Growing up, Christmas was a magical time for us (me & 3 brothers).  We didn’t have a lot of money, but every Christmas magic happened.  We would spend the day before Christmas shopping for trees.  I had no idea why we waited so long.  I do now.  I always thought it was because nothing was ever done before Christmas.  Dad would put the lights in the window but we never had a tree or saw any presents before Christmas morning.  All I knew was going to bed and waking up and finding the tree up, lights turned on, train running, and stacks of gifts under the tree.  Well…not stacks, but enough to be magical.

Officially, Christmas is this Tuesday.  For many of you, Christmas began weeks ago.  Office parties. Family get-togethers. Shopping. Advent calendars. School parties. Gift exchanges.  And for many of you, Tuesday won’t be the end of it either.  The gift-giving might go on for several more days, even weeks.  The question that may be asked more than any other is “did you get what you wanted?”  Every Christmas has its draws. Tickle Me Elmo.  Beanie Babies.  Cabbage Patch dolls. Pound Puppies.  Bey Blades. Some type of electronic toy.  The list is endless.

I read about a boy who really wanted a watch for Christmas.  He was bugging his parents about a watch and driving them nuts over it. They finally told him to quit bugging them.

One night his parents asked him to lead in prayer at the dinner table and he said, “I’d like to quote a Scripture verse before I pray.  Mark 13:37 says, ‘I say unto you what I have already told you before-watch…’”

He was resourceful if nothing else.    But that brings up exactly what I am trying to say.  We often focus on certain gifts, and are even disappointed if we don’t get them.   We will spend a lot of time looking for that “perfect” gift for someone, looking for that huge bargain, that one gift which says it all.

There are gifts that really matter though.  This is what I hope you find (discover) this year for you and your family:

The gift of forgiveness.  Much happiness and joy is lost because we either don’t have it or can’t give it.

The gift of peace of mind. True peace cannot and will not be found in temporary things.  It won’t be found in escapes. I pray you will find peace in freedom from guilt, grief, and grudges.

The gift of eternal life.  No greater gift can be found.  John 3:16 is the consummate Christmas verse (IMHO).

I will be sharing this Christmas list Sunday morning as well.  It is my wish for you.  It is my wish for the people I pastor.  I pray you will have a time of celebration and discovery.

Swing by Sele and Ed’s place to see what they are writing about.

My guest post this week is from Ed Christian, one of the newer visitors to my blog.  Ed blogs here.  Make sure you check out his blog when you are done commenting.  It is not too late to be a part of this series of telling your story.  Contact me at pastor@ovcf.org for some guidelines.  Now…here’s Ed’sStory.

My name is Ed Christian and I will be 69 this December. I was raised on an Indian Reservation, mostly by my Grandfather. He taught me to read the bible for at least an hour a day. I let Jesus into my heart when I was twelve years old. It truly was the greatest day of my life! As I read the Bible I found I was intrigued from what I was learning and found myself reading more than the required one hour a day. I think I got to know God’s plan for me, as I learned He had a real personality.  As I think back I was awed that God is so knowable. In Psalms I found He is creative for us. He wants us to be aware of his power and to rely on Him.

“Great is our Lord and mighty in power; His understanding has no limits” (Psalms 147:5)

            I found God is always right and that His wisdom is unlimited. I found He understands my situations and knows all the events related to them. He can be trusted to lead you in the right direction all the time.

“No one whose hope is in you will ever be put to shame….” (Psalms 2:3)

I found I could go to God with anything, He is approachable. He welcomes us to come to Him and engage in conversation on any subject.

The Lord is near to all who calls on Him, to all who call on Him in truth.” (Psalms 145:18)

Then I remembered that God is so forgiving. He has forgiven me of my sins and wiped them away, from the minute I first formed a relationship with Him.

“We are made right in God’s sight when we trust in Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we all can be saved in the same way, no matter who we are or what we have done… We are made right with God when we believe that Jesus shed His blood, sacrificing His life for us.” (Romans 3:22, 25)

When I remember how I felt when Jesus first came into my heart, the joy of having my life given back to me as a child of God.

I also remember after I returned from Vietnam, He helped me recover from the horrors of war. Being a marine sniper during the Vietnam war did a number on me, left me completely broken, half dead and mostly out of my mind. On my last mission, in Cambodia, unknown to us, we were being targeted by four Chinese snipers. There were rumors China was helping the North Vietnamese but we had no proof. At any rate we found our target and rendered it harmless. On our return to base we were targeted and my spotter was killed taking a bullet that was meant for me. I completely lost it. After making sure he was well covered in brush, I took out after the Chinese. It took three days but I was able to find them and rendered them all harmless. I was shot in the leg in the process. I cleaned and wrapped my leg and made it back to where I hid my spotter. After redressing my wound, I managed to carry my spotter and myself back to base. Shortly after that I was returned stateside with my unit. At that time the country hated us marines and all military in Vietnam and we were spit on, had rocks and garbage thrown on us and worse of all the VA refused to give us the necessary treatment to heal our wounds and mental disorders.

Thanks to my family, friends and a very nice angel of a missionary, I was able to return to somewhat normal life after nine years or so. I must add I turned away from God during this time figuring He would never forgive for what I did over there. The missionary prayed with me and told me God never left me and he was always there for me. Now if I can just forgive myself.

It has been 41 years since I came home from Vietnam and I still have nightmares. They are getting better and I have come to the point where I forgave myself for what I did there. That God forgave me and blessed me with a wonderful family and friends has helped bring me around. My first wife left me when the nightmares were the worst, but God has blessed me with a wonderful woman, Ann my second wife who is my best friend and companion. We are very active in our church and are blessed daily with continuing good health. I do have two brain tumors that are inoperable, but can be managed with medicine. I get three shots in the back of my head every three months to help with the pain and have pain medicine to help me sleep at night.

To wake up every morning with a song in my heart and a blessing of another beautiful day. God is great and He is continuously blessing us with His grace.

Thank you for reading my story.

Efchristi2@yahoo.com

What would you like to tell Ed?  Feel free to comment and he will be able to answer.

Whenever I think of demolition one man comes to mind.  First, you take a gander at it and put your answer in the comment section.  Okay my answer:

TIM “THE TOOL MAN” TAYLOR

His antics often kept me in stitches.  His efforts to “soup up” a lawn tractor in order to race Bob Vila.  His competition with Christmas decorations is a classic.  Here is one that makes me laugh:

Tim was always good about wanting to make improvements with “more power” (OH OH OH), but in the long run usually made a mess of things.   Myself?  I tend to be the Master of the Unfinished (projects that is).  There have been times I have taken on a project, gotten so far with it, then with a “see you later” leave the project unfinished until push comes to shove. No, not Jo pushing me.  Time crunch.

I am writing this section early Sunday morning, anticipating a big turn out for our Demolition Day.   I wrote  here about our Special Easter Offering and what it was for.  If you didn’t have a chance to read it, you may want to do that now.   Things will make more sense to you.  After long months of planning and hitting several roadblocks, we are realizing a goal today.  Following our morning worship and a light lunch, we will begin the demolition of what will eventually become our worship area.  Right now it consists of walls and rooms that really make it hard to see what it will look like.  I have tried envisioning it, and even though I have a pretty good idea of what is coming, I still think the reality will be even greater.  To move from 800 sq. ft of worship space with a low ceiling to about 1800 sq. ft with a high ceiling will be phenomenal.

I am proud of our people.  We are not a wealthy community, nor are we a wealthy church, by any stretch.  But the folks have caught the vision and come through big time.  Our Special Offering and Building Fund now stand at $36000+.  With our bottom line at $32k that is exceptional!  It will allow us to do some things we thought we would have to put on hold until a later date.   I’ll be back to give you an update on how the day went.

I am writing this section on Monday morning.  After 7 hours of demolition; of lifting and throwing; of pounding and pulling; of yanking and “heads up below”; of carrying and “crowbarring”;  along with 50+ some volunteers (off and on all afternoon), I called it a night.  To be honest, my fingers and hands were so stiff and sore that I couldn’t have typed a word.  This post is unfinished, but my next post will do that. Have you ever renovated something?  Have you found that sometime renovation is harder than building from the bottom up?  Oh, and thanks for your prayers.   Everyone made it through (I won’t say unscathed) but nothing major.  I can say there will be a lot of sore people today. 

Have you ever been watching a TV show or movie and found yourself saying, “Man, I hope they get what they deserve!”  Even in real life we watch someone do something to another person that really reeks.  My first reaction is “I hope they don’t get away with that.  I hope the hammer comes down on him or her.”  I have even found myself reading a book and almost jumping to the end to see if vengeance is meted out…in spades if possible.

I DON’T LIKE THAT ABOUT MYSELF. 

After all, as a Christ-follower, I should be over those kinds of feelings.  Shouldn’t I?  Those aren’t “Christian” feelings are they?  I don’t know about “Christian,” but they certainly aren’t Christ-like, that’s for sure.  The desire for even-handed treatment is strong in many of us.   Okay… let me put it another way: the desire for vengeance is strong in many of us.  There…no beating around the bush.

Jonah shows us that despite being a prophet of God, he was also capable of pulling some real bonehead moves.  Trying to run away from God is just one example.  Chapter 4 shows us another side of this man.  “Successful” in his preaching of gloom and doom, the people of Nineveh did exactly what he was afraid of.  But worse yet!  God did exactly what he was afraid of.  The people repented. God relented.  The people respond with humility and repentance in sackcloth and ashes, while God responds with forgiveness and grace.

OH, HOW I WISH I COULD RESPOND THAT WAY!

Funny part is…God was just  being God. He was keeping His word.   “Seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”  Is.55:6-7.   Those words show God’s heart of grace and forgiveness.  Even when mine is so far away.  Even when Jonah’s was nowhere close to that.   Nineveh’s repentance was not what Jonah had in mind!  Wipeout is more like it.   Ironically, Jonah’s words in 4:2 are rather revealing: “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country?  That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”  Right on the tick Jonah!!

How do you react when someone doesn’t get what is coming to them?  Just curious.  No judgment.  How can I?  What do you do when you begin to feel this way?  I’d like to hear your thoughts.  And if you have a little bit of time, I wouldn’t mind it if you would pray for me/us for Sunday.  Thanks to Dan for the banner for this month.