Chance Meetings

Exodus 3:1-12a

 (Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus%203%3A1-12&version=NIV;TLB

 

What were your expectations for 2016? Whatever they may have been, no doubt you had some things happen that you didn’t expect. For me, one such event was meeting Tim.

 

The week before Christmas, during my lunch hour when I was trying to get home for a quick visit, I noticed that my car wasn’t handling properly. Upon inspection, it was apparent that the left front tire was almost flat. I drove to a nearby gas station only to find out that their air pump was out of order.

 

Frustrated and angry, I attempted to change the tire. After some time with little success, and with my head buried in the trunk as I struggled to pull the jack out, someone asked, “Do you need some help”? It was Tim.

 

For me, it was like an angel had been sent. During the course of changing my tire, Tim told me that he was homeless, but that the Lord was with him. When he had finished the job, I insisted on paying him even though he declined at first.

 

That “chance meeting” with Tim was an unexpected opportunity, for him and for me, to

help someone in need and to share the love of Christ. It helped me to be aware that “chance meetings” aren’t always by chance. In fact, God is in control and He can bring someone into my life in any circumstance; even a flat tire.

When Moses went up on Horeb, the mountain of God, he wasn’t expecting to find a burning bush, let alone one that God would use to communicate through to him. Was this unexpected event a “chance meeting” with God? I don’t think so.

 

God called Moses to lead His people out of Egypt. Moses was God’s chosen leader for this job; an unwilling one, but the one God chose through this “chance meeting”. Despite all the excuses that Moses came up with, it all boiled down to this statement that God made:

“I will be with you”.

 

That’s an important lesson for you and me to learn and to remember during 2017. No matter what our expectations are, God will have some “chance meetings” planned for us. The questions is, will we be ready for them? Tim was.

 

 

 

 

 

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Christmas is Magic

John 1:1-18 & 29

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John%201%3A1-18%20&version=NIV;MSG

 

Christmas is magic. At least that’s how it seemed to me when I was a little boy. What other time of the year could you go to bed that night and the following morning find a tree brightly lit and decorated with gifts all around it? It was magic. But what makes it magical?

 

My parents had a nativity scene that one of us kids would place under the tree each

year. We would take our turn to decorate it as we saw fit. Wherever we wanted, we could place the shepherds, the wise men, the animals, but most importantly, the baby Jesus, Joseph and Mary.

 

Christmas is magic indeed, but not in the way an 8 year old boy thought. Listen to what John wrote:

 

¹In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… ¹⁴ The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.            NIV

 

I like how The Message phrases verse 14:

 

¹⁴ The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood.

 

The Word, that is Jesus, became flesh and blood and moved into your neighborhood; into the house next door to you; maybe even into your house.

 

That’s more than the magic that I thought of as a little boy. When the creator takes residence in his creation, that’s supernatural! Who can do that? More importantly, why would he want to do that? John gives us the answer to these questions later in chapter 1.

 

²⁹ “Here he is, God’s Passover Lamb! He forgives the sins of the world!     MSG

 

Christmas is about the Word who became flesh; who moved into your neighborhood so that your sins could be forgiven. Christmas is about the Lamb of God who was sacrificed to make it all happen.

 

That’s a lot for a little baby to carry on his shoulders. You might even say… that it’s magic.

 

 

 

 

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Your Best Gift Ever

(Love: The 4^th and final devotional on Advent.)
 

1 John 4:7-12
(Use the link below to read the verses.)

 

 

What was your best Christmas gift ever?

 

For me it was a Ford F150 pick-up truck! Never thinking that my wife would actually do it, I had been bugging Debbie either for a pickup truck, or a Mazda Miata. Low and behold, there was a full sized F150 parked in our driveway that Christmas morning with a bow on it.

 

For Debbie, her best Christmas gift ever was a diamond ring. Originally it had been her Step Mom’s engagement ring. When she passed, her Father had it made into a man’s ring. Following his passing, it sat in our lock box for years until I took the diamond and had a ring designed especially for Debbie’s Christmas.

 

Gifts are an important part of how we celebrate Christmas. Whether it’s as big as a truck, or as small as a ring, giving gifts to those we love, to show our love, can be very meaningful.

 

The original gifts of Christmas - Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh – were given in love to the child Jesus; the son of God; the creator of love.

 

^8b…for God is love.  ⁹ God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.    NLT

 

Over 2000 years ago, God sent you and me the best gift ever! It’s better than a Ford F150, or even an irreplaceable family heirloom. The baby Jesus grew into a man who gave his life so that you and I might live ours. He promised an abundant life on earth, and life without end in the presence of our loving Heavenly Father.

 

He is your best gift ever!

 

 

 

 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20John%204%3A7-12&version=NIV;NLT

 

 

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A Christmas Carol

(Joy: The 3^rd of 4 devotionals on Advent.)

 

Luke 7:36-50

(See link below to read the passage.)

 

 

 

When I was a little boy one of the Christmas Eve traditions that we had in our family was to sit down in the living room on the couch with our Father. He would start reading A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. Why my Dad chose to do that is a mystery. Possibly, he was hoping we would get tired and fall asleep.

 

It is a story about a bitter, lonely and ill-tempered old man. He felt that life had been hard on him and that he had earned everything he had. Nobody had ever given him anything, so in turn, he wasn’t generous to anyone. Scrooge’s response to a “Merry Christmas” greeting was, “Bah, humbug”!

 

The story in Luke 7 is about a woman who lived a “sinful life”. The Living Bible refers to her as a common prostitute. She was at the bottom of the social, religious and economic ladder of society. Good people, like the Pharisee in the story, would have

nothing to do with her.

 

We don’t know for sure what her back story was, but we can assume that life had been hard on her. The little that she had, she had earned. Nobody had given her anything. However, she was smart enough and intuitive enough to realize that she was a “sinful woman” that was detested by respectable people.

 

For Scrooge, it wasn’t until his confrontation with the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Future that he was convinced to change his ways. The result was a joyful and generous Scrooge that went far beyond common courtesy to help others.

 

For the sinful woman, it wasn’t until she had a life changing encounter with Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that she changed her ways. She poured out her love for Jesus with her tears, drying his feet with her hair and anointing him with expensive perfume.

 

Two people who previously had no joy. Both recognized their brokenness. Both experienced redemption. One through his encounter with the fictional spirits of Christmas. The other through her encounter with the real life Emanuel (God with us).

 

May you and your family experience the true joy of Christmas this year; God with us.

 

 

 

 

 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%207%3A36-50&version=NIV;TLB

 

 

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A Plaster Cast and Peanut Jesus

(Peace: The 2^nd of 4 devotionals on Advent.)

Psalm 139:1-18

 

 

In 1982, at the ripe old age of 2, our daughter Tara made this Christmas ornament at church; a plaster cast of her hand print. Until she was married, this ornament hung on our Christmas tree every year. Christmas trees and ornaments go hand in hand. They are a Christmas tradition.

 

Traditions are very good at creating security, serenity and peace. When we think we know what waits for us around the corner of life, we experience peace. But life doesn’t always turn out like what we think we know. We can be the best planner in the world when something unexpected happens.

 

During those times, it’s important to remember who is in control. In fact, it is important to remember who is in control all the time. Tara may not have been aware of it when she made this ornament, but God was at work in her life… even before then.

 

¹³ You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit them together in my mother’s womb. ¹⁴ Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! It is amazing to think about. Your workmanship is marvelous—and how well I know it. ¹⁵ You were there while I was being formed in utter seclusion! ¹⁶ You saw me before I was born and scheduled each day of my life before I began to breathe. Every day was recorded in your book!  TLB

 

Tara also made this ornament. We call it, “Peanut Jesus”. It’s the baby Jesus (made of a peanut shell) in a manger. This baby who became a man is the one who brings peace into our world, not only during those times when everything is going according to plan, but also when our world is turned upside down.

 

⁷ Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? ⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are here. ⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, ¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.   NIV

 

A plaster cast and “Peanut Jesus”… who would have guessed that Christmas ornaments could be symbols that would give us guidance for peace in our lives.

 

 

 

 

(If God has spoken to you through this devotional, please feel free to share it with others.)

 

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