Advent is a time of preparation for the arrival of Jesus.
Why is it only four weeks of preparation?
What do I do with the other 48 weeks of the year?

The days before Christmas
seem more like a preparation
for partying and gift-giving,
with focus on family get-togethers,
special foods and wrapped packages,
crowding out an honest focus on Jesus
and His mission in coming to earth.
How we slide into idolatry,
the ice of the winter season catching us unaware
until we are put on our backs, looking up.
Then we see Jesus.



* * *

He came ~ Emmanuel.
Emmanuel ~ He is with us.
Yet, He is coming still.

God gave us Jesus.
Jesus lived among us.
And, Jesus is coming again.

While some failed to recognize Him
or did not acknowledge Him
as God’s Son
at the first coming,
His second coming will leave no doubt
about His identity
or the purpose of His coming!

(Am I anticipating His return
or
am I living in such a way that ignores its approach?
Do I long for His coming
or
am I satisfied with things as they are?)

Twila
December 2006

--------------------------------


At Christmastime, we celebrate
the arrival of God's Gift to us,
Jesus .

Many who knew of God's promise
of a Redeemer
and anticipated its fulfillment
did not recognize or embrace Him.
King Herod saw his rule threatened and sought to kill Him.
The priests knew Him as an exposer of their hearts,
criticized Him and manipulated to have Him slain.
One joined His disciples, seeking to work his own agenda.

Some chose to follow Him; they became disciples.
Many were hungry for truth; they listened to His teaching.
Some struggled with physical problems;
they wanted His healing touch.

His mother and Joseph embraced Him
and yet their way was fraught with difficulty:
a pregnancy that could not be explained
or understood in human terms,
a journey of days to pay taxes as she was to give birth,
fleeing to another country, living as refugees
and without the support of family and friends,
returning to their hometown,
a village of which it was said:
"Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?",
and raising a family there,
and then the crucifixion death of Jesus.

That same Jesus was resurrected
and has gone to sit on the right hand of His Father,
having paid in full the debt I owed for my sin.
He now awaits God's direction for His second coming,
when He comes to gather those
who have personally accepted God's gift of forgiveness
through Jesus' sacrificed life.

Some are anticipating Jesus' second coming;
they have prepared and are waiting.
Some ignore the mention of it,
choosing to enjoy life as they know it.

BUT, Jesus will return!
God has promised – and He keeps His promises!

Stay focused on Jesus at Christmastime
and throughout the new year!

Twila
December 2006

MARY SAID “yes”
(Luke 1:38)

Saying “yes” to God is releasing God from the expectation
that He will fulfill my desires
and choosing to cooperate with Him
in what He is doing
in my life and in the world around.
It is choosing (or willing) to be an instrument in the hand of God,
so that
He can do that which would most honor and glorify Him.
It is staying focused daily, and minute by minute,
on Him ~
spending time with Him, experiencing Him,
hearing Him, seeing Him,
allowing Him to provide the day's agenda
by breaking through my ideas and into my plans
with things that may be “life disruptive”, disturbing my emotions,
challenging my thinking,
and frustrating my modus operandi.
BUT, He is God
and His ways are often beyond human knowledge and understanding.
Saying “yes” to God is relinquishing the need
to explain God and His ways to others,
growing in my dependency on Him,
and allowing God to work in me and through me
for His purposes.
Saying “yes” to God is confidently embracing the promises of His “I AM-ness”,
His sufficiency in all situations,
His ability to bring from that which is so incredibly difficult
something that will show His strength, power, and love.
Saying “yes” to God
is providing God the opportunity to move into His rightful position,
rendering me a more useful tool in His hand.

Saying “yes” to God did not insure Mary a life without struggle.
Her “yes” brought with it difficulty from the start ~
an aloneness in her experience that is hard to comprehend,
questions and concerns on the part of her betrothed,
a need to travel via foot into the hill country
to find a barren woman now pregnant for support,
a census that put her on the back of a donkey for 97 miles
during the last week of her pregnancy,
delivering the Promised Child without extended family support,
knowing Herod's wrath that dictated death to all Jewish boys under 2 years old
and fleeing with Joseph and the child to Egypt,
seeing Jesus' ministry arouse the hatred of the Jewish leaders,
watching Him crucified as a criminal.

Jesus' “yes” to God led Him to the Mount of Olives and the hill of Golgotha.
(A "yes" to God has an impact on others' lives!)

To ponder:
In what way(s) has saying “yes” to God made life difficult for you?
Can you see how God has used your “yes” to bring about growth in your life
and impacted the lives of those around you?

Twila Charles Leichty
December 21, 2009

Your life experience has perhaps already convinced you of the fact that
A BABY CHANGES EVERYTHING,
the title of a little book I read several weeks ago.

And, at Christmas time we are reminded that there was one baby,
JESUS,
who, indeed, DID change everything!

The Jewish nation was looking for a king when Jesus was born,
someone who would rescue them from Roman rule.
He was recognized and worshiped by the common people
as well as those from afar,
while the priests who awaited the coming of their Messiah
failed to acknowledge Him as the Son of God
because He challenged their traditions and man-made laws.
They sought His death.

Mary, when she responded to the angel's message
that she would, as a virgin, conceive (through the power of the Holy Spirit)
and give birth to the Son of God, believed.
She agreed to co-operate with God's plan.
It did not mean that her life was easy because of that.
She shared with the one to whom she was betrothed (engaged).
He wrestled with it, until an angel of the Lord confirmed what Mary'd told him.
Except for her elderly Aunt Elisabeth who was pregnant with John the Baptist,
and with whom she spent several months,
she did not tell others of the Gift she carried within.
To do so would likely have resulted in her being stoned,
for who would believe a pregnancy could happen except by the will of man?

Joseph and Mary needed to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for a Roman census
right before the child was to be born,
a strenuous 3-day trek of 97 miles, made by foot or riding on a donkey.
The baby was born in an unfamiliar place, without extended family for support.
King Herod, when he learned, from the magi,
that the King of the Jews was born, met with the Jewish priests
to determine the location of His birth.
Learning that it was in Bethlehem and feeling his throne threatened,
King Herod determined to see that the child was killed.
So he issued an order that all baby boys, aged 2 years and under, be killed
in and around Bethlehem.
Joseph, warned in a dream of this plan prior to its issuance,
left the area with Mary and the baby during the night and headed to Egypt,
where they lived until King Herod died.
When they did return to the land of Israel, Joseph thought it best
to settle in a district outside Judea, called Galilee, in the town of Nazareth.

As a child of 12, Jesus talked with the priests in the Temple at Jerusalem
and they were amazed at His knowledge of the Scripture.

Jesus' presence here on earth brought change
into Mary's life, Joseph's life, the Jewish and the Roman worlds,
and it has continued to bring change into the lives of those who seek to follow Him.
When Jesus was baptized and started His public ministry.
He did not fit well the picture people had of a king.
He lived simply.
He related to all people, giving no preferential treatment.
He saw the needs of those around Him and compassionately addressed them.
He called people to follow Him, to learn from Him.
He taught in ways that all could understand His teaching.
He provided answers to people's questions,
answers that stretched their understanding of who He was,
His mission in life,
and how that would all come about.

Some people followed Him because of the miracles He did.
They wanted more – for selfish reasons.
Some people followed Him because they were seeking opportunity to kill Him.
His teaching convicted them and their pride kept them from acknowledging their sin,
so they sought a way to get Him out of the picture,
thinking they could then live as they wanted to.
But some people followed Him because they were hungry spiritually
and sensed, within. that He was the Bread of Life,
that He was The Way,
that He was the Light of the World,
that He, and all that He spoke, was Truth.
And it is these people that truly discovered the truth that
Jesus, the baby born in Bethlehem, changes everything!

As you celebrate the birth of Jesus this Christmas,
remember that the story doesn't stop there.
He took our sin on Himself and was crucified in our place,
so that, by believing in faith
that He did all that was necessary for our salvation
and accepting Him as Savior and Lord of our lives,
we can live, gratefully obedient, worshiping and serving Him forever!

That is JOY in the truest sense of the word,
that is the reason we can sing Joy to the World,
not only at Christmas ~ but throughout the entire year!

Twila Charles Leichty
Christmas 2009