord, you know best, and our times are in your hands. Amen.

Rebel against the Insanity

By Peter Lundell –

A seismic drift happening for decades in America seems to be crossing a line we may never cross back.

At Thanksgiving we now tend to see, hear, and read less about Thanksgiving than ever before. Instead we endlessly see, hear, and read about Black Friday. Which has now invaded Thursday.

Retailers are tapping sources of money, the reason they exist. Yet last year countless people, better defined as consumers, complained—complained!—that 6 a.m. or even midnight wasn’t early enough to open the stores.

On the surface Thanksgiving doesn’t seem to be about religion or morality, it’s just about being thankful. But deep down it reveals our beliefs and moral values, what’s important to us, to whom we submit our lives. And for decades materialism is the god who’s been winning. It seems this idol has led masses across a threshold.

Hours after the richest nation on earth is supposedly pausing to be thankful, its citizens trounce each other to grab more stuff on sale. Who has time to be thankful? We have sales to find, and we research and map a strategy beforehand to make sure we win. Thereby we find purpose and create meaning by the new possessions we bag and the percentage-off we count.

I am not against battling crowds for bargains on the day after Thanksgiving—or even online on “Cyber Monday.” Go ahead. But when it eclipses thankfulness, we have a problem.

To a huge part of the populace, Thanksgiving has become only a pretext for bargain hunting. I encourage you to rebel against the insanity. Even if you shop on Black Friday, make a point to leave Thursday alone. And be thankful, even now.

“Death and Destruction are never satisfied, and neither are human eyes” (Proverbs 27:20 NIV).

“Lord, in the midst of crowds who clamor for more stuff and won’t take time to be thankful for what they have, keep my heart right. I choose to be satisfied with what I have, and thankful for it. When I hunt for bargains, I choose to keep it secondary to honoring You and living right.”

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