As Melissa and I get ready to do our annual Christmas cookie deliveries later this afternoon, I am watching the snow fall and finishing up my last emails and tasks at my office. You know each year now as I get older, I appreciate more and more the quiet, simple, pure joy of the Holiest of Seasons! I am more motivated by the things I do for others than by wondering what others will do for me. Today, not withstanding, in our over the top PC policed society that has inundated us with secular messages, homogenized worship, Winter Breaks in our schools and practically jail time for saying the dreaded phrase, "M----- C--------, I am still encouraged.
As a Christian my job is to tell "The Good News." The Bible doesn't speak of accepting defeat but rather proclaiming victory! We are not to sit idly by and give in to a world destined to fail because of it's total abandonment of the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We are to rejoice people! I've read the Book, know the ending, and will see the coming of my Lord again! We are victors and will reign with Him but we need to have our lights shine before us.
God has taken care of the rest with the birth of His Son in Bethlehem, His life changing ministry, His death and ultimate resurrection, and His promise to return for His church! We must plow the fields and reach the lost. We can do this and do great damage to the secular world by being Ambassadors of Christ. Fill the void! Give gifts other than material items. God has given us an abundance to work with. Love, joy, peace, encouragement, time, effort, prayer, support all have huge impacts and cost us no money. A toy or gadget, jewelry, or money are all nice gifts but many are relegated to the dust heap of our lives soon enough. But the total giving of yourself in the measures of time, effort and emotion will reap lifelong benefits!
This Christmas season in the midst of kids and grandkids, friends and parties, gift giving and receiving, meals shared and laughter, please remember the precious Child who was born, lived, died and rose again for all of us. There are plenty of lost souls out there who need our love and light. Please take the time to truly reflect Christ by giving the true gifts that matter. God bless you all my family and friends and may the peace of Jesus Christ be with you now and always! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!
Luke 1: 30-33
But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. 31 You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over Jacob’s descendants forever; his kingdom will never end.”
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Friday, April 3, 2015
You can keep the chocolate bunny, I'll take the old rugged cross!
I was in the local grocery store yesterday, stocking up for my annual Easter Sunday feast for "La Famiglia." As I retrieved my cart, I turned around around and was greeted by an enormous display of Easter candy. Chocolate eggs, jellybeans, sweet treat baskets of all sizes, more chocolate bunnies then there are residents in my town. Great marketing I thought. The store certainly knows how to entice people to buy, especially children dragging along with mom grocery shopping. All they have to do is kick up the whining to a pitch that would make mosquitoes flee, and bingo, 6 more cavities for the dentist to fill! I think the grocery stores and dentists are in cahoots around the holidays. Any way, the message I am trying to convey is that the store knows how to market it's product, who to expose it to, and how to profit from the sales. Swallowed eagerly by hook, line and sinker by millions of Americans every holiday. With this mass marketing blitzkrieg comes the message too. The bunny is Easter. He rewards you, satisfies you, keeps the kid's busy and buzzing off the sugar high, and most importantly falsely exemplifies the meaning of this most holy season. We have reached a time where the Easter egg hunt for the kiddos replaces the Greatest Gift we and they have ever received!
Now I'm not trying to denigrate or indict parents out there as I and my wife were just as guilty when our brood was growing up. However, we had one major caveat, the bunny was a treat, not the Meaning! My wife and I for many years always had Easter at our house in Wisconsin with all my brothers, sisters, spouses and all their kids and grandparents for the weekend. There was all the usual commercialized revelry for the urchins, but on Good Friday evening and Sunday morning it was different. Those were worship times. My wife would organize a beautiful service and we would all as a family gather in the living room and light candles, read the Easter story from the Bible and have music and prayer. We would try and experience the real agony of the cross and then the joy of Resurrection Sunday, so everybody would take to heart the enormous gravity and impact that event had over two thousand years ago and still does today. It was meant to plant seeds, and it did! My father would often come over afterwards and whisper to me, "Ricky that was nice." My mom would make sure all the kids and my siblings would be listening so as not to treat the message lightly. Soon after though it was business as usual, with kids sugar wired running around and moms and dads laughing and visiting, but the work was done. The message was presented, received and still makes a impact in our family today. You see, getting caught up in the revery of our secular world today can be harmless if handled properly. But a chocolate bunny will never comfort you when you are hurting, alone, or with sickness, in relationship problems, have lost your job or house. He won't fill that void in our soul or mend a broken heart. A Humble Carpenter will! It wasn't pretty. As a matter of fact His judgment, trial, crucifixion and death was among the most horrific and cruel acts ever recorded in history. He gave all for us! But His resurrection has brought hope, renewal, new life and joy for countless people since.
So try and take time to go to church or have it at home, read the story, meditate on the impact and pray as a family. In our world of uncertainty and turmoil that we live in today, it's nice to know that there is hope beyond what we can see! He lives people! He lives! He wants to live for you! May God keep you and bless you this Holy Easter Season!
Matthew 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
Now I'm not trying to denigrate or indict parents out there as I and my wife were just as guilty when our brood was growing up. However, we had one major caveat, the bunny was a treat, not the Meaning! My wife and I for many years always had Easter at our house in Wisconsin with all my brothers, sisters, spouses and all their kids and grandparents for the weekend. There was all the usual commercialized revelry for the urchins, but on Good Friday evening and Sunday morning it was different. Those were worship times. My wife would organize a beautiful service and we would all as a family gather in the living room and light candles, read the Easter story from the Bible and have music and prayer. We would try and experience the real agony of the cross and then the joy of Resurrection Sunday, so everybody would take to heart the enormous gravity and impact that event had over two thousand years ago and still does today. It was meant to plant seeds, and it did! My father would often come over afterwards and whisper to me, "Ricky that was nice." My mom would make sure all the kids and my siblings would be listening so as not to treat the message lightly. Soon after though it was business as usual, with kids sugar wired running around and moms and dads laughing and visiting, but the work was done. The message was presented, received and still makes a impact in our family today. You see, getting caught up in the revery of our secular world today can be harmless if handled properly. But a chocolate bunny will never comfort you when you are hurting, alone, or with sickness, in relationship problems, have lost your job or house. He won't fill that void in our soul or mend a broken heart. A Humble Carpenter will! It wasn't pretty. As a matter of fact His judgment, trial, crucifixion and death was among the most horrific and cruel acts ever recorded in history. He gave all for us! But His resurrection has brought hope, renewal, new life and joy for countless people since.
So try and take time to go to church or have it at home, read the story, meditate on the impact and pray as a family. In our world of uncertainty and turmoil that we live in today, it's nice to know that there is hope beyond what we can see! He lives people! He lives! He wants to live for you! May God keep you and bless you this Holy Easter Season!
Matthew 28:1-10
After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb. There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it. His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
The angel said to the women, "Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified. He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay. Then go quickly and tell his disciples: 'He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.' Now I have told you."
So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)