Craig's Connections

Christmas Hope

2008-12-22T12:33:00.000-08:00

In a shool presentation of A Christmas Carol, I played the ghost of Jacob Marley. He is the one who announces to Scrooge that he will be visited by three different spirits - past, present, and yet to come. Marley is shackled by chains, chains he acquired by his own tightfisted and sour ways while alive. He comes to reveal the outcome of that kind of life to Scrooge. Scrooge changes his ways after seeing into the future.

The story of Christ's coming brings together past, present, and things yet to come. The OT prophets forecast Jesus' coming, the angels announced to the shepherds that Jesus had arrived. Our hope for the future would be in Him. As a Christian, my hope for the cares of this life and the hope of eternal life is found in Him. I sometimes wish that a visiting angel would come and reveal the future to me, so that I could see that hope, but instead it is based on trust in the Biblical story, in the revelation of the ages, and most important of all, my relationship with Christ.

None of us can see into the future. Our hope is based on what we cannot see. So our trust comes from the heart. The Christmas story is about true hope - that the Savior who came is indeed the Son of the living God, who came to offer us abundant life now and eternal life to come. Though we can't see him, we can know him.

None of us know what the new year will bring. There are economic uncertainties. Some face job loss, some have health issues. Amidst so many uncertainties, where do we place our hope for what is "yet to come." We won't receive a visit from a spirit that will take us into our future. But we can go into the future with our hope in Christ, no matter what will happen. His promise is that when our trust is placed in Him, He will take care of us as we walk through this life, along with the hope of being with Him forever when our days on earth are done. This Christmas echoes the Christian hope from a line of a hymn, "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand."

Thanksgiving

2008-11-24T13:29:00.000-08:00

When Jesus healed ten lepers, only one came back to say thank you. The story is found in Luke 17:11-17. Nine forgot to be thankful, or at least to say it to Jesus. Rereading that story recently caused me to think about times I have forgotten to be thankful enough to say it. I review my prayer list daily - asking for specific things. I don't have a daily thank you list. I do offer up words of thanks when I pray, usually in general, but I often miss opportunities to say thank you to Jesus for something specific. I Thessalonians 5:18 says to "give thanks in all circumstances." So I want to be more conscious of naming what I am thankful for to Jesus, to family members, to friends, and others who touch my life. Psalm 103 speaks to this: "Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits." (103:2). The psalmist then spends the rest of that psalm naming those benefits.

In the leper story, Jesus appreciates the the one who came back to thank him. But he also says, "Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine?" (Luke 17:17) Jesus didn't selfishly need them to thank him so he could be puffed up for healing them - what disappointed him was that they so quickly forgot what they had freely received. For all that I have freely received over many years, my thank you list is very long. I intend to be better at saying thank you to Jesus, my family, friends, and others than I have been.

Welcome to the AZCHOG Blog

2008-10-23T09:55:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the blog on our website! I will post thoughts, ideas, devotionals, ministry related items, etc. on the blog. I look forward to doing this periodically, and welcome responses to them. For now, welcome to this new means of communication on our website.

Craig