24

By Gina Stinson

My last 24 hours have been CRAZY! My friend from out of town came to stay with us for two days while in the area working. While here, she had a horrible reaction to some medication she is on and we ended up spending four hours in the ER. When I got home, my son, who had been sick for three days, was worse than ever—fever, vomiting, coughing, stuffy nose…YUCK! We had a pretty sleepless night.

Isn’t it funny how much can change in 24 short hours? The house was clean, we had company over, we were talking about a staff dinner we were to host that night, and we were making PLANS. Needless to say….all those plans…and the clean house changed pretty quickly.

Somehow, in the chaos that transpired, I imagined how it must have been 24 hours before Christ was born. My mind had been dwelling on the nativity story lately so I pondered there for a while. What was Mary thinking? Knowing the Savior of the World was on His way in just hours. What about Joseph? Do you think he felt the weight most fathers feel when they are about to become a parent? I also thought about Mary’s parents. How do you think they felt knowing their daughter was soon to deliver and was heading out of town? (I know my mom wouldn’t have been happy!)

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A Child’s Prayer

By Norma Vera

A year ago I sat in my daughter’s living room and stared at their beautifully decorated Christmas tree. For the first time in my life, I was speechless. Christmas had always been my favorite time of the year. This time I was struggling to smile. Losing two sisters just before the Holidays had been the hardest thing I ever experienced.

 We loved the Lord and prayed together often. However, during those days I did not know how or what to pray. I felt rejected and abandon by God, even a little angry. Where was He when we needed Him? We stood on His Word and lost the battle anyway.

Though, mentally and spiritually I was going through the motions. Emotionally I could easily fall apart. I felt like God was a million miles away – but I was very wrong. He was as close as our own breath. I could not see Him but seven months later I would know without a doubt how close He always was.

My daughter called me a few days before Christmas and said, “Mom I have to tell you something so sweet. Guess what Emily did?” Emily is her now 3-year-old daughter.

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The Taste of Our Lives

By Lane Johnson

“Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn’t take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I’ve become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn’t just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!”

1 Corinthians 9; 19-22 The Message Bible

As I write this, Sandy is preparing another batch of “friendship bread”. This particular recipe produces a very tasty cake type treat that is excellent with butter and coffee. I have begun to dislike “friendship bread”, however, not for its taste but because its recipe requires that you end up with four “starter” packs that are supposed to be passed on to your friends. These friends then will, in turn, end up with four starter packs themselves each time they make the bread. This then requires them to find four new unaware friends to which they can then unload the starters on who will soon be looking for other virgin friends who have not previously been initiated into this baking pyramid, multi-level, pass it on nightmare.

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