The Gift

I had no intentions of posting a "Christmas" blog - and then yesterday happened. Yesterday I found a $100 dollars slipped under my office door. Around Christmas, when you don't make a whole lot, times are tough - the same could be said for this year but that isn't why I'm posting.

Several years ago, Christmas Eve 2007, to be exact. I was the Student Pastor at a small SBC church. One of the members, a retired pastor himself, grabbed my arm as we were finishing up the candlelight service. He hands me a $100 dollars smiles at me and says "Every year I pick a young man in ministry to give a gift to - Merry Christmas". I was barely out of college, had been married for a little over 2 years, my son was barely a month old and we were broke. We had plans to go see my parents in Illinois, but we didn't have the money to go - that $100 dollars allowed us to go. To many that might seem like a small insignificant gift - to me it was the world. That small gift changed my world - several months after that, he passed away. My family and I still keep in touch with his wife and their family. I had almost forgotten about this event - until yesterday - now it is all that I can think about.

I don't expect every pastor to find money under their doors next week. That isn't the idea. My prayer would be that this Christmas people would step outside of themselves and remember others this Christmas. Give to someone who needs it - touch someone who touches others. Be in prayer for those around you. Give to someone who never asks for money - who would give you the coat off their back in the dead of winter. I'm not suggesting that I am that person - I'm not suggesting that I deserve that kind of praise or that kind of a gift. My prayer is that this Christmas you would cling to the people in your lives and less to things. May the Christ of Christmas wrap his arms around you and fill you with his love.

Merry Christmas - jb