Most Treasured

I took down all the vestiges of Christmas yesterday and cleaned the house thoroughly. While putting away the decorations and cleaning the guest bedrooms, I found left behind toys of the grand kids, cookie crumbs their parents had dropped and pieces of torn wrapping paper and bows scattered here and there. Sweet memories of a festive holiday enjoyed.

Reflecting over the past year is something I always find myself doing after the holidays. Someone has said, "Remember that when you take inventory of the things you treasure most, none will have been purchased with money." Isn't that the truth! We had an additional member this year at our Christmas celebration--our youngest grandchild is only 9 months so this was her first Christmas with us. Her three year old sister and 6 year old cousin will have you hurting from laughter with their country accents and hilarious anectdotes. What a joy each of the grandchildren are.

Our daughter, not yet married, came and spent five days with us -- some much coveted time -- she and I are very close and yet have little time together. One of our sons helped his father finish a small project on the shed--time they enjoyed together.

All the things that I enjoyed this holiday season were not bought with money. Yeah, we purchased gifts for everyone and it was fun watching them each open them, but that isn't what I treasure most. As I reflect back on the past year, none of the things I treasure can be bought with money. I have learned that the material things of this life are temporary and can be gone in a moment, but relationships and memories will last a lifetime and no one or nothing can take them from you. Take time this coming year to put your effort and time into things that are truley meaningful.

"Remeber that when you take inventory of the things you treasure most, none will have been purchased with money."

Dana Burk

Sacrificing?

Trying to teach Kindergartners from affluent families about sacrificing for God can be quite a challenge. I'm afraid I didn't do too well with that assignment tonight in the Bible class I taught. I think the closest I came was establishing the fact that we should share what we have with God and give Him back a portion of what He has given us, but even that brought up some really interesting comments and questions from the little ones.

After Bible class, I saw two friends that were visiting; one, a preacher that I have known for over 25 years, the other is a young woman who's husband is a young preacher looking for a place to preach. As the preacher friend and I were reminiscing and talking about my husband's and my impending move to Puerto Rico the young preacher's wife came up to me to talk about a post I had on the blog a week or so ago. I had stated it seemed harder for women to make some of the sacrifices for living for God than it was for men. Particularly I was talking about the sacrifices a preacher makes in moving around. The preacher and I continued our conversation after she left and he talked about how he had "drug" his wife for two years over to Hungary to preach sometime back and some of the frustrations with that difficult move.

Yesterday, some ladies and I were discussing the sacrifices for God that Christians must make. One sister said she didn't feel that we really had to make sacrifices as Christians. After a few minutes of discussing how different ones did sacrifice as Christians, one lady said to her, "You have grown to the point in your life that serving God is not a sacrifice to you because you have seen the fruits that come from serving Him."

I was thinking about all of these conversations about sacrificing...and it is obvious that none of us "ENJOY" making them. We look at the word SACRIFICE as ugly and demanding--obtrusive, interfering with our "want to's". Something that forces us to do what God wants. Yet Paul tells us in Romans 12 that, because of all that God had done for us in providing salvation through sacrificing His own Son, we are to present ourselves as "living sacrifices".

Sacrificing for God should be something I gladly do, something I consider an honor or privilege knowing I can never repay all He has done for and continues to do for me each day. And seeing the fruit that comes from living for God will cause us to grow to the point in our lives that my sister expressed--I want feel that I am sacrificing anything by serving Him. It will be my pleasure.

Dana Burk

The Church is Decorated for Christmas!

I live in a small, middle Tennessee town in a county of about 65,000 people. There are over 50 "churches of Christ" in our small county, it being the dominant faith here. These congregations span the gamut from ultra conservative to ultra liberal in their thinking.

One of the congregations that is in the center of downtown, one of the oldest, is in my way of thinking somewhat liberal and yet they have a number of older members who have resisted the full blown liberalism that so many around here practice and teach. (My 87 year old neighbor is a member there.) I have had a number of discussion about the liberalism creeping into the Lord's church with my neighbor and she has expressed concern for the congregation of which I am speaking.

Yesterday, as I passed through town, I was a little taken back by what I saw--Christmas wreaths decked out with holly and bright red velvet bows streaming down on each of the eight doors leading into the church auditorium. The church is decorated for Christmas!

Don't misunderstand me...I love to decorate for Christmas--my home is decked out with poinsettias, Christmas lights inside and out and stockings hanging from the mantel. But I have a difficult time seeing how it is the place of the Lord's church to participate in the secular things of the world. Neither do I see how the Lord's church should involve itself in things we have no authority for such as celebrating a special holiday for the birth of Christ when the Bible is silent about such celebrations.

It was quite noteworthy that the wreaths and bows on the doors of the church of Christ looked just like the ones on the Methodist's and Presbyterian's buildings just down the block. I was reminded of the verses in 1Samuel 8:6-20 where the people of God said give us a king that we might be like the nations around us. Even in this town dominated by believers, the church is being influenced by the denominations around it.

I love this time of year and the spirit that pervades it, but I fear when the Lord's church leaves its God given purpose and role and involves itself in things secular or unauthorized. I will go worship our Lord and King on Christmas Eve, but not because we will be having a special Christmas service or pageant, but because it will be on a Sunday this year and I always go to worship on Sundays...that is what the Lord has commanded. And I will continue to worship Him throughout the year, not just during the month of December.

What do you think??

Dana Burk

Spirit of the Season

"Friends are God's way of taking care of us."

This was written by a Hospice physician of Metro Denver.

I just had one of the most amazing experiences of my life, and wanted to share it with my family and dearest friends: I was driving home from a meeting this evening about 5, stuck in traffic on Colorado Blvd., and the car started to choke and splutter and die - I barely managed to coast, cursing, into a gas station, glad only that I would not be blocking traffic and would have a somewhat warm spot to wait for the tow truck. It wouldn't even turn over.

Before I could make the call, I saw a woman walking out of the "quickie mart" building, and it looked like she slipped on some ice and fell into a Gas pump, so I got out to see if she was okay. When I got there, it looked more like she had been overcome by sobs than that she had fallen; she was a young woman who looked really haggard with dark circles under her ! Eyes. Sh e dropped something as I helped her up, and I picked it up to give it to her. It was a nickel At that moment, everything came into focus for me: the crying woman, the ancient Suburban crammed full of stuff with 3 kids in the back (1 in a car seat), and the gas pump reading $4.95.

I asked her if she was okay and if she needed help, and she just kept saying "I don't want my kids to see me crying," so we stood on the other side of the pump from her car. She said she was driving to California and that things were very hard for her right now. So I asked, "And you were praying?" That made her back away from me a little, but I assured her I was not a crazy person and said, "He heard you, and He sent me."

I took out my card and swiped it through the card reader on the pump so she could fill up her car completely, and while it was fueling, walked to the next door McDonald's and bought 2 big bags of food, some gift certificates for more, and a big cup of coffee. She gave the food to the kids in the car, who attacked it like wolves, and we stood by the pump eating fries and talking a little.

She told me her name, and that she lived in Kansas City . Her boyfriend left 2 months ago and she had not been able to make ends meet. She knew she wouldn't have money to pay rent Jan 1, and finally in desperation had finally called her parents, with whom she had not spoken in about 5 years. They lived in California and said she could come live with them and try to get on her feet there. So she packed up everything she owned in the car She told the kids they were going to California for Christmas, but not that they were going to live there.

I gave her my gloves, a little hug and said a quick prayer with her for safety on the road. As I was walking over to my car, she said, "So, are you like an angel or something?" This definitely made me cry. I said, "Sweetie, at this time of year angels are really busy, so sometimes God uses regular people."

It was so incredible to be a part of someone else's miracle. And of course, you guessed it, when I got in my car it started right away and got me home with no problem. I'll put it in the shop tomorrow to check, but I suspect the mechanic won't find anything wrong.

Sometimes the angels fly close enough to you that you can hear the flutter of their wings. Psalms 55:22 "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.
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Whether we believe in miracles or not, whether we celebrate Christmas or not, you have to admit there is something about the sweet spirit of people this time of year. I often wish we could hang on to the generous attitudes and the caring for one another that prevails in the month of December thoughout the year. But, I am thankful for it if only for the short season.

Look around you and see who you can help this holiday season...or for that matter, this coming year.

Dana Burk

Why Is it Harder For Women?

We have a preacher from Puerto Rico (where we will be moving Lord willing in May) visiting us this week and so my husband invited a couple of other men who have an interest in Spanish work over for lunch today. As I was cleaning the kitchen and overhearing their conversations I began to think about how for each of them going on "mission trips" and working in foreign cultures seems to be no big deal. The sacrifices that it requires for each of them doesn't appear to be a sacrifice in their minds.

In our ladies Bible class this morning we were discussing in Romans 12 where Paul encourages us to be "living sacrifices" in our service to Him. I don't know about you, but I struggle with that. And it seems to me that it is harder for women than for men (or maybe we just wear our feelings on our sleeves and it is much more obvious). The move we are about to make is very, very difficult for me, but not to the same degree for my husband. I suppose that is a good thing or we would not be going. You think God knew what he was doing when he made man different than woman?

I do envy at times the "toughness" of my beloved husband.

Dana Burk

All Human Knowledge on an IPod?

I was reading an article that was talking about the amount of human knowledge that has been recorded over the millenniums. It stated; "at least 32 million books, 750 million articles and essays, 25 million songs, 500 million images, 500,000 movies, 3 million videos, TV shows and short films and 100 billion public web pages. All this material is currently in all the libraries and archives of the world." (Michael Duduit)

The article went on to say that when all of this material is fully digitized, at the current technological rates, it could be compressed onto a 50 petabyte hard disk. According to the author, you would need a building about the size of a small-town library to house 50 petabytes. It is almost unimaginable to me that all of the world's knowledge can be housed in my local library and yet, that is what technology has done for us. The article went on to make the point that with tomorrow's technology, it will all fit on your personal iPod. Do we live in a great time or what?

God has granted us with the greatest knowledge of all times and the means with which to spread that knowledge literally all over the world. We live in a day when we all enjoy sharing that knowledge with one another. We each have TV's and radios. Almost all of us have e-mail accounts that we check multiple times a day (even my 78 year old father checks his regularly). We surf the web with ease and many of us share our opinions and "knowledge" on blogs and at personal web-sites. We are so free to tell others what we think and how we feel and to espouse the knowledge that we possess.

Francis Bacon said, "For knowledge itself is power". We are a nation and people of knowledge thus a nation of power. How are we using that knowledge and power for God?

In Col 1:23, Paul says the Gospel had been preached to every creature under heaven in his time; "if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister." How was it possible for these early Christians to preach the Gospel to everyone without the Internet and pod casting? If they could do that, why haven't we? We are, as a church, without excuse?

What are you personally doing to spread the gospel?