Robbed before opening Christmas presents

Ripping open presents is fun except when it’s your presents and someone else did the opening. When I was in middle school, we were in the process of going to my dad’s for Christmas. We arrived at the house to find a window open and all of our Christmas presents open and all the presents were gone. Christmas was stolen from us. It was a life long memory I will never forget. I will admit it was a tough day. As tough as it was for us, in the grand scheme of things it was so small.

 

 

Many people all over the world don’t get Christmas presents. They don’t get the experience of Christmas. A chunk of the world is happy just to survive the day or have food to eat in a day. We have so much to be thankful and can help others. This is what the Apostles told Paul in his ministry…

“Continue to remember the poor, (Paul responded) the very things I had been eager to do all along.” – Galatians 2:10.

Paul understood the point the Apostles wanted to share with him. Give to the poor. Every church gets called with people looking for meeting the basic needs everything from gas to paying bills to a place to stay at night. The church is meant to help those in need. You could be a blessing to someone else.

We had insurance and a little while later we got the Christmas presents that were taken from us, so many won’t get a Christmas present, this could change. There is an organization with this goal in mind. To bring Christmas to kids all over the world and you can help.

Samaritan’s Purse has a project called Operation Christmas Child. http://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/

You can bring Christmas to someone else in the world. They take the Gospel message and present it along with your gift to people all over the world.

Every year I have our middle and high school students from my church do this ministry. They partner, bring money then go and buy Christmas presents to share with people all over the world. Each box needs $7 for shipping and we have a blast giving a present to someone that wouldn’t get one.

Paul calls us to take care of the poor. You can do this. You can make a difference help your community and help those in need. Check out this ministry and see what you can do to help. We might have had Christmas present stolen from us but at least we originally had presents waiting for us. Help someone else enjoy a Christmas present.

Have a great day.

Witnessing the Lions knocking off the Packers for Thanksgiving

The Lions will give the Packers something they won’t want to give thanks for, a loss.

I have a really good feeling about the Lions on Thanksgiving this year.

I always think they will win, but by halftime, that is usually erased.

This year we are going to witness a great event on that day.

There are some things that it would be nice to witness to in my life.

Things I would like to witness….

·         The Lions, Tigers, Red Wings, Clippers and Spartans winning championships

·         Seeing my kids get married to great spouses

·         Seeing my kids doing something amazing with their lives

·         My kids getting baptized

·         A miracle

The list could go on.

What would be something you would like to witness?

Witnessing can take a different take.

Witnessing could be something good or bad.

Witness the Lions win….good.

Witness a murder……bad.

There are certain things we witness in our lives but witnessing can mean more.

In the bible, witnessing can mean sharing Jesus with other people.

You witnessed what he has done in your life and the impact that has made so you want to share it with other people.

Jesus tells the disciples this in Acts 1:8…

“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

In other words, once being filled with the Holy Spirit, they will share Jesus in these places.

Think of it this way, you will share Jesus where you are currently at, in your state or region, in your country and to the rest of the world.

For me this would be Terre Haute, Indiana/Great Lakes, United States and the end of the world.

This is how we are supposed to serve and show love.

We show love to our community then to our state then to our country and to the world.

God put you where you are at right now to do something amazing there.

You can do something great where you are currently at, you do not have to go overseas to be a witness.

We try to this this up with our ministry programs by having the ability to serve.

We just got done with Operation Christmas Child in which we make presents and ship them overseas to different countries where they will receive the gifts.

We can wait to witness great or we can help be a good witness by doing something great.

How can you be a good witness to other people today?

Have a great day.