HCIKFS: Birthday of a King

I cannot take credit for most of the body of this post.  Someone sent me the following piece of comparative writing about seven years ago.  I saved it to my flash drive and each year at Christmastime, I read it.  It helps put things in perspective for me.  If I am caught up in the hustle and bustle of the world’s idea of Christmas, it reminds me that we’re supposed to be celebrating a birthday.  I think the prose goes especially well with “Birthday of a King.”

http://kkeitel.blog.is

Why JESUS is Better than Santa Claus

        (author unknown)

Santa lives at the North Pole.  JESUS is every where.

 Santa rides in a sleigh.  JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.

 Santa comes but once a year.  JESUS is an ever present help.

Santa fills your stockings with goodies.  JESUS supplies all your needs.

 Santa comes down your chimney.  JESUS stands at your door, knocks, and then enters your heart .

You have to stand in line to see Santa.  JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.

Santa lets you sit on his lap.  JESUS lets you rest in His arms.

http://www.wikipedia.com

Santa doesn’t know your name.  All he can say is “Hi little boy or girl.  What’ s your name?” JESUS knew our name before we did.  Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too. He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.

Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly.  JESUS has a heart full of love.

All Santa can offer is “H0, Ho, Ho.”  JESUS offers health, help, and hope.

Santa says, “You better not cry.” JESUS says, “Cast all your cares on me for I care for you.

Santa ‘s little helpers make toys.  JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes. and builds mansions.

Santa may make you chuckle but JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.

While Santa puts gifts under your tree.   JESUS became our Gift and died on a tree.

t’s obvious there is really no comparison . We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about .

We need to put Christ back in Christmas.  Jesus is still the Reason for the season.

“Birthday of a King” (Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir)

shr

HCIKFS: Breath of Heaven (Mary’s Song)

 The angel told her,“Don’t be afraid, Mary. You have found favor with God.  You will become pregnant, give birth to a Son, and name Him Jesus.  He will be a great man and will be called the Son of the Most High.  The Lord God will give Him the throne of his ancestor David.  Your Son will be King of Jacob’s people forever, and His kingdom will never end.”  Luke 1:30-33 (GOD’S WORD translation)

To be visited by an angel and to have received the message that Mary received would seem overwhelming at best.  But Mary’s response to this message was the very reason that she was chosen by God:  “I am the Lord’s servant.  Let everything that you’ve said happen to me.” (Luke 1:38 GWT)

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I first heard “Breath of Heaven” years ago.  I am a huge Amy Grant fan and in this song, she vocalized all the things that Mary may have “pondered in her heart.”  Oh, that I should ponder more things and keep my mouth shut.  Oh, that I would realize that because of my salvation, each day I have the “Breath of Heaven” in me.

Breath of Heaven (Amy Grant)

shr

HCIKFS: Christmas This Year

Dear Friends and Followers:  Thank you for allowing me to have October and November off to celebrate my 25th wedding anniversary (the celebration was memorable and special — when I get our pictures back, I plan to write about the day and post many pictures) and to do some work for my church’s new phone directory that is due out in January 2013.  I am so glad to be writing again.  With so many wonderful Christmas songs, I have decided that the rest of December is going to be a “How Can I Keep from Singing?” Christmas song festival.  God bless each and every one of you.  Sandy

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TobyMac doesn’t realize it, but his biggest fan lives in Wade, North Carolina.  Cailin, who sings in the Crusader Choir at Culbreth Memorial UMC, is such a big fan that when I was choosing Christmas songs for our 2012 Christmas concert, I was pleased when I found “Christmas This Year.”

http://www.turnbacktogod.com

I have to say that the Christmas music the children will be singing on Sunday evening, December 16th, has been a smashing success in rehearsals.  It does my heart good to see them all singing and smiling while we practice.  The best thing is that the smiles aren’t just facial expressions — these kids are singing from their hearts.  They are on a mission to promote the birth of Jesus with a celebration that will make our Savior smile.

If you happen to be in Fayetteville that Sunday, I invite you to our little concert.  This children’s choir and the adult choir will be presenting our special Christmas music beginning at 6:00pm that night.  If you come, you can hear my buddy, Cailin, singing her solo on “Christmas this Year.”

TobyMac would be so proud!

Christmas This Year (TobyMac)

shr

HCIKFS: You Are God Alone

Have you ever been fooled?

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Instead of a real diamond, perhaps you’re seeing a cubic zirconia stone.

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Instead of a real hamburger, perhaps you’ve been served a veggie burger.

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Instead of a real friend, perhaps you’ve just made a passing acquaintance.

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While Kelly was preparing to grill tonight, Joshlyn and I were visiting him and sitting in his “man cave.”  Kelly has a cigar store Indian that we call “Chief” and he stands beside the television, straight as an arrow, guarding the man cave.  Joshlyn sat in Kelly’s lap, just being her normal, happy self.

Joshlyn – Her Normal, Happy Self

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She waved her right hand…at Chief.  When Chief didn’t return the gesture, she raised both hands and waved at him.  She even said, “Hey!”  Still Chief did not respond.  Finally, in a last-ditch effort to get his attention, she stretched out her arms to Chief, doing the little hand movements that mean, “I want you to pick me up.”

Kelly, Chief, and our friend Mary Beth Bedsole

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We all know that Chief didn’t respond to Joshlyn and that he’s never going to respond to her, but Joshlyn hasn’t learned the difference between what’s 100% real and what’s 100% fake quite yet.  She was fooled.

Have you ever been fooled by the world?

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”They are corrupt, and their ways are vile; there is no one who does good.  God looks down from heaven on all mankind to see if there are any who understand, any who seek God.  Psalm 53:1-2 (NIV)

At www.wiki.answers.com, it’s estimated that the word “fool” is used about sixty-six times in the KJV of the Bible.  The reason there are so many references to fools and foolishness is because it’s an easy trap for us.  The prince of this world delights in making us his fools.  He eats it up when society questions God’s existence.  Corruptness and vileness are the devil’s tools in making fools of us in this world. As Christians, it’s our job to leave the foolishness of the world behind.  It’s hard because the devil uses enticing elements to deceive us and make us believe things that are simply not true.

One day, when Joshlyn is older, she will understand that Chief is just a statue and that he can never interact with her, no matter how many times she holds our her arms to him.  But there will be many other ways that she may be fooled.  I am praying that what Kelly and I, as her grandfather and grandmother, teach her about the one, true God — who is not made by human hands, but Who is omnipotent and omnipresent and omniscient, will help her defeat the devil’s entrapments.

100% Fake

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Personally, the most foolish thing the devil’s ever made me believe is that I can do it all on my own because I know what’s best for me.  It took me forty years, off and on, to leave that foolish notion behind and FROG (Fully Rely On God).  Today, I’ve chosen “You Are God Alone” because it speaks to all the reasons we have to fully rely on our Heavenly Father so that we are less likely to be fooled.

When have you been “fooled?”  Please share some bit of foolishness with which the devil’s reeled you in hook, line, and sinker.  And don’t worry — whatever it is, you aren’t alone.  We’ve all been there.

“You Are God Alone“  (Phillips, Craig, and Dean)

shr

To Watch Over You

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Yesterday was a bad weather day where I live.  All morning, the clouds gathered and I could feel the rain in my bones.  A cold front quickly took over our area and the darkness of the heavens looked threatening.

Still, I had to go to physical therapy for my knee.  I only have two more sessions before they will cut me loose to work on my own at home.  So I drove under ominous skies and actually made it to PT before the bottom fell out of the sky and a torrent of rain beat upon the earth.

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The radio was on while I worked through my exercises and I heard emergency messages about tornado watches and warnings across southeastern North Carolina.  Instead of listening to the music, I felt compelled to pray — not only for myself, but for everyone in the path of the storm.  This is the scripture that came to mind:

He will put his angels in charge of you to protect you in all your ways.  Psalm 91:11 (GOD’S WORD translation)

Over the hour that I was doing my PT, the rain dissipated and the skies began to lighten.  “Would you like to ice your knee or do you want to skip it and head home?”  asked Jackie, my physical therapist.

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I almost skipped the ice.  I even picked up my keys and purse to leave.  But there was this ”niggling” (sort of a cross between “nagging” and “tingling”) voice in the back of my mind.  “Ice that knee!”  it seemed to be whispering.  So, I lay on the table and let Jackie tend to my tired, sore knee.

No sooner had she gotten the ice on it and started the timer, than we all heard the most horrific noise.  Out of the huge glass window front, we watched as a huge pick up truck, an SUV, and two other cars spun on the wet road immediately outside the doctor’s office on Ramsey Street.

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After the screeching of the tires stopped and the whirring of the police sirens began, all of us in the physical therapy room sat in stunned silence.

“That could have been you, Ms. Sandy,” Jackie offered, her voice wavering.  “If you hadn’t stopped to ice that knee, you could have been in that mess.”  My heart was already beating fast because this same thought had just come to me a moment earlier.

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Even after she took the ice pack from my knee, I sat and watched as EMS and police worked the scene.  The people in the SUV were now standing on the side of the road, looking at little wet, but okay.  One of the other drivers was leaning against his badly damaged pick-up, arms crossed, head shaking, but seemed to still be in one piece.

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As I pulled out of the doctor’s office parking lot and made my way home, I spent the entire ride praising the Lord for the angels I know that He dispatched to Ramsey Street that afternoon.

Bad news always make the news, so I perused today’s paper (The Fayetteville Observer) for a story about the accident.  Since I could find no mention of deaths on Ramsey Street, it looks like those angels were working overtime yesterday afternoon.

You have earned your “Prayer Angel” wings!

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And indeed, angels all over the United States have been doing God‘s work this week.  My cousin, Sonny, is in stable condition.  Although he’s still in the medically-induced coma, he seems to be responding to the presence of family around him.  Doctors are unsure if he’s had a heart attack, but they do know he’s suffering from pneumonia that is a side effect of the chemotherapy.  THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to each one who lifted him up on Monday.  You, by association, have been doing God’s work as prayer angels!

Have you ever experienced a time in which you absolutely knew that God’s angels have protected you?

shr

HCIKFS: What If His People Prayed?

Tonight, I am simply asking for your prayers for my cousin, Charles “Sonny” Cox.  He has been battling non-Hodgkins lymphoma and the chemotherapy has been hard for him.  This afternoon, we got a call telling us that he has been admitted to the ICU with a probable heart attack.  He is in a medically-induced coma.

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I have to tell you that Sonny is the most generous man — honest, caring, loving, and fun.  He’s called “Sonny” because his father was Charles Cecil Cox, Sr.  Even though his father has been dead many years, we’ve always called him ”Sonny.”  Sonny and my Daddy are first cousins, but are closer than brothers. (That makes me his first cousin once-removed – don’t ask.  I barely understand that distinction myself, but I’m told that it’s correct.)  He and his wife, Linda, live in Dover, Florida.  He has three adult sons:  John, Rob, and Lonnie.  Please lift them up to the Lord.  I want you to pray these verses from Psalm 91 for him and his family.

Those who go to God Most High for safety will be protected by the Almighty.  I will say to the Lord, “You are my place of safety and protection.  You are my God and I trust you.” God will save you from hidden traps and from deadly diseases.  He will cover you with his feathers,  and under his wings you can hide.  His truth will be your shield and protection.  You will not fear any danger by night or an arrow during the day.  You will not be afraid of diseases that come in the dark or sickness that strikes at noon. At your side one thousand people may die or even ten thousand right beside you, but you will not be hurt.  Psalm 91:1-8 (NCV)

I never ask people to re-blog anything I write because I figure if it moves you, you will.  Tonight, I’m asking you to re-blog this to your readers.  I want to get as many people praying for Sonny as possible.  The song that moved me this afternoon while I prayed for Sonny was “What If His People Prayed” by Casting Crowns.  I believe that prayer changes things.

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Won’t you help me prove it?

shr

“What If His People Prayed?”  (Casting Crowns)

The Number of My Days

Yesterday, I prayed for those who lost loved ones in the 9/11 attack on the WTC towers, in the field in Pennsylvania, and in Washington at the Pentagon.  As I watched family members read their loved ones’ names, I could not even imagine how losing someone like that would feel.

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Later, I watched at the news reported the murder of Christopher Stevens, U. S. Ambassador to Libya, and three of his staff members in Benghazi.  I felt a great sense of loss, even though I did not know these people personally.  I actually sat in front of the television and whispered, “Lord Jesus, come.  Come now.”

The U. S. Consulate Attack in Benghazi

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While listening to HIS Radio 90.1 before bed, I heard one of my favorite songs, “Where I Belong” by Building 429.  Here is the chorus:

All I know is I’m not home yet.

This is not where I belong.

Take this world and give me Jesus.

This is not where I belong.

The sense of urgency in my heart that I wrote about on Monday, seeing the clouds like stepping stones to Heaven, and anticipating His coming was heavily on my mind as I went to bed last night.  I was singing that chorus over and over in my heart this morning as I arose and went about my housework.  Then, I sat down to have my devotion.

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What started as an expedition to Psalm 34 quickly became a detour several chapters over.  The pages of my Bible (I’m currently studying through the “The Mom’s Devotional Bible” in the New Century Version.) are still fairly new and the static of turning the pages made them stick together.  No matter what I did, I simply could not get those pages separated.  So I “settled” for a reading of Psalm 39.  How blessed and fortunate am I to have had to take this detour! The chapter so intrigued me that I used my favorite website for Bible readings (www.biblegateway.com) to read it in several versions. ( I’m going to share the New International Version because I love the eloquence of these verses in that particular translation.)

Lord, tell me when the end will come and how long I will live. Let me know how long I have. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.   Everyone is but a breath, even those who seem secure. Surely everyone goes around like a mere phantom;  in vain they rush about, heaping up wealth without knowing whose it will finally be.  Psalm 39:4-7 (NIV)

Despite what the days’ remembrances were for that awful time eleven years ago and the devastation of what followed in Libya yesterday, I realized that I still felt secure in my little corner of the world — not because I don’t think attacks of that kind are possible where I live(because I live fifteen miles from a military base that could be the target of attack at any moment), but because I know who holds my future.  In reading this psalm today, which I now feel was not a detour at all, but my true destination for devotion, I felt a new urging in my heart that had to come from God and here is what I gleaned:

• I must watch and guard my ways.  (See Psalm 39:1. at www.biblegateway.com )  There is no boundary between me and the rest of the world concerning what I say, what I do, where I go, or how I act or react.  Everything about me directly affects my Christian influence.
• I must acknowledge that life is brief and treat my time here with greater care.  (See verse five.) Max Lucado once said that it’s not the college degree in the walnut frame that we’ll embrace at the end of our lives, but the people we’ve loved and who’ve loved us.  Since God alone knows the time I’ll depart this world, I cannot bank on tomorrow.  In fact, I can’t even bank on my next breath!  So while I live, I must make my days count!  (“Here’s to making it count!”  Leonard Di Caprio as Jack Dawson in Titanic.)
• I must recognize what makes me truly wealthy.  (See verse six.)  There are a gazillion ways to accumulate wealth, invest our money, and diversify our portfolios.  I have not found my way into financial wealth.  I don’t believe it’s in God’s plan for me. But I do acknowledge that my investment must be in people, not things.  Friends and family who have invested in me can see a small bit of return in their investment, and yet very little of what I do while I live can actually be measured as success in the eyes of the world.
• I must invest my time wisely.  No, I won’t be holding that nicely framed college diploma or the clinging to the final numbers in my checking account.  I want to invest in PEOPLE.   If those I love will be the most important thing to me when I’m drawing my last breath,  they should be important to me now.  I won’t know until I stand before God’s throne what influence I may have had in my earthly life, but I certainly don’t want to stand before my Lord and be found in a deficit where my relationships are concerned.

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God summed up Psalm 39 in two words for me:  Pay Attention!  I must really see how God is working in my life, even in the minute details such as creating the static that wouldn’t allow me to get to Psalm 34 today.  It all matters to God — the big and the small.  More and more, I find myself not wanting to miss a single detail that God is in.  Please pray for me — that I will pay attention to the details to eek out every message God wants me to hear and that the number of my days will not be a labor of my own vanity.

What can I pray for YOU today?

shr