Getting into the Mood of Christmas

The most wonderful season is here and as I write looking out on fresh snow I am thinking of the best ways to get ready for the birth of Christ.

We can get all caught up in the celebrations, the trees, the buying and Wrapping of gifts and there is nothing wrong with these outward things but think back on last year. What really got you to the heart of Christmas? Did you really experience God?

Here are a few steps towards a deeper Christmas. 

1. Play Christmas music that feeds your soul.

Recommended on Amazon: 

- CLASSIC CHRISTMAS HYMNS AND CAROLS by choir of Kings College, Cambridge.

- THE MESSIAH ...  all of it. Many versions

- THIS IS CHRISTMAS, the most beautiful music.

2. Take time to enter into the joy.

- Cut out things that you don't enjoy and give yourself a break.

- Movie for the whole family: Christmas Angel ...

3. Take time for quiet and personal devotion.

- Put down the paper and take down the Bible.

4. Give thanks for your God and for the divine child. 

- Hold your focus on the things that last! 

- Read Luke 2

As we approach the manger this year may our hearts be prepared
To receive the miracle of life that awaits.

Hallelujah!

Being Gracious Goes a Long Way

It is that wonderful time of year when strangers share their holiday plans and grocery carts over flow with goods. Today, a woman shared with me that she had been 4 times this week to the same store to grocery shop mainly for a holiday meal.

The aisles are packed with goodies to share. People are in an outreach mode. For years my husband and I hosted a Christmas tea and he baked wonderful cookies and our table overflowed with not only food but old and new neighbours.

We made a special effort to invite people who were new.

Now, since our move, we are new and especially at the holidays we can feel a bit out of the loop, but yesterday, a neighbor invited us to join her family and extended family and friends. It will be a large holiday party and we will be part of the celebration.

I can tell you being a stranger to Idaho that this has had a big impact on me. Even if we could not have gone for some reason the glow of being included would have counted.

We are told in the Holy Bible. DO NOT FORGET TO ENTERTAIN STRANGERS.

May we not be so insular as to forget the newcomers, the old, the lonely, and the hurting for the sake of THE ONE who did not forget to come for us!

Perfect Prayer

It is interesting to me that although God knows all about us, even to the number of hairs on our head, our thoughts and words – we know little of who he is or how he works.

Real, heartfelt prayers can expand our understanding to how wonderful our Heavenly Father really is. If we are undecided, whether or not to go on a certain journey, why not take a chance anyway? The time is short for good ticketing. We want to go but maybe we don't know if this is God's plan or not. Whatever the reasons, it is ok to dare pray with the limited time we have.

Here is a real specific and time limited prayer. "God, your plans are always good for me and your timing is perfect. I need you to let me know in the next 24 hours if I am to go on this trip."

Now this isn't a game. It is a real thing that we are wrestling with. Should I go? Is it In His plan that I go? I can tell you with certainty that if it is a sincere, specific prayer, God your maker, will let you know what the answer is. You may hear him in the middle of the night. The confirmation for your answer is that you will feel peaceful, not stressed about going, or not going.

There is such deep security in knowing that we have such a loving Father who wants good things for us and knows us completely that we can pour out our hearts to him without reservations, know that he hears and gives his perfect answer!

Make Your Prayers Precise

Prayer is serious. We are communicating not with another person but with the God of the universe.

Jesus told a story about a persistent person who needed bread from a neighbour. It was late but the neighbour  continued to pound on the door and finally got what was needed.

Do we try prayer once and give up? Or do we persist? One difficulty in prayer may be that we are vague about a request. The more specific the better. If you need bread, ask for it.

There is w true story of a child of missionary couple. This couple frequently did not have enough money for meat. He wanted a nice big hamburger.

The child prayed. Dear Lord please send us 3 pounds of hamburger meat. Not long after, there a knock on the door and a woman appeared with a grocery bag. You guessed. She told the family she had been led to buy 3 pounds of hamburger meat.

How precise is our prayer on the need we present to God? Are we serious enough to persist in praying through until the answer comes?

If we want to experience God in our nitty gritty lives, we need to get back to real, heartfelt prayer.

Give the Gift of JOY

Anyone who has every been to camp knows two things to be True. You will at some point get dirty, especially over night camping and At the end of the adventure you will be tired and ready to go home.

Touchdown Camp happens in urban environments inside churches and on local playgrounds. The children do get hot and dusty but not to the extent of overnight comps. One thing camps have in common is that everyone gets hungry. We feed not only campers but 50 or more volunteers, most of them teenagers. Some volunteer like a job that week and even the youth are tired, but happy, by the end of camp.

Pizza is one of the camp favorites for lunch and we make sure there is plenty. We also have fresh fruit and healthy snacks throughout the day. Last year a seniors group provided cartons of milk for the children. A men's group helped provide a festive final day of barbecued chicken at the park. Afterwards, the children got to knock down some colorful Piñatas.

All of these things are important but there is another kind of feeding going on all week that nourishes the soul. The Bible is taught and the children, many for the first time, hear good news of Jesus who loves them. This truth is played out in all the mentoring and care of workers for the least of these.

Joy is one of the things that the children take home. They are excited to bring into their humble apartments all they have experienced at camp. I am happy to report that this touchdown camp is needed in many other cities and will have good results again with community love and support.

We now have camps in Tracy, California and in San Jose, California. I am active in Idaho to get camp started for the children is it time to do something great for the little ones in your area? Do not say you are not able. God is able if you have a willing heart.

Open your eyes to see what Jesus would see if he walked through your town today.

Life Seedlings

Ruth Dueker, my mother in law, taught me many lessons. One of them was to seed your lawn with new seed each year. She lived near Pasadena, CA and so she seeded the lawn in winter there.

Here in Idaho, we have a rainy day so I have gone out and seeded my lawn in some bare spots. I think of America and the importance of seeding truth in children the lawn for them is filled with large places for planting truth. Biblical knowledge is very low. Confusion is high.

Ruth understood the importance of mission work. She prayed for and supported the Fuller Seminary students. I saw their pictures on her refrigerator. She and husband, Ken, listened to Christian radio stations and teachers, when they couldn't attend church.

Ruth was a quiet mentor and a good mentor. She listened to me at the beginning of Project Lost Sheep. The first out of town meeting was held in her house with her care giver and one of her best friends who became a faithful intercessor for us. Another friend, the church secretary also laid foundations in prayer for LA.

Ruth prayed for me and all of her children. Her faith got acted out in casseroles for the sick, being faithful in prayer. She was on the prayer team and got a letter each week from her church. She put Project Lost Sheep on the list and for years we got help.

"I take this work seriously" she told me as she opened the weekly letter filled with requests.

From Ruth I learned that prayer was important in an ongoing way. I needed prayer. People needed to be lifted up. Being loving involved knowing needs and being faithful in interceding.

One time I had a real trouble getting from San Francisco down to visit Ruth. Instead of an easy flight to Burbank, I had to wait hours to get a flight to LAX. When I finally arrived my luggage was not there. Tired and hungry, without luggage I got on a shuttle across town arriving around bedtime.

Ruth had home made split pea soup and was waiting. I ate and relaxed. We chatted. The luggage was supposed to arrive sometime in the middle of night.

"Do you want me to wait up for it " ? She asked. I laughed and said the luggage would be fine on the front porch.

That was Ruth. She put herself in my place. She planted so many seeds in me that I keep realising that her seeds have grown into a lawn in my life. Who has planted good seed in your life? Can you be an example for a little one in faith and charity?

Prayers are Miracles

Prayer is serious. 

We are communicating not with another person but with the God of the universe. Jesus told a story about a persistent person who needed bread from a neighbor. It was late but the neighbor continued to pound on the door and finally got what was needed.

Do we try prayer once and give up? Or do we persist? One difficulty in prayer may be that we are vague about a request. The more specific the better. If you need bread, ask for it.

There is w true story of a child of missionary couple. This couple frequently did not have enough money for meat. He wanted a nice big hamburger. The child prayed. Dear Lord please send us 3 pounds of hamburger meat.

Not long after, there a knock on the door and a woman appeared with a grocery bag. You guessed. She told the family she had been led to buy 3 pounds of hamburger meat. How precise is our prayer on the need we present to God? Are we serious enough to persist in praying through until the answer comes?

If we want to experience God in our nitty gritty lives, we need to get back to real, heartfelt prayer.

What A Friend Is

Audrey Hostetler was part of the founding days of Project Lost Sheep. She lived in a small house off Fair Oaks, a few minutes from where I lived. She and I met at Menlo Park Presbyterian church. Her strong interest in missions brought us together. When I told her about forming a non profit for children, she immediately volunteered to pray for us. She was as good as her word.

Those first meetings at her house always involved some dessert, sharing and prayer. Out of these slender beginnings, she really started to pray while she groomed her client's dog in a shed behind her house.

She had a wonderful gift of hospitality. One rain filled, dreary, February day, I arrived at her house to find a bowl of warm stew and a cozy warm ambience. She was my extreme encourager. We referred to prayer as HOME BASE whenever there was a set back. These happened a lot and we just went back to praying. Margaret Zip joined us and eventually we moved prayer and meetings to the First Baptist Church.

Audrey was thin but strong. I remember her smile of encouragement and her joy of life. She once told me that she finished her hard work day with a good bubble bath and a chapter of a light hearted book. She was a balanced person who knew what it took in missions. She herself had spent a few years in Africa on the mission field.

Her husband had died in his 40ties. She had a long life ahead. She made friends, worked and kept involved. When her brother who lived in Saratoga died suddenly, Audrey decided that it was time for her to move to a retirement community in the Modesto area. I was sorrowful as to how we would go on.

Of course there were phone calls and Christmas presents exchanged, but with her departure, phase one of Project Lost Sheep was over. Audrey was an unforgettable friend. Her memory will last in those who knew her and perhaps inspire others to pray big prayers for children.

Let us thank God for Audrey Hostetler who dug a very deep and real foundation in prayer for us. She served her Lord well here on earth and now is experiencing nothing but everlasting joy.