A Holiday Opportunity

“Merry Christmas” – it is such a sweet sentiment but like all things can be used for good or evil.

I LOVE CHIRSTMAS!! It is definitely my favorite holiday and I think it is right and beautiful to celebrate the birth of the one who saved us. However, Christmas is an opportunity to remind friends and family that we love them and to reach out and love people in the name of Jesus. I think it is alright to say “Happy Holidays” at times. I’ve heard a lot of Christians lose their cool about how they are not going to say “Happy Holidays” – they want to get in people’s faces and say “Merry Christmas”. It can be a very passionate position for some to the point where they look like they want to kill somebody. To be honest, I used to feel the same way. Let’s keep Christ in Christmas, right? When has shoving Christ down someone’s throat actually won them over?

I have been privileged to live and work in very diverse situations over the past couple of decades and I enjoy learning about different cultures. As I genuinely show an interest in who they are as an individual and the things that are important to them, it affords me the opportunity to share the things that are important to me. Are we loving people or winning them to Christ by disrespecting who they are, their culture, and their celebrations? Do we not reach people more by loving them where they are at? The examples of Christ in the Bible are ones of those going to people where they are at and their lives being changed by His grace, mercy and love. He went and ate with the tax collector; He asked for water from a Samaritan; and he didn’t go turning the water into acai juice at the wedding!

To my fellow Christians, and especially to my Christian friends and family, I wish you all a Very Merry & Blessed Christmas! To those of you who may celebrate another holiday at this time of year, I hope it is a very special time for you – Happy Holidays!!

(revised 12/13)

Best Birthday Ever (an @donmilleris #storyline testimony)

I first heard about the Storyline Conference in January after following  Donald Miller’s blog in December. With his five books having had a profound effect on my faith and on my life, his conference intrigued me. In February and March, I started telling people about it and how much I wanted to go and adding it to all my friends’, families’ and my church’s prayer lists. Things started to fall into place as my sister agreed to watch my kids and I had a few vacation days left at work that had to be taken before July. By April, I just really felt like I was going but I still had no idea where the money was going to come from.

Then one time as I wrote a comment (to someone else’s comment) on Don’s blog about why I wanted to go and that I was trying to get my funds together. Long story short, total strangers ended up buying my plane ticket for me and I purchased my conference ticket with a little extra money I had left over from my tax return. All the arrangements just seem to fall into place effortlessly and the travel and accommodations were stress free.

The conference was on the same weekend as my birthday making it a double blessing as I hadn’t had a real vacation in soooo long. I was able to go a couple days ahead so I could explore the city of Portland, OR for the first time. I met and spent time with a wonderful lady named Lori Ventola and learned about the wonderful ministry that she started as a result of last year’s Storyline Conference. I visited the Imago Dei church, the Chinese Gardens, and the Portland Art Museum. Thanks to my Bank of America card, my entry to the Chinese Gardens and the Portland Art Museum were free!!! I ended the day by visiting the famous Powell’s bookstore.

The conference was of course amazing and concluded with a pre-screening of the Blue Like Jazz  movie. It was the best birthday I had ever had and felt like little winks from God (if you’re familiar with these) that He loves me and I am special. I hope you have a birthday like that some time!