"Christ"mas?

This is the time of year when everyone gets just a little bit more excited, often times for no apparent reason other than the fact that Christmas is just around the corner. Unless you're an Ebenezer Scrooge, you can't deny that opening a gift on Christmas morning next to a brightly colored tree, surrounded by the people you love makes you at least a little tingly inside.

If you want to be nit-picky about it Christmas did in fact have pagan origins. If you google "The origin of Christmas," you won't find anything that tells us that it began with a celebration of the birth of Christ. But in my opinion, every day should be a holiday celebrating the Savior who died to forgive our sins. Why not take a day that is supposed to be the happiest day of the year and give it back to Christ? One of the things that Jesus does best is take things that are sinful and turn them into things that proclaim his glory. That's what he did with us. It seems quite appropriate to take a holiday that was originally sinful and turn it around in celebration of his name.

In the days leading up Christmas, read scriptures foretelling the birth of Christ. When you're opening gifts on Christmas morning and giving presents to loved ones, use it as a time to remember the gift we have in Christ. Read the story of his birth for devotions that day or even with your family before you open presents. If you have children (or just a sweet tooth), bake a birthday cake for Jesus! I encourage you to find small ways through out the day to give glory to God for the grace that he has given to us.

God, You are Faithful!

This morning, God used a simple message from church to reach my heart. Today we were talking about God as the Lord of Hosts. We started off with several obscure passages but ended up with the well-known story of David and Goliath in I Samuel 17. A lot of times when it comes to the more "popular" stories in the Bible, I tune out because in my pride I think that God can't possibly have anything new to teach me. Today God showed me how very wrong and prideful I am to think such a thing.

One of my biggest struggles right now is my finances. Every time a new semester rolls around, I go through a cycle of worry and prayer, asking God to provide for me. I have a hard time trusting him and believing that he will, despite the fact that he has provided for me countless times in the past. I worry about paying for books, tuition, and supplies for art for weeks. Time and time again, he always blows my worries away with a laugh and shows me that he is there for me.

Today we read these verses that caught my attention:

You come to me with a sword, with a spear, and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the Lord of host... This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand!

I Samuel 17: 45-46ish

David is talking to a freakishly huge giant with big muscles, and even bigger weapons. Goliath could have squashed him like a bug, but here he is standing up to him and telling him off. The people on the sidelines must have thought he was insane! And yet he wasn't. Why? Because he understood something that Goliath didn't. Victory is not determined by the size of your enemies, but by the size of your allies. God was on his side! When the armies of the living God stand up behind you, there is no way that you can fail. Romans 8:31-32 sums it up by saying,

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?

God, the creator of the universe and sustainer of all things, the one who sent his own son to die a brutal death on a cross just so that I could have the opportunity to have a relationship with him, is taking care of me. THAT is the God that I serve. He can and he will provide for me, excedingly and abundantly beyond all that I could ever ask for or imagine (Eph. 3:20).

Egg the City on Easter!

I am incredibly excited about my church's Easter service this Sunday. We're calling it "Egg the City" and we're bringing in the big guns. We're trying to get everyone that comes to bring a donated item so that we can flood our city with the love of Christ by meeting their physical needs.
PLUS... we're having it at TIME WARNER CABLE ARENA!!! Yeah, I said it. Time Warner, baby! We believe that since we're celebrating the greatest event that ever occurred in all of human history, we should at least try to do it right! We've rented out the Arena and are going to have AT LEAST 10,000 people if not more there to praise Jesus and lift him up.
It's going to be an amazing time of worship and celebration. Lives change when Jesus shows up!
My church's website: www.elevationchurch.org
To get a ticket for the event go to: www.eggthecity.com
Service starts at 10:00 AM but you'll want to get there early to get a good seat! Seating starts at 9:15. Bring a little cash for parking.