Hurting

I sprained my ankle last week.  Before you ask, no, I was not skiing.  Or running or climbing a mountain or hiking.  I sprained my ankle when I slipped on a carpet in a school hallway.  It hurt.  By the time I got home it had swollen up like there was a golf ball on the side of my ankle.  I put ice on it for a couple of hours, took some anti-inflammatory pills and headed to bed.  The next morning it was very swollen.  The golf ball had spread out and my ankle had disappeared entirely.  I could hardly walk, I was in pain, and my other leg was getting sore from limping and hopping up and down our stairs on one leg.  Thankfully my ankle is now returning to it’s normal size although I have some nice blue, green and black shades on my foot.

The Bible uses the analogy that the Body of Christ, Christians, are like a human body.  Every part is needed for something and often the parts we don’t think much of are the more important parts.  I get that.  We need each other.  What I didn’t think too much about was the degree to which other parts of the body suffer when one part is hurt.  Yes, I feel badly when a fellow Christian has a problem and is “hurting” but I have never really thought through the ramifications of the whole thing.  I sprained my ankle so I couldn’t use my left foot.  My right leg took much more strain and got tired.  It hurt under the strain of hopping around on one foot.  The Church is like that.  When one Christian is hurting, others help, take over for the one who is not able to serve.  That puts an additional load on those who are helping, those who take on the responsibilities of the one who is hurting.  Everyone who is filling in for the hurting brother or sister is under increased stress, under an increased load.  They too are hurting, and not just because they feel badly for their friend.  They are hurting because of the additional load they are carrying. 

So what?  Well it is a great reminder that we really do need each other and that in a very real way we all hurt when one of those in our fellowship is hurting.  But we joyfully help out because we are family, one family in Jesus, bonded together by His love.  I wouldn’t want to live any other way.

A New Year

It’s a new year.  2011.  Some people think of it as turning a new page, a fresh clean page to begin writing something new with their life.  Others like to make resolutions about the things they absolutely are going to get done this year.  For some people it is a depressing weight, thinking of all that may or may not happen in the coming 365 days.  So many thoughts go through our minds as one year ends and another begins.  Remember the year 2000 and all the questions about what would happen?  Nothing happened, computers didn’t crash, the world didn’t end.  Remember, calendars are a man made thing, totally artificial numbers.  We picked the beginning date for the various calendars we use around the world, not God.  God has his own plans and he doesn’t really care about the particular number on our calendar year.

So what do I want for 2011?  I only have one really deep desire and that is to walk even closer with my Saviour Jesus.  I want to know him even more intimately.  I want to obey Him always.  I want to be totally His.  And I would like my family to follow Jesus in just the same way.  Okay, maybe that is two desires!

It is so easy to write those words, so much harder to carry through on them.  But that is my intent, my goal, my desire.  I want to be always and forever totally in Jesus’ hands.  And since He wants the same thing for me, I know I can count on His help every single hour of every day.  How about you?  What are your desires for 2011?  Do they include the Saviour?

Christmas Traditions

Our family doesn’t have a lot of formal Christmas traditions.  No readings, no singing, nothing like that.  We go to our church Christmas eve candlelight service where we sing Christmas carols and greet our friends.  I usually ski on Christmas eve, getting home just in time for the service.  Maybe skiing is one of my traditions!  Christmas Day we get up later than many, open gifts and have a Christmas dinner with family and friends.  Sometimes we’re at our home, sometimes at my sister’s home.  We try to have a relaxing day, except for Sandra who is often cooking. 

I think that Christmas is supposed to be relaxing.  It should be fun.  After all, it’s a birthday party and you can’t celebrate a birthday without fun and excitement and joy and laughing.  We remember Jesus’ birth, and God’s love and mercy in sending His Son to us.  Can you imagine how exciting it must have been for the shepherds who heard the angel choir?  For Mary and Joseph trying to comprehend what was happening?

We can’t truly celebrate Jesus’ birth if we don’t also remember that God gave His Son to die for us, to die in our place as a sacrifice for our sins.  That’s what Christmas is all about.  A little baby, God’s own Son, born to a virgin, come to reconcile us to God.  Jesus was the most incredible Christmas Gift of all, offered to us by God Himself.  What sorrow that so many people refuse the gift of salvation God offers to them.  Instead of peace with God and eternity with Jesus in heaven, so many reject him and face an eternity of unimaginable torment separated from God.  This Christmas, make sure you truly have asked Jesus to forgive you for your disobedience to God and ask Him into your life as your Saviour. 

May your Christmas truly be a wonderful one of Peace and Joy.

The Christmas Rush

It is so hard to celebrate a nice, peaceful Christmas.  Everything seems to get so rushed in December.  All the friends who haven’t seen you in months suddenly want to see you before Christmas.  There are Christmas parties and more Christmas parties that we just have to attend.  Dinner’s, luncheons, the list seems endless.  We shop, we visit, we send cards which of course have to have nice long letters included in them.  We’re seemingly busy all day, every day, morning to late at night.  There’s nothing wrong with any of these Christmas celebrations or activities, but together they tend to gang up on us and steal the peace and wonder of Christmas.

Stop.  Stop everything for a couple of minutes.  Breathe deeply, smile, think about what Christmas is really all about.  Think about our Heavenly Father who sent His Son to earth to atone for our sins.  Think about the wonder of the birth of Jesus to a virgin, Mary, a young teen who suddenly found herself the mother of the Messiah.  Think about the stable, the animals, the shepherds in the fields tending their sheep, the angels and the birth of our Saviour.  It all happened.  It’s real.  And today we can know the Saviour.  We can have a personal relationship with Jesus.  Each of us is offered the opportunity to truly know God’s love and forgiveness.  That’s what Christmas is really all about.