Little More Jesus

It's always fun to sing Christmas carols with our kids but this year has been great to see little Addy learning the words and singing along this year.  By far, her favorite is Away in a Manger.  Here's her rendition of the classic tune...

...I love how she says "little MORE Jesus" because that's what our world really needs.  Merry Christmas!

Emmanuel, God With Us

Last Friday was a big day, I had the opportunity to share about the realities of human trafficking to 1800 high school students.  Doing so forced some of them to open their eyes to the evil that is in our world and, I hope, prepared them to protect themselves and their friends from being victimized by those who would want to harm them.  What I didn't know until I finished speaking was that evil had hit our nation's children in Connecticut in a way that would be impossible for anyone to overlook.

If we weren't already keenly aware of the brokenness of our world, the shocking evil of last Friday has brought it to the forefront of our minds.  I read many Facebook posts saying, "Jesus come soon!"  I join in that prayer.  I hurt for the families who have lost their dear little ones and can hardly imagine the pain they are going through - in fact, I don't want to empathize with them because it would hurt too much.  It was tough to let Aiden go to school this week.  The reality of my inability to be in control and protect my family every moment of every day is humbling.  It forces me to slow down and look up to the One who is always there and is truly in control - for my control is merely an illusion.

One thing, among many, that Friday taught us is that true evil exists in our world.  We may live in relative safety in a "good part of town" and sometimes this sense of safety causes us to forget the fallenness of the world we live in.  Any problem must be seen before it can be solved. We'll never make our world a better place with our heads stuck in the sand, avoiding the realities of its brokenness.  Jesus was our perfect example, He entered the mess with eyes wide open.  

He left the Father's side in Heaven, a place of perfect holiness and glory to come to our side on earth, a place of utter brokenness and pain.  As Philippians 2 states about Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 
 rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness. 
 And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
        even death on a cross!  

He gave it all up for us so that we might have it all.

I'm forever grateful for Jesus' willingness to leave the safety and security of Heaven to come down to this dark, evil world.  He could have chosen the easy route and continued to enjoy unbroken fellowship with the Father.  He could have said, "Oh, it's too terrible!" and chosen not to come.  However,  He stepped into the darkness to redeem and restore this broken world.

This redemption, this restoration is still His work; it's still His plan and He has entrusted it to His followers.  Jesus said, "As the Father has sent me, I am sending you” (John 20:21).  We are sent to  shine light into our dark world. 

Gary Haugen, the Founder and President of International Justice Mission said: 

"In God’s mission for this world, we are the plan. There is no Plan B. We carry out God’s mission be being salt and light in the world. This includes going to the suffering of this world. For people in the midst of suffering, when they receive meaningful help from a Christian, they are seeing the body of Christ show up on their doorstep."

As I think of Emmanuel, God with us, I am challenged to consider how I am following Jesus into the darkness of this broken world.  I am quite comfortable in the "safety" of my suburban life.  Where am I to shine His light?  What dark places might He be calling me?  Where is He calling you? 

Jesus showed up on our doorstep.  He lived among the suffering to bring healing and restoration physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  Who needs Jesus to bring healing and freedom in their lives?  What can you and I do to shine light into the darkness?  This is what happened at Christmas.  Love came down into the evil and shined His light into the darkness.  Let us do the same and enter into this beautiful mess. 

Our Partner in the News!

A few months back, we shared about one of our 100% Sent partners, Apartment Life.  They were recently highlighted in an article in Christianity Today!  The article begins with, "In order to love one's neighbors, one must first know who they are—a teaching that's much easier said than done...."  We all feel this difficulty, but as we shared in our newsletter Apartment Life is set up to train our graduates to do just that.  Take a look at the full article to see how God used our friends in ministry to help a Phoenix couple reach their neighbors with the love of Christ!