Christmas in the Philippines

Last Friday night I attended a lovely evening event with a couple hundred women from my church, GCF. They called the evening "Christmas Fanfare". Part of the event that these women are doing is to collect several items which can be given to street children for the Christmas ministry of ACTION. Some of them are also going to participate in serving at one of the parties on December 9. I was invited to join our pastor's wife, Li Pentoja at her table. I truly enjoyed myself. As an ice-breaker event she asked us to share what our family tradition has been for Christmas Eve.

When it was my turn, I had to admit that for many years here in the Philippines, the Christmas season has been very stressful and discouraging. It hasn't been so much because I missed my extended family, but that was part of it. There is a lot of commotion here at Christmas time. Actually, Christmas shopping starts in September. The stores and malls are very crowded. Music is played very loud. Traffic gets worse. We have to be doubly vigilent against purse snatchers and other forms of theft. Hands are put out in front of us looking for a few pesos frequently while a song is sung or "Merry Christmas" is offered. Envelops are given to us from many local officials, utility companies, garbage collectors and beggars to make it convenient to give our Christmas gift to them.

Added on top of that, my husband has been extra busy in the month of December. He would be involved in as many Christmas parties for street children as he could. By the time Christmas Eve arrived, he was needing time and space to recuperate. I would spend December making all preparations for whatever our family was going to do. I purchased all the gifts, decorated the house, shopped for and cooked the food, then put it all away after. I found it difficult to view the season as something special. Added on top of that, I was always mad at myself that I couldn't appreciate how unselfish Jeff had been in helping to create a lovely Christmas party for children who will have no other gifts, special food or love showered on them.

Well, eventually I learned to just enjoy the Lord. Make Him the center of all I do. Let go of any traditions that were stressing me out that I was trying to maintain. So, no more oyster stew (I was the only one who liked it anyway). In 2003, it was our first Christmas in the Philippines without our kids. I decided not to put up the Christmas tree so we had very few decorations. After Christmas Jeff told me he missed the tree and asked if we could put it up the next year. I was surprised. I didn't realize how much he enjoyed it.

The next Christmas, 2004, came right after 4 typhoons had hit the east side of the country causing massive mudslides. We had been on furlough for a couple months and came back here to learn that we needed to start disaster relief right away. Not only that, but we needed to have our apartment painted and some repairs made. So those activities were added to the parties for street kids. Our son was in California and our daughter was in Kuwait, waiting to be sent up to Iraq for her deployment. So neither of them could join us. Needless to say, I didn't put up the tree then either. In 2005 we were planning to go to the US for a few months to help Micah following her deployment so we didn't decorate again.

Finally this year, I put up our tree again. Jeff has really appreciated it. I have learned to make Christmas about the Lord and others and not about me. That makes a big difference. Ironically, the more I try to create a nice little romantic environment for myself, the less content and appreciative I am. To the degree that I can let go of my own self-centeredness, is the degree to which I thoroughly enjoy the season. It all comes back to Jesus and what He is all about. I appreciate that the Lord Jesus Christ gave so sacrifically to save us. I want to live my life to please Him and not to please myself. Oh, how I love Jesus!

Have you ever read this famous Christmas card verse in its full version in the New American Standard?

Luke 2:14 "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."

Don't stoop to be a king

We recently had a guest speaker at our ACTION team meeting in Manila. He told us that his in-laws have a plaque hanging in their house. It says:

If you are called to be a missionary, don't stoop to be a king.

Then he added this challenge to us:

If you are a missionary, don't stoop to distractions that hinder you from worshiping the King.

Wow. Lord help us to not be distracted from worshiping you and focusing on what you have called us to do!

Tho He slay me... by Os Hillman

This is how we know we are in Him: Whoever claims to live in Him must walk as Jesus did. -- 1 John 2:5b-6

When Christ came to earth, He came to bring to mankind the gospel of the Kingdom. Over the centuries, the Church has tended to emphasize only a portion of the gospel. That portion is the gospel of salvation. (However), Jesus came that we might have more than just salvation. He came to give us a whole new life that was accompanied by signs, wonders, and His Spirit living in us and revealing Himself to us daily. He came so that we might walk on this earth as He did. If our lives are not reflecting the same things as Jesus' did, we must ask why? I have noticed (three distinct types of believers) throughout my 24 years of walking with Christ.

First, many of us come to Christ out of a need for salvation. Our hearts have been touched by His call on our lives. We reason and analyze the claims of Christ and make a decision for Him. It is the convenient time to accept Him in our lives. This first stage is often characterized by a “Bless me, Lord” attitude toward God. It is the first stage that primarily brings salvation into our lives. Some never really go past this first stage.

The second stage is the crisis stage. A crisis takes place in our lives, and we are motivated to seek Christ with a whole heart. However, this motivation is not out of pure love for Christ; rather, it is motivated by the desire to get out of the pain of living. The motivation is to solve the “what” versus the “why” in my life at the time. This stage is best characterized as “Help me, Lord.”

In the third stage we begin to experience the gospel of the Kingdom. It is the place where Jesus resided in His walk with His heavenly Father. It is the (place of conviction). The numbers of people who live at this level are quite few, but these people are experiencing the reality of a walk with God that is foreign to all others. They are seeing daily occurrences of His involvement in their lives. They're motivated by a deep love for Him. They know Him. These people have an attitude characterized by these thoughts, “Have me, Lord; though He slay me, still will I trust Him.”

Where are you today? Have you merely accepted His salvation to simply float along? Or do you seek Him with a whole heart only when a crisis occurs? His desire is for you and me to live a life of conviction, (motivated) by our love for Him and His love for us. This is where we will experience the gospel of the Kingdom.