Pastor Harold has left for Africa! My dad and 2 other guys from the church left for Africa yesterday. They arrived safe and sound, but minus dad’s large suitcase.They do have ‘trip insurance’ so the hope is the contents will be replaced, but mom laughed as she said that he will have to speak to his first engagement wearing a suit and tennis shoes!
Please take some time to pray for them (Harold, Tim and Gerald) while they are gone the next couple of weeks. Pray for their safety as they travel and for God’s blessing upon the ministry there.
As Christmas approaches we think of the baby Jesus with Mary, Joseph and the stable and everything is so beautiful. But stop and think what it really meant for Jesus. For all eternity Jesus, God the Father and the Holy Spirit had been together in perfect harmony and unity (trinity). Then Jesus, to fix the fallen world, leaves heaven and comes to this earth for what we would call a suicide mission! He was rejected by men, made fun of, harassed and hunted. He was turned on by his friends and family, abandoned by his disciples and eventually beaten and murdered by the very people he came to save!
And why? To deal with my sin and yours! He did not come to ‘make things right’ or ‘fair’, he did not come to make you happy or heal every sickness and make sure no one you love ever gets cancer. Does our God heal … yes! Does he make things right … yes! Do bad things still happen to us … yeah. It is not because Jesus isn’t doing his job! The second time he comes, he said he will wipe away ever tear from our eyes, no more death, sickness or sorrow. But the first time around he came as a “man of sorrow’ to deal primarily with sin. Not to make you happy but to make you holy.
So remember that Christmas although it is a happy time for many, points to the cross of suffering. That is the reason he came, and aren’t you glad?!
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