What did Christ's birth give me? A new life!
"What a God we have! And how fortunate we are to have him, this Father of our Master Jesus! Because Jesus was raised from the dead, we've been given a brand-new life and have everything to live for, including a future in heaven—and the future starts now! God is keeping careful watch over us and the future. The Day is coming when you'll have it all—life healed and whole.
I know how great this makes you feel, even though you have to put up with every kind of aggravation in the meantime. Pure gold put in the fire comes out of it proved pure; genuine faith put through this suffering comes out proved genuine. When Jesus wraps this all up, it's your faith, not your gold, that God will have on display as evidence of his victory.
You never saw him, yet you love him. You still don't see him, yet you trust him—with laughter and singing. Because you kept on believing, you'll get what you're looking forward to: total salvation.
The prophets who told us this was coming asked a lot of questions about this gift of life God was preparing. The Messiah's Spirit let them in on some of it—that the Messiah would experience suffering, followed by glory. They clamored to know who and when. All they were told was that they were serving you, you who by orders from heaven have now heard for yourselves—through the Holy Spirit—the Message of those prophecies fulfilled. Do you realize how fortunate you are? Angels would have given anything to be in on this!" -- 1 Peter 1:3-12 (The Message)
He came to earth to rescue me and ensure that I will be with Him for eternity. I don't understand why...Goodness knows I would have given up on me a long time ago and threw in the towel, but I will not question His love for me, only look forward to the day I can fall at His feet and worship Him with praise & thanksgiving.
Sunday, December 23, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Christmas in Taiwan
My sister Angela worked in Taiwan from 2001-2002 as an English teacher. When she got back to Newfoundland she wrote a short story about her first Christmas in Taiwan. It was later published in the "Newfoundland Herald" Below is a draft of this story that I found on my computer.
Christmas in Taiwan…isn’t the same as home
Angela Cole
As Christmas time approaches, I often find myself reflecting on past holidays and the people who have made each year uniquely special.
For my entire life, the holidays had revolved around gatherings with family and friends. In fact, until a few years ago, I had never spent Christmas away from my family. However, when circumstances forced me to spend Christmas away from home for the first time, I was further away and more alone than I had ever imagined. I was working in Taiwan as an English teacher, which meant I would not be able to return home for an entire year. The enormity of that decision didn’t truly hit me until December arrived; it was 40 degrees – and there was no Christmas season!
As most of the Taiwanese population are Buddhists, they obviously have no Christmas holiday. There were no lights, no cards, no busy shoppers at the mall, and no line-up of children waiting to see Santa. I was stuck in a world where Christmas simply didn’t exist. December 25th would not even be a holiday! I would have to get up and go to work, just like it was any other old day of the year. It somehow felt sacrilegious. Although I had nowhere to go on the 25th and nobody to spend it with, I bargained to take the day off, working an extra day on the weekend to make up for it. At least it would be Christmas in my heart, if nowhere else. I grew more despondent as the holidays back home approached. I would imagine everyone back in Newfoundland, all busy buying gifts, decorating the tree, and planning for holiday parties. I had flown halfway across the world by myself back in August, full of bravado, feeling very proud and independent. However, there was little of my bravado left as December rolled in. I was running up enormous phone bills, crying on the phone every night as I called family and friends back home.
. I had never been so homesick in my life. I wanted to be home for Christmas more than anything else in the world. I had brought my holiday music with me and I listened to “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” a hundred times during those weeks. It never failed to bring tears to my eyes.
As I was riding my bicycle home one day the middle of December, lost in my own thoughts and feeling utterly alone, I took a wrong turn and found myself in an unfamiliar part of the city. This may not be a big deal in any English speaking place, as you can stop and get directions from anyone. However, this would prove rather difficult in the middle of a city in the middle of China, where only a scattered few have a working grasp of English. In desperation I finally got off the bike and walked up and down the street. Then I saw something astonishing… an English sign in an apartment window. It simply said “Church of Christ”. The sign was for a church! An English speaking, Christian church in that part of the world is certainly not very common, to say the least. I thought I must be imagining things, so I stood and stared up at the window for a few moments. To my surprise, an elderly Chinese man took my arm and pointed me towards a door on the side of the building. Feeling a little nervous and foolish, I entered the building and knocked timidly on the door. What would I find inside the apartment? Was this some sort of cult?
I was greeted at the door by a beaming man, with a deep Southern accent (which just added to the surreal feeling!) who ushered me inside… and I had found Christmas! There was an actual Christmas tree, wreaths on the walls, and tinsel draped from corner to corner. As it turned out, two American missionaries from Arkansas, who had been living in Taiwan for many years and had actually raised their family there, operated the little church. Without knowing anything about me, except I was alone and had nowhere to go to celebrate on the 25th, the MacAteers promptly invited me to their house to spend Christmas with them. They were so kind and insistent that I immediately accepted their invitation, feeling as though I was experiencing a true Christmas miracle. I had been “adopted” for Christmas!
Despite our very new acquaintance, they brought me to their house on Christmas Eve and made me feel like a long lost member of their own family. When I arrived at their home, I discovered I wasn’t the only lost soul that the missionaries had rescued for Christmas. There was also a young couple from Ontario who had also been lucky enough to have been discovered by the missionaries and taken in for the holidays. Although turkey was not available, it was the most incredible Christmas dinner I had ever eaten in my life. We had a huge barbeque of streak and chicken, complete with all the traditional fixings, sent by their family back in the US. We ate outside in our shorts, basking in the sunshine, and I imagined the snowflakes that were surely falling back in Newfoundland. After dinner, we put on some soft Christmas music, sat in front of the little artificial Christmas tree (also sent special delivery!), staring at the lights and each lost in our thoughts of our families back home. We were all strangers… but on that day, we became a family.
This was only the beginning of many kind acts offered to me by the MacAteers and they became my new family during the rest of my year in Taiwan. That Christmas Day will always remain a cherished memory in my heart. They truly showed me the deepest meanings of Christmas.
Angela Cole
As Christmas time approaches, I often find myself reflecting on past holidays and the people who have made each year uniquely special.
For my entire life, the holidays had revolved around gatherings with family and friends. In fact, until a few years ago, I had never spent Christmas away from my family. However, when circumstances forced me to spend Christmas away from home for the first time, I was further away and more alone than I had ever imagined. I was working in Taiwan as an English teacher, which meant I would not be able to return home for an entire year. The enormity of that decision didn’t truly hit me until December arrived; it was 40 degrees – and there was no Christmas season!
As most of the Taiwanese population are Buddhists, they obviously have no Christmas holiday. There were no lights, no cards, no busy shoppers at the mall, and no line-up of children waiting to see Santa. I was stuck in a world where Christmas simply didn’t exist. December 25th would not even be a holiday! I would have to get up and go to work, just like it was any other old day of the year. It somehow felt sacrilegious. Although I had nowhere to go on the 25th and nobody to spend it with, I bargained to take the day off, working an extra day on the weekend to make up for it. At least it would be Christmas in my heart, if nowhere else. I grew more despondent as the holidays back home approached. I would imagine everyone back in Newfoundland, all busy buying gifts, decorating the tree, and planning for holiday parties. I had flown halfway across the world by myself back in August, full of bravado, feeling very proud and independent. However, there was little of my bravado left as December rolled in. I was running up enormous phone bills, crying on the phone every night as I called family and friends back home.
. I had never been so homesick in my life. I wanted to be home for Christmas more than anything else in the world. I had brought my holiday music with me and I listened to “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” a hundred times during those weeks. It never failed to bring tears to my eyes.
As I was riding my bicycle home one day the middle of December, lost in my own thoughts and feeling utterly alone, I took a wrong turn and found myself in an unfamiliar part of the city. This may not be a big deal in any English speaking place, as you can stop and get directions from anyone. However, this would prove rather difficult in the middle of a city in the middle of China, where only a scattered few have a working grasp of English. In desperation I finally got off the bike and walked up and down the street. Then I saw something astonishing… an English sign in an apartment window. It simply said “Church of Christ”. The sign was for a church! An English speaking, Christian church in that part of the world is certainly not very common, to say the least. I thought I must be imagining things, so I stood and stared up at the window for a few moments. To my surprise, an elderly Chinese man took my arm and pointed me towards a door on the side of the building. Feeling a little nervous and foolish, I entered the building and knocked timidly on the door. What would I find inside the apartment? Was this some sort of cult?
I was greeted at the door by a beaming man, with a deep Southern accent (which just added to the surreal feeling!) who ushered me inside… and I had found Christmas! There was an actual Christmas tree, wreaths on the walls, and tinsel draped from corner to corner. As it turned out, two American missionaries from Arkansas, who had been living in Taiwan for many years and had actually raised their family there, operated the little church. Without knowing anything about me, except I was alone and had nowhere to go to celebrate on the 25th, the MacAteers promptly invited me to their house to spend Christmas with them. They were so kind and insistent that I immediately accepted their invitation, feeling as though I was experiencing a true Christmas miracle. I had been “adopted” for Christmas!
Despite our very new acquaintance, they brought me to their house on Christmas Eve and made me feel like a long lost member of their own family. When I arrived at their home, I discovered I wasn’t the only lost soul that the missionaries had rescued for Christmas. There was also a young couple from Ontario who had also been lucky enough to have been discovered by the missionaries and taken in for the holidays. Although turkey was not available, it was the most incredible Christmas dinner I had ever eaten in my life. We had a huge barbeque of streak and chicken, complete with all the traditional fixings, sent by their family back in the US. We ate outside in our shorts, basking in the sunshine, and I imagined the snowflakes that were surely falling back in Newfoundland. After dinner, we put on some soft Christmas music, sat in front of the little artificial Christmas tree (also sent special delivery!), staring at the lights and each lost in our thoughts of our families back home. We were all strangers… but on that day, we became a family.
This was only the beginning of many kind acts offered to me by the MacAteers and they became my new family during the rest of my year in Taiwan. That Christmas Day will always remain a cherished memory in my heart. They truly showed me the deepest meanings of Christmas.
Being away from home for my first Christmas, I have only now realized how strong and brave my sister was. She had none of the benefits that I had when I came to Germany and yet she thrived and succeeded in her work in Taiwan. I can only hope I will do her proud.
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Blessed Be Your Name
Psalm 33
Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
Praise the LORD with the harp;
make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.
For the word of the LORD is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.
The LORD loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of his unfailing love.
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
he puts the deep into storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the people of the world revere him.
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous;
it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
Praise the LORD with the harp;
make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
Sing to him a new song;
play skillfully, and shout for joy.
For the word of the LORD is right and true;
he is faithful in all he does.
The LORD loves righteousness and justice;
the earth is full of his unfailing love.
By the word of the LORD were the heavens made,
their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
He gathers the waters of the sea into jars;
he puts the deep into storehouses.
Let all the earth fear the LORD;
let all the people of the world revere him.
For he spoke, and it came to be;
he commanded, and it stood firm.
Monday, December 3, 2007
Frohe Weihnachten
The Christmas season is now upon us. I remember last summer in Nürnberg thinking how cool it would be to be here for Christmas and see the 'Weihnachtsmarkt.' Well, lo and behold I am here and it has been great. They seem to make such a big deal out of Christmas and rightfully so. It does not seem as commerialized as our North American Christmas and at least they still call it their equivalent of Christmas instead of changing it to "Happy Holidays" & "Seasons Greetings" to appease our secular culture and remove any mention of Christ.
Another thing I found amazing was how many Nativity scenes are around the city...in every shape & size.
There definitely seems to be a quiet, gentle Spirit here.
"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." -Matthew 1:23 (KJV)
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