Those New Zealand Kids Sure Know How to Tell the Christmas Story!

Need a refreshing retelling of the original Christmas story? Look at how the kids from New Zealand pull it off....very refreshing!

A Really Small Church with a HUGE Impact

Salem Methodist Church near Hilda, SC

This church reminds me of Bethlehem, birthplace of our Savior.  We read in Matthew chapter two,  the story of the wise men looking for the baby Jesus. King Herod, a local ruler (under the thumb of Rome) , heard about this and wanted to destroy this child who he perceived as a threat to his throne.

Beginning in verse 3 we read: When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him.  When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written: ‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel. '"

God picked a tiny town in Judea to have a HUGE impact on the world. Salem Methodist Church reminds me of Bethlehem and of God's immense power to impact the world. This church building is located about six miles from Denmark, SC, where I live. I like this church a lot. I have taken many pictures here because this is one of the most encouraging churches I know. Most people drive by without thinking anything about its impact on the world.

Historical Marker at Salem Methodist Church

I never stopped until, quite by accident, I discovered an important bit of history.  Holland McTyeire was born on a farm near Govan, SC, and was brought up in the love and nurture of this church. Holland went into the ministry and became a Methodist bishop in Nashville, TN, where he dreamed of establishing a Methodist university. 

In the wake of the Civil War, there was not much money available for his dream, but in 1873, he got sick and had to go to New York City for treatment where he stayed with his wife's cousin and her husband, Cornelius Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt was so impressed with McTyeire, his character and his dream, that he gave him just short of a million dollars (this was in 1873 mind you!)  to establish his dream college. Vanderbilt gave the money under the condition that McTyeire would be President of the Board of Trustees for the rest of his life. McTyeire selected the campus and the faculty for the school which eventually became Vanderbilt University. This university (and its medical school) is known for excellence, and its graduates (including, at last count, EIGHT Noble Prize winners) have impacted the world in immeasurable ways.

This church now only has a handful of members (and I heard was in danger of closing), but its lasting impact on the planet shows how just ONE life impacted for Christ can alter the world. I wonder how many of those saints whose bodies are buried in the church's cemetery taught Holland McTyeire the Bible in Sunday School, and taught him the value of Jesus Christ through their examples.

Why do I like this church so much? It reminds me that each conversation I have with someone could yield eternal results. So small churches take heart! You may not have huge budgets, and massive worship services with spectacular videos, wonderful orchestras,  and amazing praise bands (mind you, God uses those churches, too!), but each life that is influenced by your ministry and witness is powerful in the hands of our amazing Lord and Savior.

I'm glad our Father chose little Bethlehem as the entry point of His Son into our world. I'm glad He gave us the gift of little Salem Methodist Church to impact the world in great ways through the life of Holland McTyeire. And I'm also glad He's giving me opportunities every day to put my tiny, little life in His hands so He can surprise me in Heaven one day, with all the impact I had for His glory and didn't even notice.

Do NOT measure the quality of your life by the standards of the world. Instead remember little Bethlehem and Salem Methodist Church. Remember that we know and serve a loving, powerful Father Who specializes in taking tiny things and using them to accomplish MASSIVE good!!!!

(NOTE: I just submitted a picture of the church to http://www.sciway.net/sc-photos/bamberg-county/salem-methodist-church.html which includes a link for more of the history behind it!)

My Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

A year or two ago I bought a Charlie Brown Christmas Tree for $5 as an after-Christmas clearance bargain. I thought about giving it away as a gag gift, but then I decided I could use it for something else. Every year a handful of dedicated ladies in our church (plus a couple of men to be wreath-lifters and tree-constructors) do an excellent job of decorating our sanctuary for Christmas. I added my "tree" to the decorations! 

Sure, it looks a little out of place, but it's supposed to. I told the church yesterday that I was keeping it out to remind us that one gift we can give to Christ (year round) is to take care of the poor.

It's amazing how often throughout scriptures, our Father tells us to take care of the poor. Jesus reminds us in Luke 14:12-14: Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”

So remember the poor during Christmas (and through the year); it's a gift that our Savior will really like! Remember what that brilliant philosopher Linus Van Pelt said about this little tree in the original Charlie Brown's Christmas special: I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love. The gang then takes decorations from Snoopy's doghouse and transfers it to the tree for an amazing transformation. All it really needed was love, just like you and me, and just like the poor.

The Bible gives us VERY little wiggle room with regards to our obligation to love those in need. One of my all time favorite passages that sums it up is 1 John 3:16-18: This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.

Once again I owe a lot to one of my seminary professors, Dr. Rick Yount, who told our class over thirty years ago, "love is acting in the best interest of another PERIOD!" I've never forgotten that, and I never will. I hope you won't either! So if you want to give Jesus a Christmas present He'll really "love," then love others, especially those in need! 

My Wish for Your Advent Season...That Christ Will NEVER Be Just an Heirloom!

I'm going to try and be true to blogging more, and what better time than Advent. I spent some time this morning browsing the Kindle Store at Amazon for Henri Nouwen books. Here's part of the reason why....a quote from Nouwen's book, Making All Things New: "The beginning of the spiritual life is often difficult not only because the powers which cause us to worry are so strong but also because the presence of God's Spirit seems barely noticeable. If, however, we are willing to live a life of prayer and practice the disciplines of solitude and community, a new hunger will make itself known. This new hunger is the first sign of God's presence. When we remain attentive to this divine presence, we will be led always deeper into the kingdom. There, to our joyful surprise, we will discover that the power of our worries is weakening and all things are being made new."

My prayer is that the presence of God's Spirit this Advent season will NOT be "barely noticeable," but that you will experience Him more and more. One way is to commit yourself to meeting with Him daily meditating on His Word. As you experience Him, I assure you that the "power of your worries will weaken." I also pray for us all that we will hunger for more and more of God's presence as He leads each of us deeper into His amazing and wonderful Kingdom where ALL THINGS ARE BEING MADE NEW!

Jesus died to be more than just a memory or an heirloom. Here's a pretty old Christmas song by Amy Grant that drives home the truth that the most important "things" in our lives are NOT "things" at all!

How's Your Christmas FOCUS?

I am going to TRY to get back into blogging. I have appreciated the comments from two of my followers that they miss it. Sorry I've been gone so long....a bit of blog-burnout plus the busyness of the ministry have made it easy to let the blog slip. So here's my first Advent blog entry.

A couple of months ago I took two pictures of a rose in our church sanctuary. The rose was in celebration of a new baby. In the first shot, I had the camera on automatic so it did what any decent camera should do...it "averaged" the amount of light in the scene and made an electronic best guess. Though it is a high-tech camera, it is not equipped with a mind-reading sensor so it did not know what part of the picture was the most important. Its "averaging" approach washed out the rose.

I then made one simple adjustment. I set the camera to "spot" metering which means it only measures the light in the small area I point to, in this case, the rose. Basically I set it to "ignore" the rest of the room, and to only consider the light reflected from the rose. You can see the difference....

The lesson here is to learn how to use spot metering on your camera; it comes in very handle when photographing your kids in school plays, award ceremonies, graduations, or in any situation where there is a spot-lighted stage surrounded by lots of darkness.

The REAL lesson here is that Christmas is what you make it. You can focus your attention on everything, and end up "averaging" your time, commitments, and participation between the culture's idea of the holidays, and God's idea. In doing this, you may find your focus on Jesus lacking detail, like the washed out rose in my first picture. A better solution for Christ-followers is to focus on Him first, daily, and, yes, even on Dec. 25th. If you do that, an amazing thing happens....it makes the whole picture of Christmas more beautiful.

Can people tell by looking at the picture of your life, what you're truly focused on? I hope so. That's why we're here; to point people to the beauty of a Savior's love, born in a manger, slain on a cross, and risen to be our Lord. May you have a Christ-focused Christmas, and a Christ-focused life from here on out!

I'm Back! On 9/11 No Less!

I have been horrible about blogging...lots of busyness and excuses....but here it is September 11, 2012 on a Tuesday, like September 11, 2001. I was in a conference that morning and I didn't' find out until after lunch (we were at a rural church with no TV) while visiting some very seriously ill church members in a nursing home the scope of the tragedy. It was in the lobby watching the video of the towers' collapses when I realized how horrible this day was....I had never seen that many people die at one time. We all know how much it changed everything. Every year, however, I have tried to remind people that even in the shadow of such horrible hatred and devastation, some amazingly wonderful things were happening, too. Perhaps my favorite example is what happened in the little town (10,000 pop) of Gander, Newfoundland where 6,700 travelers from all over the world were loved by a bunch of Canadian strangers who were to become their hosts, their friends, and their inspiration. Here is one of many clips you'll find about Gander on YouTube:

These "regular" people are an example of how to apply Romans 12:21: "Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good." That is our basic choice...everyday! The thing about Gander is that their love was "seeded" among those 6,700 travelers who left to re-enter a world changed forever by a devastating act of evil. Those seeds, however, contain a force more powerful than evil, a force empowered by the One who created us in the first place...the force of love and compassion and kindness. So what kinds of seeds are you sowing in a post 9/11 world? I hope you're sowing the same kinds of seeds a little town in eastern Canada sowed eleven years ago on a day when evil was met with an even greater force....love!

Hey! Can't You Guys Get Along?

I was visiting a church member a few days ago who has six hummingbird feeders under her carport. At the end of my visit, we chatted as I took some video of the "drama of survival" in slow motion. (Note: the resolution stinks because the camera (a point-and-shoot wonder, the Panasonic Lumix ZS20) takes 220 pics a second to catch the action. All this to say, DON'T view it in FULLSCREEN...just IMAGINE it in fullscreen. So, go ahead, and watch the drama. If you're in a hurry, move ahead to the four minute mark for the climactic battle! 

The point: these birds remind me of how senseless it is when Christians fight each other in ways that do not bring Christ glory. Those little, and I mean little birds are so territorial and aggressive, like, well.... like some of us. If their brains were bigger (they have to be tiny to fit in those little bird skulls), I wonder if they would get tired of all the fluttering, and diving, and squawking, and pecking that characterizes so much of their lives. One article describes them as more Tasmanian Devils than Tinker Bells.  They don't pause to thank their great feeder provider; resting in the fact that season after season, their needs are being met by some massive creature who looks menacing, but is not. Instead of living in gratitude, they are fighting and fussing to defend their natural, powerful state of THIS IS MINE! Hey, it's nature, right?

Sure it is, even with humans, but our human nature has an alternative to a lifetime of fighting and fussing and protecting one's territory. That alternative is to get serious about following Christ, and being transformed from the inside out BEFORE you go and attack someone else for invading your space. 

Paul writes in Romans 12:1,2: "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." 

Before you go pecking somebody's eye out because they are threatening your territory, maybe you should pause and ask Father if there is anything in your thinking patterns that needs renewing. Surely with a brain as big as yours, there are SOME thoughts that need to be replaced and renewed. So stop pecking and squawking and fighting; embrace the renewed life Christ seeks to give you every day!

Kids Teach Us About America!

I really, really like this Fourth of July video. I liked it so much I even bought it for use this past Sunday at church. Used it with my children's sermon. What a great, quick look at our history, and I really liked the ending. Enjoy and THANK GOD FOR AMERICA!

Anniversary of D-Day! The Invasion of Normandy - 1944

On this day, June 6 in 1944, Allied Forces (including over 73,000 American soldiers) invaded Europe at the beaches of Normandy.  June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy. The D-Day cost was high -more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded -- but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler.... from the official U.S. Army website (http://www.army.mil/d-day/). You can also go to this website for another video about D-Day! Don't ever forget: FREEDOM ISN'T FREE! So don't use it selfishly!

I have posted the following video before, but it's still so appropriate as we remember this day in our history!

We are VERY Tiny, but LOVED!

I took this photo on Tuesday, June 5, 2012. That green ball is the sun (it was taken through a piece of welding mask glass), and the little black dot is the planet Venus. It won't pass between the sun and the Earth again until 2117. That little dot is about the same size as our planet! Which reminded me of Psalm 8:3-5:  When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little lower than the heavenly being and crowned him with glory and honor.

We are really, really, REALLY tiny people living on a tiny speck in a vast, vast universe yet our Fathers cares about us!