Greatest Gift of All

Well it’s that time of year again when people say things like Jesus is the reason for the season and they shop and bake and are usually nicer than other times during the year. It can be the happiest and saddest time of the year.

A few years ago the Holy Spirit gave me a challenge. He said if I really wanted to celebrate Chirst birth to do it without partaking in all the worldly stuff like wreaths, trees and gifts.
I agreed and as you can imagine took major crap from people about my personal challenge, but that’s another jewel.
It was hard at first as I was a major decorator during the Christmas season and I loved doing it. I have lots of ornaments the kids have made over the years that I treasure. I loved the tradition of placing them on the tree and savored every memory that came with it.  

As you know I’m not big on cooking but we always made a birthday cake for Jesus and sang to Him Christmas morning.

In spite of all the good feelings for me I would take this personal challenge.

Gems it was a very eye opening season for me on so many levels and 7 years later I continue to celebrate without all the fixins.

This is not an “atta girl Gena” jewel or a "you should do this too jewel," it’s just me sharing with you my little world.

I sat on my couch one day clicking through the channels on TV and was overwhelmed by the amount of commercials trying to get us to buy their perfect holiday gift. I remarked to the Lord how crazy it all was.

I wondered, what kind of gift can you actually give Jesus if that’s who you’re really celebrating?  Without skipping a beat the Holy Spirit answered me.

Its funny because it was more of a thought than a question. Not something I was waiting on an answer for.  How many questions do we ask intentionally that seem to take forever to get an answer to?

Yet the Holy Spirit challenged me once again. He said there is a gift you can give Jesus that He always really wants yet seldom receives. He would love the soul of the lost. He said it’s the only gift He came to give and the only gift we can help give back.

The Holy Spirit challenged me to look back over all the years of tree trimming and birthday cakes and see how many people I actually shared the good news of Jesus with.

I am ashamed to tell you that the number was very small. I didn't wake up each morning thinking who can I share Jesus with, I woke up thinking who else do I need to have a gift for. And then there were the spare gifts I kept just in case I forgot someone. When all the while I had the most precious gift, the gift of salvation.

Maybe the best gift I could have given any one was the opportunity to go with me to the mall or anywhere people were and ask someone, anyone, do you know Jesus. Helping someone including myself to obey God’s COMMAND!
Mark 16:15 He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”

Gems this is a command not a suggestion. The Holy Spirit said to me “Gena if you really want to do something for the so called Jesus Season how about doing what He commanded.” He said there is nothing more special than sharing Christ with someone and seeing them give their heart to Christ for Christmas.

OUCH…

It doesn't say expect them to come to church because besides Easter it’s the next best day. Jesus said for us to go and find them.

I’m not slamming inviting people to church. After we share the gospel sure, invite them to church but we have to stop waiting for the lost to show up where we are.

I was really convicted and felt it my Christian duty to convict you too J All in love brothers and sisters.
I challenged myself that the next day I would talk to at least one person and ask if they knew Jesus.

Frances Chan gave a great example. He said imagine you’re at a football game and your favorite team gets into the huddle, goes over the plays, slaps each other on the butt then goes back and sits on the bench. They never actually do the plays they have practiced. Can you imagine if game after game they did this?

He said church can be like that. We come week after week, hearing a great message, getting filled up but never doing anything with what we learned. Then we show up again the next week ready for more plays we won’t use. Frances said it way better but you catch my drift.

Gems we were, are and will continue to be the tool God chose to use to share the gospel.
And you, my child, will be called a prophet of the Most High; for you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him, to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven Luke 1:76-78

Gems I’m not telling you how to celebrate the birth of Christ or change your Christmas traditions but we have to ask ourselves, why are we so committed to our traditions yet willing to sit on the bench to His commands?
So my gift to you is the same challenge, make sharing the greatest gift of all with someone this week because

                  


My dear friend Evelyn wrote this poem and I wanted to share it with you.

Reminder: Jesus Is the Reason for the Season!

Twas the night before SK Christmas, when all through CFM,

All the volunteers were ready to give their embrace.
The bags of hope were placed on the tables with care,
In hopes that are guests will soon all be there.

The children came running in hope of some toys,
As Paula and Lisa laid out clothing overjoyed.
While Lyn and Mark prepared for the night,
Our volunteers and leaders were full of delight.

When out on the darkness there arose such a clatter,
We all turned our heads to see what was the matter.
Away to the sidewalk we flew in a flash,
As David and Kevin arrived with the stash.

The prayer team prepared by the glittering lights,
As Maureen and Wendy registered on site.
When, what to our wondering eyes should appear,
Bill Collier and Deacon Mark spreading some cheer.

With a microphone ready, so lively and skilled,
We knew in a moment it must be our Bill.
More rapid than eagles our guests came,
As he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!

"Now Brian! now, Nancy! now, Larry and Lee!
On, Susie! On, Les! on, Tony and James!
To your feet all at once! Together they shouted!
Together in Jesus let us all be United!"

As we handed out pizza, hot cocoa and cake,
We watch in amazement and were there to partake.
As our Christmas Celebration began to unfold,
Pastor Steve watched in contentment, oh bless his soul.

And then, in a twinkling, we felt through the night,
The presence of the holy Spirit right here at our site.
As we praise our Lord, and were turning around,
We could feel the love of Jesus so very profound.

There before us stood a man dressed in rags,
Dirt from head to toes and carrying a bag.
His clothes were all tarnished, smelly and with holes,
As if someone had beat him and ripped off his clothes.
A bundle of his belongings he had flung on his back,
And he looked destitute, as he stopped in his track.

He looked tired and longing for some sleep,
As he looked to see if we had something to eat.
His skin badly burned from sleeping outside,
His garment with blood drawn down from the side.
The beard on his face was prickly and long,
Made him look years older and completely withdrawn.

The sandals he wore on his feet were so worn,
His feet were all dirty and slightly deformed.
He had hands of a carpenter, so rough and so tough,
Let us to believe he was experienced and knew his stuff.

He was skinny and tall, a once handsome man,
Down on his luck, and in need of a plan.
A look in his eye and our faith in the Lord,
Soon gave us the feeling that his heart he implored.

He spoke not a word, but went straight to a seat,
And filled his belly with all the food he could eat.
And as we watched him leave our site,
He gave a nod of thanks, a glance of delight.
We knew we had done everything right!

As he sprang to the street, and vanished into the night,
We were sure we had served our Savior tonight.
But we heard him exclaim, as he walked out of sight,
"Blessed Christmas my Servants, and to all a blessed-night!"

Written by His Servant for Life,

Lyn

Corner of Cross & Hope

^{Words are so powerful and how we use them have more impact on people than we sometimes realize.
This is such a story and we find it in John 5.}Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for one of the Jewish festivals. ² Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda^[ and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. ³ Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. ⁵ One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?”⁷ “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.

 

OK so Jesus tells this guy to pick up his mat and walk and he does and he’s healed. This may be a familiar story for many of you and like me you may feel thankful that after 38 years this guy is finally healed. You may even find it interesting that Jesus didn’t put him in the pool, he told him to get up so he had to do something as part of the healing. But this isn’t the part I want to talk about.

After he is healed the Jewish leaders find out about him and as usual are trying to get Jesus in trouble for breaking the law. Here is the part that struck me. They ask the guy what’s the name of the man who healed you and the guy has NO IDEA!

¹³ The man who was healed had no idea who it was

That Gems is pretty crazy. He wasn’t healed because he knew who Jesus was or because he had great faith in him it was because Jesus told him to pick up his mat and walk.

There was something in what Jesus said this man needed to hear.  Jesus saw something in this man he didn’t see in himself.

I’ll give you an example of something that happened just the other day. My Bible study group went to visit one of our sisters who is battling cancer, we will call her Betty. She was having a really bad day both physically and emotionally. Our friend Beverly told her she needed to come to an event with her that night and she would pick her up.

Now I gotta be honest here. I thought to myself  there is NO WAY Betty is going to be able to go. What is my friend thinking? Does she not see how sick and frail she is? I even tried to help Betty out by interrupting, how unlike me, and telling Beverly to call first and see if she is up to it. Obviously Beverly needed my help evaluating this situation......

Well to my surprise Betty did go with her. Not only did she go she drover herself!

I went to see Betty the next day and she said something really profound to me. She told me that when Beverly first invited her she said no but as Beverly persisted, she does that, Betty thought to herself “if Beverly thinks I can do this than maybe I can.”

And with that she got dressed and drove herself! Why? Because someone believed she could! That paralyzed man got up because someone said he could.

Gems I'm writing this jewel as a reminder for all of us to invest ourselves in those around us. In whatever community God has placed us in, find out who needs cheering and do it. 

I heard a wonderful analogy the other day about community using eggs as an example. The writer said community shouldn’t be like boiled eggs. Eggs in the same pot but still have a hard shell on so they are still sheltered from one another. He said we should be like fried eggs.

When several eggs are in the pan the whites overlap each other. The yoke stays because we are all individuals but as a community we should be touching each other's lives. Was that great or what!
Wish I would have thought of it.

The day I found that sign I was with my new friend
Jenny. It was God's sense of humor. She was
sharing her life with me and I was cheering her on
as we drove in my car. When we parked I told her we needed to read the street sign so we could find my car when we wanted to leave. I think we joked that God would give us a sign.... 

Gems sometimes in life we come to the corner of Cross and Hope in our lives. We can have hope because of what Christ did on the cross. We can also gain hope when our brothers and sisters rally around us and ask, do you want to do this? Do you want to be healed, forgiven, reunited, validated you fill in the blank. Sometimes we need someone to firmly tell us to take up whatever is on our mat and walk.
To not only be in the same pan but be a part of it.
So to whatever Gem needs to hear that word today here it is
YOU CAN DO IT!!!!! I believe in you, I have faith in you. Carry your cross and find hope!