A Christmas Story

I'll start by explaining what we were doing in a Chinese restaurant on Christmas Day. Nineteen years ago, I was pregnant with my fourth child, Kyle. My three oldest were gone for the first time ever on a holiday, spending the day with their Dad. Chuck and I were alone. All of our holiday celebrating had taken place on Christmas Eve. We decided to go out for dinner, quickly finding out that this was not going to be as easy as it sounded. Who knew that there wasn't one restaurant open on Christmas Day? Don't people have to eat on Christmas too? Just sayin'.

After driving all over the proverbial half-acre, lo and behold we found a place to eat. Much to our delight we learned that there ARE establishments open on Christmas Day...Chinese restaurants! I remember feeling a little like a loser. As I looked around the room at the other patrons, I remember wondering what their stories were. How does one find them self in a Chinese restaurant on Christmas Day? No family? Family doesn't want anything to do with you? Or, like Chuck and I, maybe they had celebrated the day before. Whatever the story, there were a lot of folk in that restaurant, on that Christmas day, nineteen years ago. And every Christmas Day since then.

We decided to make this a Christmas tradition. We haven't missed a Christmas Day dinner at Wong's Garden .. not once. I remember the first year we took Kyle. He was only nine months old and I'm putting it nicely when I say that his behavior was abominable. Most years it was just the three of us. There was one year when my daughter Kelly joined us because she and I had spent the afternoon in the ER with strep throat, and she didn't go to her dad's house. My brother joined us one year, our son Brian another. But Chuck and Kyle and I have faithfully taken our egg drop soup together at Wong's for nineteen years. Last night was no exception.

The scene was the same. In the far corner was a large family, adults and little ones. Many tables were full with couples and foursomes. There was a line for carry-outs. The Christmas tree was up. It's been the same tree every year. A large statue of Buddha sat in the same corner as always. Kyle remarked that he couldn't understand how anyone would worship Buddha. Good question. Christmas music was playing overhead. WNIC...100.3. Waiters and waitresses bustled about and seemed particularly busy and disorganized this year. The owner was helping out and took our order.

A couple of tables away sat an elderly women with gray hair, at a table for four, all alone. She caught Chuck's eye first, and he said that he would really like to pay for her dinner. I asked him if he was sure that she was alone. He was sure. He had checked it out. She was actually done eating and getting her traditional carry-out containers to take home. Our hearts were touched by the sight of her, alone for dinner on Christmas Day. Now I can vividly recall years when we were counting our last dimes to make sure we had some money to carry on our tradition. In those days we would be cut short until the next pay day for sure, but we weren't going to miss this dinner. And there were years we barely had enough. Yesterday, to God be the glory, He is so faithful...we had enough to buy this women's dinner and ours. So it wasn't about sacrificial giving. But it was definitely about something.

When the owner took our order Chuck explained to her that we would like to pay for the elderly women's dinner. No problem. We watched from a couple of tables away when she explained to her that her bill was taken care of, but we couldn't see her face. Here's where it gets good. She bundled up her coat,taking her carryout containers in hand, and proceeded to go out the door. One of the waitresses started screaming for her to come back! She thought the lady was skipping out on her bill! The table next to her started yelling, "No, No, the boss lady said that someone paid her bill!" Whew! Out the door she went.

Once she was gone, "boss lady" came to our table to ask if we were a relative of the woman. Now if we were, don't you think we would've been sitting with her? Just sayin'. Anyway, she told us that the lady had begun to cry when she found out that someone had paid her bill. It turns out that her husband passed away two weeks ago, and her son was a no-show for this very Christmas dinner. Sweet Lord Jesus!

I mean that! Sweet Lord Jesus!! Over two thousand years ago, God so loved the world that He gave His One and Only Son, Jesus. Jesus ... Immanuel...God with us. Over two thousand years later, on a cold Christmas night in Michigan, He is still God with us. He was God with that elderly woman. And He showed her, up close and personal, how much He cares for her. What I didn't tell you is that we almost didn't go to dinner last night. We almost got carryout. But something inside of me was saying that we should go and not break the tradition. Oh, thank you for the promptings of your Holy Spirit!

Do you see how our God cares so deeply and personally for each and every one of us? He knows how many hairs are on that grieving woman's head. Her name is engraved on the palms of His hands. His voice spoke from Heaven. He chose to come to her intimately, in the middle of a Chinese restaurant filled with strangers, and tell her... "I love you daughter. You are not alone. I am with you." And I'm humbled and so intensely grateful that He chose to use our little family to bring His message.

When all was said and done, "boss lady" told us that she had told the woman that God was looking down on her. I don't know if "boss lady" is a believer, if she just said the word "God", if she's a Buddhist, or what. But she gave "God" the glory and so do I. She also told us this, "I have never before seen people like you."

Oh, boss lady, I have never before seen anyone like my Jesus!


"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom His favor rests."

Can God Interrupt Your Life?

"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." (Luke 1: 38)

I don't know about you, but I don't like interruptions. Ask anyone that knows me well and they will be sure to tell you that I'm a little obsessive-compulsive. I usually have a plan, organized and well thought out, and I set my mind to get it done. I'm not just talking about big projects. I'm this way with the day to day activities of my life. Lord knows, don't call me before 11AM. I'm busy, don't you know. I do not like interruptions.

Well, imagine being Mary. Her marriage to Joseph had been arranged by her parents. The contracts were negotiated. She was considered a married woman and was called Joseph's wife. She was very young. Jewish maidens at that time were considered marriageable at 12 years and 6 months of age. Can you even imagine? Mary was somewhere in the one-year waiting period where it would be demonstrated that she was faithful to her pledge of purity. If she was found to be "pure" after this one year, Joseph would come and in a grand processional march, take her to live with him as his wife. If she was found to be pregnant, therefore unfaithful, their marriage could be annulled. She and Joseph had never had sexual intercourse and Mary herself was faithful. We don't know exactly where she was in that waiting time period, but I imagine she was planning her life with Joseph and anxiously awaiting their wedding day.

So Mary's going about her day and BAM! the angel Gabriel appears to her. I don't know about you but I don't get too many angelic appearances coming my way and I'd be a little taken aback, to say the least. He tells her that she is highly favored and specially honored by God. And that she would have a Son. She can't imagine how this could be since she was a virgin. Literally it means "since I do not know a man." She didn't doubt the angel's words but merely wanted to know how such an event would be accomplished. The angel told her that the Holy Spirit would miraculously bring this about. And he adds, "nothing is impossible with God."

There would be such misunderstanding in the community. Tongues would be wagging at the well. This could result in Mary being stoned (Deuteronomy 22: 23-24). Joseph's heart would be broken. What would he do when he found out? She could've refused. She could've fought with the angel. She could've asked for time to "pray about it." But it is at this very point that Mary says the most amazing thing. "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." Because of this interruption in a normal day, Mary's life would never be the same. And frankly, neither would ours. Mary's life could be interrupted by God.

What about you? Can God interrupt your life? Can He step into a normal Tuesday and ask you to allow Him to rearrange everything you know as normal to further His purpose in your life and the lives of other people? Sometimes the rearrangement is small. Like stopping your daily routine to give encouragement to a friend who calls. It only takes a few moments. Sometimes it's a little bigger and you are made aware of a need and you sacrifice some finances to help or He is asking you to get involved at your church. And other times what God asks is life-changing. A complete turn in the direction that you thought your life was going. You are asked to take care of an aging, ailing parent. Your child is in big trouble and needs you to set aside your own life and pour into theirs. A marriage is floundering and you are asked to model a "gentle and quiet spirit" and do all that you can to make that marriage work. You are asked to honor that covenant of marriage. You may get stripped of finances, comforts and things that you hold onto in this life and God may ask you to make your life all about Him. God may close doors in your ministry or your church and be telling you to move on to uncharted waters. To try something you've never done before. To trust Him with the unknowns in your life. And to leave the consequences of your obedience to Him.

I don't know what your interruptions are. And maybe you don't either. Start paying attention. No event is insignificant in God's eye-view. Be aware of every circumstance that you encounter in your everyday. Ask yourself, "Is this a divine interruption?" Will you argue? Will you refuse? Will you have to take forever to "pray about it". Don't get me wrong, we must pray, but I believe that Christians very often use this as an excuse for not accepting the interruptions of God. If Mary had argued, delayed or refused we wouldn't have Jesus! She was part of an awesome plan that God had for her life. She was chosen to be divinely interrupted that day. To have her life turned upside down. To face unbelievable circumstances. For Him. Can we say, today, if we are divinely interrupted, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said?"

Anticipating interruption,

Donna

The Word Is Alive

Donna Golen Schultz said, "But I'm worried". And He said, "Do not worry." So I said, "But I need to be concerned." And He said, "Be anxious for nothing." I said, "But I need to know." And He replied, "I know the end from the beginning...beginning to end. Trust Me." Amen.

That's what I posted as my Facebook status this morning. They're not just arbitrary words, made up in order to have something pithy to say on a Wednesday morning. And today I realized just how not-arbitrary they are. I was reminded once again of just how vitally important knowledge of God's word is in walking through this life.

I used to pride myself on the fact that I had purposeful quiet time with the Lord each and every morning, no matter what. There's nothing like caring for a 20 month old who wakes up at varying hours of the morning, to show me that my times are in someone else's hands. Most mornings are not spent with my cup of coffee (or two or three), in sweet communion, one-on-one with my Savior anymore. Most mornings, my intake of the Word comes from a precious devotional book, read while Ashton's drinking her morning "bubba." But that has not stopped me from talking. From the time I wake up, I am still talkin' to the Lord. He never fails to answer me. Just so you know, I don't hear the audible voice of God. I sure wish that I did. He speaks gently to my Spirit and He always speaks His Word. That's my point.

I realized that if I hadn't lived on a steady diet of God's Word for the last so many years, someone or something else would be speaking to me in the difficult seasons of life. Oh, it might be my own selfish, self-centered, easily carried away mind. Often, it would certainly be the voice of the Enemy, because I wouldn't know that he is a liar and the father of lies, so I'd take it all in. If I didn't have God's Word hidden in my heart, I'd have nothing and no one to speak truth to me. I remember reading more than once about Christians who were in prison, their Bibles confiscated, surviving and sustained by the Word of God that was stored up on the inside of them. They didn't need the physical Bible, because they had the Word hidden in their hearts.

"For the word of God is living and active." (Hebrews 4:12) Because they're not just words on a page, but God-breathed (2 Timothy 3: 16) straight from His lips to your heart, you will hear Him speak just the right word at the right time for the situation where you need to hear from Him the most.

Jesus said in John 14:26, "..the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." How can I be reminded of something that I've never heard before? Because the Word of God is stored up on the inside of me, the wonderful Holy Spirit sees me at my point of need, and reminds me of just what Jesus has taught me. Of just what Jesus has spoken to me over the years. He reminds me of what the Truth is, in a world that is so filled with lies and deception. In chapter 15, Jesus said, "If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you." When His words remain in me, I can ask for wisdom, guidance, comfort, strength to endure, and He will give it me! I believe that He gives me those answers more frequently than not through the Truth that is in His Word.

In Psalm 119:92 the psalmist said, "If your law had not been my delight, I would have perished in my affliction." If I had not made the study of God's word my utmost delight over the years of my walk with Him, I surely would've perished many a time, in many an affliction. I would have followed the other voices. I would've given up in despair. I would have sinned. But in the midst of trouble, even when I can't get to hold a Bible in my hands, that living and active, God-breathed Word can be carried on the wings of the Holy Spirit, straight to my heart and bring a peace that passes all understanding.

I cannot entreat you any more earnestly than I am today to know and love the Word of God. Study it. Meditate on it. Live in it. Bathe in the living water. Don't take it for granted. There may come a day when you won't have it physically in your hand but you will know it firmly in your heart. It is sustenance. It is strength. It is power. It will carry you on eagle's wings through any situation, circumstance or condition. "Do not let this book of the Law depart from your mouth, meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." (Joshua 1: 8)

I pray that you will fill yourself to overflowing with God's living and active Word today and everyday. You'll never be sorry. I'm not!