Much To Do!

The days are flying by here at First Euless, and each day has some time, if not a lot of time, spent on our plans for Imagine Christmas, From The Beginning. There is just so much to do as we keep moving toward this wonderful event. I hope you will pray for us as we are in constant work and motion to make this year's version of Imagine Christmas the best yet.

With so much to do to get ready, it does make me stop to ponder what it must have been like for Mary. She was just a girl and one blessed day her entire world changed. She went from planning to be a wife to planning to be a mother. And she knew that she was carrying God's baby. She missed so many things to surrender her will to God's will for her life. And I IMAGINE that threw her into a constant state of motion and preparation. She did journey away from her family for a portion of her pregnancy. Her cousin Elizabeth was carrying a very special child too. And Mary's heart was moved to go and stay with Elizabeth for a while. Don't you know she learned so much as she waited and watched Elizabeth give birth to the one who would "prepare the way for the Lord". How much they talked, planned, sewed and prepared over those many days. But Mary's journey was so different. Elizabeth had a husband, a house, a plan. Mary had so many questions. I love this passage in the Bible where it simply states that "Mary pondered all of this in her heart." At night, did she wonder if Joseph would ever look at her like Zechariah looked at Elizabeth. When Elizabeth gave birth, did she wonder if she'd be able to handle the pain? Did she look around at all of Elizabeth's friends and family and wonder who would be there to help her when her time came? When she saw Zechariah hold John for the first time, did she wonder if Joseph would love her baby, knowing that it wasn't his? Would he help her raise God's Son? So much to do....so many questions to be answered... I can only IMAGINE just how much faith Mary must have had to trust God for all of this and so much more.

Imagine Mary's Mundane Monday

Have you ever let yourself imagine just what Mary might have been doing the day that the messenger from God paid her a visit. Imagine for just a second...perhaps she was out in the harvest field picking up the barley or wheat that her father had just cut down with his big sheath. Or maybe she was washing dishes out behind her family's humble dwelling. Maybe she was taking the other children for a walk so her mother could have a moment of solitude from the busy chores of child rearing. Or maybe it was something fun that a young girl would be doing, like playing hide and go seek with her other adolescent friends, when there in the middle of the corn field that she was hiding in, an angelic being stepped out from behind the rock and met her in the middle of the mundane.
This makes me think about my day. It was filled with meetings, emails, phone calls, lots of time spent on IMAGINE CHRISTMAS, but at any point did a find myself at a place where I could meet God in the middle of the mudane? Was there a phone call that I needed to take because the person on the other end was a miracle moment put in the middle of my Monday? Or a person I passed by because I was just really ready to get home and out of the mass of people that were shopping at Wal-Mart? Or that potential "sweet mommy moment" that my son needed but felt like an interruption while I was cooking dinner? These are ministry moments that I surely could have missed in many places on this mundane Monday.

But what about an encounter with the Holy One. I'm not suggesting that a messenger from God the Father was going to step around the corner at the grocery to deliver a message straight from the throne of Heaven. But the Spirit does live inside me, and He richly fills me each and every moment that I surrender to walking in the Spirit. A moment of obedience so that I know the right thing to do; or a moment of encouragement from the peace He promises to fill me with when I surrender to His will. So many days can become mundane. I challenge you to be like Mary, and find yourself in a place where God Himself can meet you in the middle of the mundane. Mary's meeting changed our world FOREVER! Who could have imagined?

To God Be The Glory

I love the words to the hymn, "To God Be the Glory".
"To God be the glory, great things He has done. So loved He the world that He gave us His Son. Who yielded His life an atonement for sin, and opened the life gates that all may go in. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the people rejoice! O come to the Father through Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory great things He has done!"
Now you might be asking yourself, what does this have to do with Imagine Christmas? Aren't we on an imagination journey towards IMAGINE CHRISTMAS, from the beginning? And my answer is this has everything to do with why we celebrate Christmas. You're probably like me. I sing this song and automatically think about the cross. And yes! It WAS the great thing He did for us, the way to redeem us back to Himself. But He didn't come as a grown up, walk up the hill to Golgotha and lay His life down, once for all. No, God the Father gave up His son long before that, when Jesus laid down His kingly robes, and stepped across His created galaxies and solar systems to come and dwell in the tiny womb of a young girl. He lived inside, just as you and I did, completely dependent on His mother for life. He was born the same way you and I were, only I wasn't born in a cold, dark barn. My mom didn't have to lay me down for my first nap in a feeding trough on rags. This is where "the great thing" He did for you and me began. In a little village, on what seemed to be a normal night. But God the Father waited, just like Mary and Joseph did for The Son to be born. And then, He had to learn and grow just like you and me. He stumbled and fell when He learned to walk. He had chores. He worked hard and sweated like His earthly father, Joseph. The journey to the cross didn't speed up because He was God wrapped in flesh. So, at this time of the year, when I sing "To God Be the Glory for the great things He has done!" I think about His coming and becoming a baby people. It took 30 years x 365 days before Jesus officially began His ministry on earth towards the cross. And every day and every experience and every step was made with you and me in mind! Wow! Just IMAGINE IT! TO GOD BE THE GLORY FOR THE GREAT THINGS HE HAS DONE!

The Promise

Have you ever studied Promises in the Bible? My favorite promise and one of the first ones recorded for us to watch unfold was the promise God gave to Abraham about being the father of many nations. If you know this old story, then you know that Abraham was married to Sarah and they were married a long, long time, and were unable to have children. All along their journey, God sent word by messengers and Himself told Abraham that his descendants would be as many as the grains of sand near the ocean. But years passed by and there was no promise fulfilled. The Bible says that "with all hope gone, Abraham had faith in hope of the promise." And in his and Sarah's old age, a son was given to them. And the people that God lovingly calls His children began with a son named Isaac.

But there was another Promise yet to be fulfilled. When sin entered the world, God's plan was to send a Redeemer to make a way for us to come back to him. Not the same way as in the garden, but a Savior, a sin debt paid "once for all" - and the plan was His Son. But there were many silent years when the children of Israel, Abraham's descendants had no word from God. He was silent. There are no books of the Bible to bridge the years of silence. But quietly, the children of Issac prayed and awaited "The Promise". The petitioned their quiet God, asking for Him to send the Promised One. "Emmanuel is sure to find us soon...." Quiet waiting is so hard.
And then there was a angel who was sent to speak to a young girl, whom had been chosen to be the mother of Creation's child. She was a virgin, but had been promised as someone's wife, Joseph - a good, God-fearing man. She would be the blessed one who would bring God's Son into this world, The Promised One had been sent to us. He didn't arrive on a big white horse. He didn't have a coronation ceremony. There were no royal robes and silver spoons. It was a quiet night, in a cold manger, when His mother and His earthly father would watch Him take his first breath. God's child entrusted to them to raise as one of us.
You know, Abraham knew God very well. He had one promise to be fulfilled. But I know my Jesus, and He's given me 1000's of promises in His Word. And each and every one of them are promises to be fulfilled, if we trust and have faith. Promises given to me from the Promised One!