Greetings community! I hope everyone was blessed with plenty of food and family over the Thanksgiving holiday! I thought that I would be really smart on Thanksgiving night and drop into a large store near my house and knock out my Christmas shopping in one swoop, while getting some good deals as well. When I entered the store, I saw that the line to check out wrapped all the way around the store and ended at the door I’d just walked in. I quickly realized that Thanksgiving weekend shopping required much more commitment to shopping than I possess, and I returned home with promises of never trying that again!
“I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all the peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” Genesis 12:2-3
My wife and I have felt somewhat of a burden this Christmas season to keep our kids’ eyes trained on what Christmas is about, and why it is sacred and such a cause for celebration! Around 2000 years before Jesus was born, God made Abraham this promise that He would bless the entire world through Abraham’s lineage; and for 2000 years the people of Israel waited anxiously for the Messiah that God had promised to send. Generations saw the glory of Israel through King David and the rise of Solomon, and they saw the nation of Israel fall to conqueror after conqueror. But hope was not lost, because at God’s appointed time, some 2000 years after He made this promise, He made good on it.
How blessed we are now to not just live with a hope that someday God will send a Messiah and that maybe we will be alive to see it, but to live with the knowledge that He has! Now, we ride in the wake of the trail that Jesus blazed for us, safe in our faith in the Gospel that began when God sent his Son on Christmas! I pray that each of you have a very blessed Christmas this year as we all celebrate the coming of our Savior.
I hope to see you at the Community Meeting this Thursday, December 4th at 6:30 pm at First Christian Church on Broadway. If you would like to sponsor a man or woman for the upcoming January/February walks, there are still spots available.
De Colores,
B.J. Schilling
