Ivory Coast Mission Trip Prayer Requets

Dr. Ettien Koffi is a professor of linguistics at St. Cloud State University.  Until Ettien began, the language for the Anyi people in Cote d’Ivoire was an oral language only and was unwritten.  Ettien created a written language, and he began the translation of the New Testament into Anyi in 1991.  Translation with final edits was complete in 2016!  Since 1997, Ettien’s brother, Yable, has been on the Cote d’Ivoire end of the Anyi Literacy Project running the literacy center and coordinating the learning and teaching of adults to read in Anyi.  Currently, there are 27 villages with classrooms, with over three thousand adults learning to read!  The more advanced adult students have been reading the Parables of Jesus and various health-related brochures that have been translated into Anyi.  (For more information on the Anyi Literacy Project, please go here.)

For this mission trip, we will be leaving Tuesday evening, June 13th, and flying from Minneapolis to Paris to Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire), arriving Wednesday evening, June 14th.  We will be in Cote d’Ivoire until Monday night, June 26th, a total of 12 days in Cote d’Ivoire.  While we are there, we will have three main outreach and ministry opportunities:  New Testament dedication ceremonies, youth basketball camp, and painting the literacy center.

Prayer Requests:

First, the printed New Testaments have shipped from South Korea, and the Bibles are estimated to arrive in Cote d’Ivoire April 24th!  Please pray for the logistics around the shipping itself, as well as the import of goods at the port in Abidjan, meeting local codes, and successful applications to clear the goods. 

Second, Yable, Jules (friend of Ettien and father of one of our group going on the trip), and committees of the church leaders and teachers in each area are coordinating the dedication ceremonies.  There will be three ceremonies taking place in three counties where the largest numbers of villages with classrooms are located.  Please pray for the coordination of those events. 

In addition, another brother of Ettien’s is a pastor in Paris, and he will be coming to lead the dedication ceremonies.  It will be an evangelical outreach event, and they are planning to expect between 3,000 and 5,000 people to attend each ceremony, including government officials.  Please pray for Ettien’s brother, as well as those who will be attending, that the word of God will be clear and hearts will be changed. 

Third, Jeremy Koffi, a junior at St. Cloud State University, is planning and organizing the basketball camp.  We are expecting 100 kids to participate in the camp, around the age of 14.  In addition, the local high school has two basketball teams that will also be getting some “tips” on improving their game.  Some of the more sports-gifted individuals will be doing the “teaching” or leading of the camp, and the rest of us will be taking photos, organizing equipment, and providing and organizing food and beverages.  Pleas pray for the kids that come to the camp and the high school basketball teams, that they would improve their game, have fun, but also clearly hear and see the love of God.

Fourth, one of Ettien’s distant cousins will be our lead on our service project to paint the Literacy Center.  Please pray that the paint and tools will be ready and available and that the job we do will help to continue to maintain the Literacy building.

Finally, Ettien, Yable, and Jules are working through the rest of the details for our transportation and stay.  Please pray for their efforts, as well as for our safety while we are in Cote d’Ivoire.

Thanks so much!

Merry Christmas

"The Son of God became man to enable men to become the sons of God."

C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

Made to Crave...God

So, I recently began a second Bible study.  I have one study that I have been going to for the last four (or so) years on Thursday nights.  That study has gone through some changes (people-wise) over the past year, but we’ve pretty much stayed in the same format.  We study THE BIBLE, not Bible study books (except when we have been asked to do otherwise); we do an in-depth exegesis (fancy word for saying we do critical interpretation) of an entire book of the Bible.  Right now, we are studying Exodus, which is super interesting!  I’ve gone through John and Genesis with this group as well.  Now, however, I have started a second Bible study on Wednesday nights with a few other women.  We are doing a book study called Made to Crave. 

So far, I’m enjoying this study.  We are in week 2 (as of last night).  I began (again) on Atkins on January 17, 2012, to lose weight for my sister’s wedding.  That’s been going great (I’ve lost 27 pounds, but I still have another 75 to go).  However, one of the things that was discussed last week and this week in the study is the motivation behind weight loss.  When you have a goal, it is easy(ier) to lose; when you’ve met your goal,The Cycle – lose weight and gain it back (and then some) – starts.  You think that you can go back to the old habits and you lose focus, at least I do (did).  This study looks at the fact that we ARE made to crave…God.  For me, food often is my comfort.  Happy, sad, excited, etc., I go to food, not God.  So no matter how great my goals are, once met, I revert to my default mode.  That’s what has to change. 

This week the main idea was that desperation leads to despair.  I never really thought about it, but that is kind of a “duh” statement, but a “wow” one at the same time.  It makes sense.  When I’m “dieting,” I don’t allow myself to eat something; when that happens I sometimes get to the “I have to have that or I’ll die” stage, and then I give in and eat it, and then I’m disappointed with myself for losing control!  Desperation for a certain food leads to “falling off the wagon” (i.e., despair).  Anyway, although the idea isn’t really a new concept, it was kind of a revelation for me to think about.  I have to have more than a short-term (or even a long-term) goal in mind in order to really and truly change my eating habits.  I need to change my spiritual perspective on eating.  I think that in the church, overeating (gluttony) is a habitual sin that “seems” to be acceptable.  It isn’t acceptable, but there is very little being done to change that view or help the people who deal with it. 

 
One other thing that Lysa Terkeurst, author of Made to Crave, said last night in the video was that our foundations need to be fixed.  She used a bucket illustration (couple of holes in the bucket, which do you fix first – fix the one at the base, or you’ll never carry any water); however, I thought in food (ha!), so here’s my version of it.  If you make a layered cake and the bottom tier is off balance and sloped, the next tier will be as well, and the next and the next.  Fixing the top tier may make it look even, but the reality is that it isn’t even at all.  I have to fix the foundation of my food problems (going to food, not God when I’m happy, sad, excited, etc.) or the temporary fix will, in the long run, do me no good, especially since I’ve already gone through The Cycle.

The Week Without God

I saw this quote from a friend on Facebook, and thought it was neat...

Without God, our week would be: sinday, mournday, tearday, wasteday, thirstday, fightday, shatterday; seven days without God makes one weak!

Jesus’ Conversation with Nicodemus – Part 2, A Conversation

John 3:1-21

Taking us back a bit, the previous chapter of John contains Jesus’ confrontation with the Pharisees who demand to know upon who’s authority Jesus is driving out the money changers from the courtyard of the Gentiles (turning the only place that Gentiles can worship God into a marketplace). (Incidentally, a Rabbi was given authority and the title of “Rabbi” (teacher) by the confirmation of two other Rabbis. Jesus’ authority was given by John the Baptist and God.) The Pharisees demanded a miracle that would authenticate Jesus’ authority. Whether the next chapter’s conversation takes place days, weeks, or months later is of little consequence (see previous post); what is interesting to note is that John paired these together in his book in order to make a point. Nicodemus says to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2), it is almost a direct reflection of the demand by the Pharisees at the end of the previous chapter to have Jesus “prove” his authority by miracles (John 2:18). The Pharisees knew of Jesus’ miracles, but demanded more (a continuing theme in John’s book, the Jews continually demanding more signs from Jesus instead of just faith). Nicodemus himself is a Pharisee, and uses the word “we” when he comes to Jesus. It would seem that not all Pharisees were out to get Jesus. Some saw His authority, recognized His miracles for what they were, and wanted to know more, to understand who He was and why God sent Him.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night and, without asking any question, Jesus tells him how to see the kingdom of God. (It may be argued that the rich ruler spoken about in Luke 18 is Nicodemus and that he did, in fact, ask Jesus a question, but it is an unknown.) Jesus’ response to Nicodemus’ statement that Jesus is from God is that, in order to see God’s kingdom, you have to be born again. Nicodemus has no clue what Jesus is talking about. In hindsight, we understand it clearly, but poor Nicodemus was confused. The following is Jesus’ reply:

"…I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:5-8.)

Some images come to mind when reading this. “Born of water,” that’s how we come out; a woman’s water breaks, and someone is born. (I also find it interesting that when Jesus died, the soldier pierced His side and blood and water came out, proving His death.) Then Jesus’ words talk about the wind—the word for Spirit in Hebrew is the same as wind—which also brings the
reader’s thoughts back to Genesis (again, see previous post).

But still, Nicodemus did not understand. Jesus further attempts to explain to Nicodemus who He is and His purpose for being here.

"I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony. I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things? No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven—the Son of Man. Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 3:11-15.)

He begins by explaining who He is; that, as teachers, you teach what you know. Jesus knows how to see the kingdom of God because He has been there. Jesus is the only one to have seen God because He is God. Second, Jesus explains why He is there. Verse 14 tells any scholar of the Torah (which, as a Pharisee, Nicodemus was) all they need to know. The story of the Israelites wandering in the desert, complaining again, and then to get their attention, God sends poisonous snakes among them. After many deaths, the Israelites figured out God was not too happy with their complaining and they acknowledged their sin. Moses prayed, and God told him to make a snake, put it on a pole, and whoever looked at it would live (be healed, saved) (Numbers 21:4-9). Just like that situation where the Israelites had to trust God to save them through His provision, Jesus too would be put on a pole and anyone who looks at (in this case to) Him would live. Obviously not literally, but figuratively: belief that Jesus is the Son of God, that He will heal us, is our salvation.

If you continue on through the Gospel of John, a theme emerges of how the Jews, the people chosen by God to belong to God, do not see God at all. Here, Jesus is frustrated with Nicodemus because he clings to his rules and laws (flesh) and does not see that the important thing is our spiritual heart before God. Nicodemus sees that Jesus is a teacher from God because he has seen the miracles Jesus performed, but he still does not see God himself. Because John does not give any further reaction of Nicodemus, we do not know his final reaction to this conversation. However, in John 7:50, Nicodemus challenges the other Pharisees about their zeal in their attempts at killing Jesus, regardless of the law, and then in John 19:39, we see that Nicodemus was one of two people who prepared and wrapped Jesus’ body after his death, bringing 75 pounds of spices. We can probably surmise that he figured out who Jesus was and believed as what he did and the money he spent to bring those spices for the Jewish burial custom was not insignificant.

Jesus’ Conversation with Nicodemus – Part 1, Background

My Bible study group is going through the book of John right now, and some of the things we have discussed about this topic have been very intriguing to me, so I though I’d share some of our thoughts and insights with you.

John 3:1-21

There are two things that I believe are important to understand when looking at Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus: why John wrote and the portions of the previous two chapters of the gospel John wrote. I have learned how important it is to look at a historical document’s (or any other writing, oral history, video, photograph, etc.) purpose, to look for the author’s agenda; to understand what they are attempting to get across. When a picture is taken, the photographer chooses what to include and exclude. If a photographer is taking a picture of a slum area and shows a run-down building with graffiti and broken windows, are they trying to show a slum’s poverty or its recent upswing in crime, and why did they leave out the newly renovated park next door: because it doesn’t show the photographer’s purpose. It is the same with the written word; the author chooses how to phrase his writing and what to include or not to include. In the case of the gospel of John, he states clearly at the end of the book that there were more things that Jesus did than could fill John’s book (John 20:30-31 and 21:25). John also states clearly his purpose in writing: “…these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31.)

John is writing so the readers will believe, not to show a chronological story of Jesus’ life. With his purpose discovered, it is also important to remember that it is a very Western idea or mindset that things occur in chronological order. This is not so in many Middle Eastern cultures, and is especially not true of the Jewish culture (of the time). John places Jesus’ overturning of the money changers’ tables in the temple in chapter 2, while the other gospels place it during Passion Week, just prior to Jesus’ death. Many look at this as an error in the Scriptures; however, if you look at John’s purpose for writing and the themes, style, and rhythm of the entire book, it is fairly clear that he couples events and conversations to emphasize a point of Jesus’, as well as to show who Jesus is and why He is so important. This is true of Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus (as well as the second portion of chapter three where John the Baptist discusses with his disciples that it is through belief in Jesus that one receives eternal life). John’s writings are with a purpose, each event seems to be paired with another which emphasize who Jesus is and what His purpose was in coming as man.

Following this emphasis of John’s style of writing and points he is making to the reader, it is important to note when reading this conversation with Nicodemus that portions of the previous two chapters are reflected in the dialogue and statements that are made. First, when Nicodemus says to Jesus, “Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him” (John 3:2), it is almost a direct reflection of the demand by the Pharisees at the end of the previous chapter to have Jesus “prove” his authority by miracles (John 2:18). (Interestingly enough, Nicodemus is a Pharisee and uses the word “we” when he comes to Jesus. So, it would seem that not all Pharisees were out to get Jesus. Some saw His authority and wanted to know more, to understand who He was and why God sent Him.)

The second portion that needs to be looked at in light of a prior chapter is John 3:19-21 (John 1). John’s use of light and dark in this chapter needs to be read and understood in light of the first chapter of the book. But first, we have to understand why John labels Jesus as “the Word” in chapter 1. If we go back to Genesis 1, it is another “In the beginning” phrase (John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1), written in John 1:1 to specifically bring Jewish readers’ attention to Genesis Chapter 1. Although my writing here is in no way a theological statement, it is interesting to read about creation in light of John’s labeling of Jesus as the Word. I almost picture God speaking “let there be light” and Jesus, being the Word, makes it happen (John 1:3). The Greek word logos used in John 1:1 does not just mean "word," it became a technical term in ancient Greek philosophy; to the readers it had the connotation of the ordering of the universe. So, again, looking back at Genesis, God spoke the words, and the world was created. John’s point? We must again look at why he wrote the gospel of John. John wrote so that we would “believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God...” (John 20:31.) Jesus was always. From the very beginning of creation, Jesus was. John is declaring that Jesus is God. (John 1:34.)

Second, after the introduction of who Jesus is, John writes about Jesus’ purpose. “In him was life, and that life was the light of men.” (John 1:4.) Again, look back at John’s purpose for writing, “…and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31.) This also reflects back on Genesis; God created life, Jesus was with God, the Word. Not only was Jesus at our creation, He is what makes us alive; through Jesus we have life.

The light that John discusses needs to be looked at in real terms. What is light but the absence of darkness; it illuminates the dark and shows us what we cannot see. Jesus shows us who we truly are, He illuminates our life. At that point, we have two choices: choose the dark or choose the light. With the choice of the light, Jesus, we “have life in his name.” (John 20:31.) We have life because of Jesus in two ways, first through creation and second through belief.

“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did
not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not
receive him. Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he
gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent,
nor of human decision or a husband's will, but born of God. The Word became
flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the
One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:10-14)

Bringing us back to Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus, the above text from John 1 reflects this conversation in John 3. The right to true life, to belong to God, is not a birthright (as the Jewish nation saw it), but it is through God that we have this gift. The Word was born physically to show us this fact, that it is not our physical acts of obedience that gives us grace, it is our choice to accept the light, to believe.

Can I Truly Say That His Grace is Enough for Me?

At worship this week, we sang “Your Grace Is Enough” sung by Chris Tomlin. (I’ve placed the lyrics at the end for anyone who doesn’t know the song.) Something hit me while I was worshipping that really made me think about my life. I know God’s grace is enough to save me, that’s a no-brainer. But what I wondered is whether I am content or satisfied with God’s gift of grace.

In Philippians 4:11-13, Paul is responding to the Philippians’ concern for him while he is imprisoned in Rome. Paul’s response to their concern and gifts is that he has “…learned how to be content with whatever I have.” (v. 11) Am I content with what I have? God has given me this huge gift of His grace; I am forgiven and loved by the God who created all and is all. Am I selfish enough to continually desire more? Yes, and that is what hit me when I was signing “Your Grace Is Enough.” I don’t live my life like God’s grace is all I need. I live my life like that gift He gave me, sacrificed for me, is a right and that I deserve more.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t believe that we shouldn’t ask God for whatever is in His will, but I don’t believe that I seek His will often enough to know what God wants for and from me. I have to learn to let go of my desires and learn to embrace God’s desires. God desires me to live for Him, not for me. God desires me to love others, not just myself. God wants me to use my time, energy, talent, and money for His work, not for my selfish desires.

All too often, I look at my life and think, why don’t I have this, or why don’t I have that. I need to learn to look at my life and thank God that I have what He has given me and be content with it, not continually want and desire more. I need to look at my life and do my best to honor God for his gift of grace. I want to be able to truly say to God that His grace is enough for me. Being single at 32, this is, more often than not, a very difficult thing to say. I want to be able to say it and mean it with everything that I am. I want God to be my all and I want to recognize that He is all I want and need.


"...it’s when we’re on the brink of personal collapse that we’re best able to shift the direction of our soul from self-protection to trusting love. The more deeply we enter into the reality that life without God is sheer desolation, the more fully we can turn toward Him.... The richest love grows in the soil of an unbearable disappointment with life. When we realize life can’t give us what we want, we can better give up our foolish demand that it do so and get on with the noble task of loving as we should. We will no longer need to demand protection from further disappointment. The deepest change will occur in the life of a bold realist who clings to God with a passion only his realistic appraisal of life can generate." - Dr. Larry Crabb, Inside Out

“He who is not contented with what he has, would not be contented with what he would like to have.” - Socrates

“The world draws the heart from God; and the more the love of the world prevails, the more the love of God decays…. Unless this victory over the world is begun in the heart, a man has no root in himself, but will fall away, or at most remain an unfruitful professor. Yet these vanities are so alluring to the corruption in our hearts, that without constant watching and prayer, we cannot escape the world, or obtain victory over the god and prince of it.” (1 John 2, Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible.)

1 John 2:16 “For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father, but are from this world.”

Proverbs 15:15 “For the despondent, every day brings trouble; for the happy heart, life is a continual feast.”

Proverbs 27:20 “Just as Death and Destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied.”

Ecclesiastes 1:8 “Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content.”

Your Grace Is Enough

Great is Your faithfulness oh God
You wrestle with the sinner's heart
You lead us by still waters in to mercy
And nothing can keep us apart

[So remember Your people
Remember Your children
Remember Your promise
Oh God

Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough
Your grace is enough for me]

Great is Your love and justice God
You use the weak to lead the strong
You lead us in the song of Your salvation
And all Your people sing along

[Chorus x3]

Your grace is enough
Heaven reaching down to us
Your grace is enough for me
God I see your grace is enough
I'm covered in your love
Your grace is enough for me
For me

Composed by Matt Maher

Who is Christmas’s Baby Jesus Really?

Do we know enough about who Jesus is to value what He is really worth? At Christmas, we celebrate the birth of Jesus as baby, but often times we do not look any further into who Jesus is until we hit Easter and “celebrate” Jesus’ death and resurrection. Although it may seem that I’m referring to Holiday church-goers, it is also Christ followers that do not really recognize who Jesus is. Too often we celebrate the Holiday as the Christmas story alone (Jesus’ birth) and forget the purpose and significance behind that birth.

Philippians 2:6-8 (NLT)

Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God and died a criminal’s death on a cross.

Jesus was born so he might die. It is hard to fathom that anyone would choose to die like a criminal in order to save humanity, but to take it a step further and see that Jesus willingly waived His divine rights, humbled Himself, and became a human in order to die for humanity is mind blowing.

Jesus voluntarily surrendered his rights as God. He didn’t attempt to hold on to his power, glory, omniscience, omnipotence etc., but let go of those rights to become human. In the NLT version, it uses the phrase “cling to,” which can be likened to a robber seizing something that is not his own. As a human, Jesus let go of the privileges of His divinity. He added humanity to His divinity and restricted Himself from some of His powers. Eternity entered time, infinite became finite, the all powerful, all knowing, always everywhere became contained in a human baby, dependent on those around Him and limited to His current time and space. Paul, in this passage, likens the shift from being Divine God to human being as being a slave. Jesus is no longer the master, but is now a servant. Even further, a servant of humanity!

The passage in Philippians continues (9-11):

Therefore, God elevated him to the place of highest honor and gave him the name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Regardless of whether we know or acknowledge Jesus now, everyone will bow before Him. What we have to choose is whether to bow now or later. Choosing now means looking at that question I first asked and choosing to take action in our lives to KNOW Jesus.

The Promises of God Fulfilled in Jesus

To me, I sometimes think of the Advent season as just another tradition that we perform in the month of December that does not really strike the heart. My church does not celebrate Advent (with the wreath and candles, etc.), and I have never really participated in the events of it since I a was a little girl, and I did not really get it then. Communion, Advent, Lent, The Lord’s Prayer, and other practices that many Christian churches do on a weekly (or annual) basis can inspire, in and of themselves, great reverence, awe, thankfulness, and humility. However, at the same time, these practices may also cause apathy, indifference, and a lack of attention to the purpose behind the acts or events because of their repetition.

Although it may seem that I have gotten off tract in regard to the title of this blog, I haven’t. Christmas has become so commercialized and so formalized that it seems like we don’t really get to the heart of the season, the reason why we celebrate. As my cell group had been studying the book of Genesis, and the promises of God had been a recurring theme throughout that book, this season, I have looked at the birth of Jesus quite differently. In light of the book of Genesis, God’s provision of Jesus to save us is so awesome to realize.

Looking back at the book of Genesis, covenants were contracts between two parties who each agreed and made promises and, if they were not fulfilled, the party who did not fulfill their part could be (would be) killed. In the Covenant between Abram and God, Abram never walked through the blood sealing his promise, but God walked through twice. God made a promise of His own and then promised to keep Abram’s part. Abram’s part was that he’d “walk before me [God] and be blameless.” (Genesis 17:1b) Impossible? Yes. But God promised when he went through the covenant blood that he’d keep Abram’s part. And it was not just Abram’s promise, but “Then God said to Abraham, ‘As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.’” (Genesis 17:9) God told Abraham (his name got changed here) that not just he would need to be blameless, but all who would have God be their God would need to be blameless.

How can we do this? Be blameless? We can’t. But God, knowing that Abraham/Abram (and us) would never be able to keep that promise, walked through the covenant blood for us and would keep that promise for us. How? Jesus. Because we couldn't keep the promise of blamelessness (and God chose to keep it for us), the covenant would be fulfilled with the death of Jesus. To me, it is so amazing that Jesus was willing to do this. To be a sacrifice for me who has never been, nor never will be here, blameless.

2 Corinthians 1:20 (NLT) reads that: “For all of God’s promises have been fulfilled in Christ with a resounding ‘Yes!’ And through Christ, our ‘Amen’ (which means ‘Yes’) ascends to God for his glory.” God fulfilled all His promises to His people with Jesus choosing to come and be a man and Him choosing to be our sacrifice (see Philippians 2:6-8). The Promise of God was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus and in His choice to submit to death. This idea has hugely influenced my outlook on Christmas this year and on how important this birth was. It had been thousands of years in the making, and we only celebrate God’s willingness to be like us and to die for us one day a year, and that has been made so commercialized it has become unrecognizable. The celebration of the Advent of Jesus should be recognized for what it used to be, the anticipation and longing for our God’s sacrifice.

The term “advent” means the “arrival that has been awaited (especially of something momentous).” I realized this year that I don’t celebrate the birth of Jesus through the whole month in anticipation of celebrating that He came to live and die for me. I worry and I fret about money and buying gifts, about having time for Christmas parties and friends and family. I need to re-prioritize my life and realize that it is the advent of Jesus that has given me forgiveness, grace, and mercy. That it is due to that covenant between Abram and God, that God kept both parts, that I am saved through that choice God made to love me unconditionally. Shouldn’t I take that realization and let the Holy Spirit work in me to make me a new creation? Shouldn’t I let go of the old man and put on the new? (See Ephesians 4:17-24) I need to let the Advent of Jesus and the celebration of His life and death change me, make me new, and make life about Him, not me.

Advent song to make way for Jesus

For the most part, I'm not from a hymn-singing generation or church. Neither do I "celebrate" Christmas like many do by following the tradition of Advent. However, this song's lyrics hit me as I read it on someone else's blog, and thought that it really should be repeated for others (oh so many who read this) to enjoy and meditate on; to prepare your heart for Jesus and the Christmas season!

On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry

On Jordan’s bank the Baptist’s cry
Announces that the Lord is nigh;
Come, then, and hearken, for he brings
Glad tidings from the King of kings!

Then cleansed be every breast from sin;
Make straight the way for God within;
Prepare we in our hearts a home,
Where such a mighty Guest may come.

For Thou art our Salvation, Lord,
Our Refuge, and our great Reward.
Without Thy grace our souls must fade
And wither like a flower decayed.

Stretch forth Thine hand, to heal our sore,
And make us rise and fall no more;
Once more upon Thy people shine,
And fill the world with love divine.

To Him Who left the throne of Heaven
To save mankind, all praise be given;
Like praise be to the Father done,
And Holy Spirit, Three in One.

- Charles Coffin, words

That's My King, Do You Know Him?

Very cool audio/visual to Rev. Lockridge's most famous sermon.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6wL1IvMuWo