An eternal investment (the benefits last forever)
What did you get for Christmas last year?
Off the top of your head, can you even remember? I can’t. Probably because it’s gotten holes in it or it’s out of style or broken or run out. It may have been wonderful, but chances are it didn’t last that long.
Don’t we always want to buy gifts that will last. The gifts that keeps on giving, right? (And that’s not the cheese-of-the-month club.)
And not only do we want to give gifts that last but we want to invest in things that will give us a good return. An investment where the benefits are lasting. For a while we were told that a house was the best investment we could make, right? Well we’ve owned 4 of them and let me tell you, they aren’t that great of an investment.
But can I tell you what is? Investing in things eternal. That is, buying gifts that truly keep on giving. That last not only through next year but into eternity. Pretty good deal, yes? Want to know what it is?
The gift of the God’s Word translated into someone’s own language for the very first time.
Our dear friends, Brendan & Naomi Yoder, are linguists and Bible translators with Wycliffe. They have traveled through Indonesia doing mission work and Bible translation so that God’s Word can be make available to those who have never heard the gospel. It is unthinkable to us, who have dozens of Bibles that we never read, but millions of people still have never heard the gospel and still do not have God’s Word in their own language. It’s tragic.
Brendan is a trained linguist, and he and his wife Naomi will, Lord willing, be moving to Papua (other side of Papua New Guinea) to work at a school, mentoring Natives as Bible-translators so that they can go into the hundreds of tribes (700 languages/dialects in Papua alone) and translate the Bible and share the gospel message with those who have never heard. This is phenomenal work and absolutely part of the Greatest Commission the world has ever received.
Will you join them? They are schedule to leave in January, but must raise $300 in monthly support and $8,000 in a lump sum that will be used for their airline tickets, language school, and a motorbike. This is a steal of a deal, people. Brendan and Naomi are two of the most frugal, modest, humble, God-fearing and God-honoring people I have ever met. Truly. It would be an incredible investment to partner with them in this exciting project of bringing God’s Word to those who have never heard.
They must receive the rest of their needed funds by Christmas in order to leave on schedule. Would you please consider directing some of your Christmas spending toward this opportunity? Perhaps ask parents or spouses to redirect their giving to you to this instead? No pressure, no obligation, but I’d be honored if you’d simply pray and ask God if this is something He’d have you do. This is something that you and I cannot do (unless you happen to be a trained linguist?? I know I’m not!) but we can partner with them through our resources.
How do you go about it? Simply visit Brendon and Naomi’s partner page. It’s easy-peasy. If you have any questions or concerns, or want more information, please contact me via the contact form, or visit their blog at http://brendonnaomi.wordpress.com/. Thank you so much!
{Bless you for your generosity, and thank you so much for reading.}
The 12 Days of Christmas begin…
Did you begin?
For those of you doing the Stealthy Ninja Christmas Angel 12-days of Christmas, today is the day to begin! Not sure how? Here are a few ideas below. Of course it depends on size of family, age of kids, etc. Include a note (disguise your writing if they know you well!) and an encouraging verse or truth from God’s word. Most of all, pray for the family each day and have fun blessing them!
1 pillar candle
2 small loaves of homemade bread
3 candy canes
4 packets of hot chocolate
5 $5 gift card to Starbucks
6 slices of pie (a whole pie sliced)
7 Christmas cookies
8 8-pack of pretty notecards
9 tea-bags (individually wrapped, assorted)
10 small Dove heart chocolates
11 (Christmas Eve) Christmas/worship CD with 11 songs
12 Fresh cinnamon rolls fresh from the oven (or muffins)
Finally, I just love all the precious Christmas cards in the mailbox! I love reading Christmas letters, and I just sit and stare at the precious pics of friends and families we rarely get to see. But then I always hate to just put them away. So another way to make the most of them? Christmas Card Prayers. Each day when you open a Christmas card or two read them and then put it in the middle of the kitchen table. Then that night, when you do family prayer time at dinner, you can pray for the families whose card you received that day. Fun way to bless those who have taken the time to wish you a Merry Christmas.
May your next 12 days, anticipating Christ’s birth, be blessed as you love others, celebrate Christ, and let your heart prepare Him room. Have fun and thanks for reading!
The Gift of Whatever
I had gotten up early. Everything was ready. The baby Jesus doll was hidden. Gifts were wrapped. Cinnamon rolls were formed, rising, ready to bake.
My 4-year-old son was the first to rise. He shuffled downstairs, carrying his new Lightning McQueen car he’d received for his birthday just four days prior.
I bound over, excited. “Good morning, sweetie! Do you know what today is?”
He rubs his eyes, scrunches up his face. “Can I play with my toys?”
I continue: “It’s Christmas! Isn’t that exciting?! And now you get to look for baby Jesus!”
He runs over to the couch, hides his face in a pillow. “I don’t want to look! I want to play!”
“But … after we find baby Jesus we can open your presents!” My mind races. We’re supposed to be at my parents’ house at 10am. We still have to do baby Jesus, open gifts, and deliver hot cinnamon rolls to a family down the road.
My son starts to cry. “I don’t want to open presents! I just want to play with my toys.”
This is unbelievable. I shake my head. What child doesn’t want to open presents? Why is my family always the one where nothing goes right?
I promise him there are more toys to be had, and we finally get him to the tree. He opens a box, a gift sent from a relative. It’s a package of socks. His face falls. Now I’m irate. Really? Come on people, I’m trying to get my kid excited about Christmas and you gave him socks for crying out loud!
“Mommy, I don’t want socks I just want to play with my toys!” Now he’s crying and I’m on the verge.
Eventually we make it out the door. My dear husband, wanting to cheer me up, suggests we stop at Starbucks. He runs in while I stay in the car. It takes him another fifteen minutes because the line is so long. Seriously, people, it’s Christmas! Go home and be with your families! By now we’re an hour late and it shows on my face. I know I’m being ridiculous, but I’m on the verge of tears. Why am I so irrational? It’s Christmas!
Eventually, we make it to the family’s house to deliver the cinnamon rolls. We’ve been doing the Twelve Days of Christmas and it’s our day to reveal ourselves. Their whole family comes out on the porch, all hugs and laughter and genuine joy. I notice they’re all still in jammies. I ask about their day, what their plans are, still struck by how happy they all are.
The mom smiles and responds, “Oh we just relax, stay in our jammies all day. We play games or do something fun. You know, whatever.”
Whatever.
That’s what I’m missing.
The gift of whatever. When we give our family our expectations, everybody loses. We wrap up our ideals, our dreams of the “perfect” day, and then expect them to perform according to our plan. When they don’t, we’re frustrated. All in the name of the most wonderful time of the year.
What if, instead of giving expectations, we gave the gift of whatever. If we decided that whatever happened on a holiday, we’d be happy and thankful. That the only expectations we had were for ourselves, expecting ourselves to be kind. Expecting ourselves to be gracious. Expecting ourselves to be willing to go with whatever.
The gift of whatever might be just what our families need. A fun, flexible holiday where the only thing that’s set in stone is the certainty of joy.
{Over with my favorite Frugalistas today at FrugalLivingNW. Come join us! I pray you have the gift of whatever under your tree this year … Thanks for reading…}
What taints our thanks.
What is that smell?
The kids and I climbed in the car for church, five minutes late as usual, and the odor was nauseating. What was that? I’d noticed a little smell the days before, but we don’t drive much, so it’d been a few days and it was most definitely worse. What could it be?
I leaned in to buckle Heid’s seatbelt and glanced over her seat into the back of the car.
No. Oh no.
A two-pound package of ground beef, wrapped in paper not plastic, was wedged in the back of the car next to a bag of giveaway toys. I could see blood had oozed out all over the carpet and soaked the bottom of the bag.
No. I wonder how long …
I thought back. I had got it from my parents’ house since they store my beef supply in their garage freezer — so it must have been …
a week. A WEEK this meat had been rotting, blood oozing down between the folded down seats, soaking the bag of toys.
This was three weeks ago — needless to say we’ve been working on it ever since.
I wish my car was the only thing that smelled. Since we’re heralding honesty around here, I had to say my life has smelled a bit as well. I kept noticing it, a little odor here and there. But this last week I found the rancid meat and could finally see how it seeped into everything around.
Pride.
Perhaps that word has lost its punch — we use it a lot. But it’s the only one that will do because it’s the one God uses and it’s the only one that truly accurately describes the rancid meat I too often discover wedged into some corner of my life, making the whole thing smell.
Yesterday I listened as Jeff counseled someone over the phone. He said this,
“We say someone hurt our “feelings” but the truth is that feelings are just feelings, they can’t be hurt. What we really mean is that someone hurt our ego. Egos can be injured … they are all the time.”
Aha. That was it. Like a glance into the backseat, I’d found my meat.
Ego. It makes everything stink. It repulses others, pushes them away, repels God, keeps at arm’s length. And, the kicker:
It taints our thanks.
Consider the proud Pharisee’s prayer in Luke 18:11:
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’
I’ve always read this struck by His pride, of course, but never noticed how he begins his prayer:
With thanks.
The Pharisee actually uses thanksgiving as a cloak for pride. He uses words of gratitude but all he’s really doing is boasting.
True thanksgiving is always the product of humility; counterfeit thanksgiving is always the product of pride.
Pride, like rotten meat oozing everywhere, can taint our thanks and turn it into boasting.
Do you see why God hates pride? Why sin ruins everything. Why egos destroy the work of God. Why self stifles our growth and sabotages the Spirit’s labor in us?
I had smelled it for a few weeks but didn’t know exactly what it was.
Now what? Praise be to God that when we name it and ditch it, God is faithful and just to forgive us. The good news is this — this horrible discovery in the back seat of my life, so to speak, has made me soul mates with the tax collector. Without thought or intention, His prayer has been mine this week:
“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’
Have you ever felt that way? Where the tears stream down your face and you bury your head and plead with God, “Have mercy on me, a sinner.”
I hate finding rancid meat but would rather find it and toss it then let stay and continue to stink.
Confession is just like that. See it, pick it up, oozing blood and stinking, toss it out. Spend the next few weeks with the baking soda of God’s Spirit, letting Him deodorize and make us clean and new.
And you know what? This morning I climbed in the car.
It didn’t smell at all.
When we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us of all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
That’s what I’m thankful for.
{And always thankful to you for reading…}