A LOOK BACK AT WHAT WAS..........

It is hard to believe that there are just a few more hours left in the first decade of 2000. (My son will argue that this is the last year of the first decade and the next decade begins 1/1/2011, but my mind works better by keeping it on the 00’s) Was December 31, 1999 really 10 years ago? Y2K was the subject on everyone’s mind. The biggest fear was that our “high-tech” nation would suddenly shut down at midnight. All of our computer systems would refuse to recognize 1/1/00 and take us back to January 1, 1900 all because the system programmers had forgotten to program 4 digits for the year. “Intelligence” reports warned us that the electricity, gas and water would suddenly shut off, our money would be electronically locked in the banks and we would experience mega food shortages as our transit system became non-functional. Our basements were stocked with canned goods and a manual can opener, bottled water and extra blankets. We had a stash of ready-cash under our mattress and an extra propane tank for the gas grill. The countdown began, the ball in Times Square dropped, we snuggled in our warm beds and awoke to life as usual on 1/1/00; a new millennium had begun.

Who could have imagined that 21 months later 9/11 would take the place of Y2K in our vocabulary? The events of that sunny September day changed the life of every person living in the United States. We became aware of a dangerous world that for many living in other countries, is just a “way of life.” Flying to Florida for a family vacation became a long, arduous ordeal, young men and women were once again asked to sacrifice their lives for their country and for a time we all joined hands as proud Americans.

For me, 2001 was a defining year in my life. In December, 2000, my career in the job of my dreams began, then ended 6 years later. In May of 2001, Steve and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with a week-long vacation at Hilton Head. In July, the Hawks family celebrated Dad’s birthday with a wonderful family reunion in Doniphan, MO. On September 2, we sadly said goodbye to Dad as he went home to be with the Lord. December 29, Phil got married and I finally gained a daughter, Holly. Yes, 2001 was quite a year.

The next few years brought their share of blessing and sadness. We gained another daughter, Jenesa in July 2005 and our family was perfect; 2 boys and 2 girls……then, July, 2004, our first grandchild, Mackenzie was born. We felt that there had never been a grandchild born that was as special as this one until July 2006 when Madison came into our lives. Our joy was tripled in May, 2007 as we greeted Caleb, April, 2009 brought us Nathan and finally in June 2009, Anabel was born. During those same years we said goodbye to Steve’s Mom and my Granny, but even in the sadness, we were assured that it was only a temporary goodbye and one of these days, oh what a reunion there will be.

The last 10 years have been full of joy, sorrow, success, challenge and blessing. As the year 2000 dawned, I was 42 years old and I had dreams and goals for the next 10 years. Some of the dreams have come true, others have changed or are yet to be realized, but through it all God has not changed. I am looking forward to great and powerful things in my life as God continues to open doors and lead the way into the next decade.

MORE THAN “A WORD”, HE IS “THE WORD”

It happens every year after Thanksgiving; a clerk says “Happy Holidays” and offends a customer who wanted to hear “Merry Christmas.” The doorman says, “Merry Christmas” before realizing the patron is celebrating Hanukah or doesn’t celebrate any holiday at all. There have been lawsuits, fired employees, school parties renamed and certain songs banned all because they contained the word, “Christmas.” What is it about a 9 letter word that inspires such strong emotions?

It is never really the word for a word is just an arrangement of letters. No, the emotion is inspired by what THE WORD signifies. The Bible tells us in John 1, “ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” THE WORD BRINGS HOPE to a world that was without hope. Ephesians 2:12 tells us, “That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world: But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.” THE WORD IS LOVE, John 3:16, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. THE WORD FILLS US WITH JOY, Luke 2:10 “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” Finally, THE WORD GIVES PEACE, Luke 2:13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Yes, there are many catchy religious phrases, slogans, and words flying around during the month of December. We hear that “Jesus is the reason for the season” and “Let’s put Christ back in Christmas.” We declare that “Jesus is the best gift of all” and that “Wisemen still seek Him.” The phrases make wonderful Christmas cards and give us a sense of well-being if we repeat them often enough, but what are we really saying? If we only remember Jesus during the season and put Christ away with the ornaments once the celebration is over; if the “best gift of all” is tossed in the corner with all the other toys and our seeking ends at the manger, the phrases, slogans and carols are just words. This year make the season come alive, after all the wrapping paper has been torn and the gifts are open, thank God for sending salvation to the world. Make Christ more than just the first six letters of Christmas; give him center place in your life. The Bible promises that if we seek Him with our whole heart, we WILL find Him just as the wisemen did more than two thousand years ago. You can allow THE WORD to become flesh in your heart this Christmas.

IT'S THE POWER BEHIND THE STORY!!!

Every year, after Thanksgiving, the controversy begins. Should I say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays? Is it Christmas Vacation or Winter Break? Can we sing Silent Night or should we stick with Jingle Bells for the School musical program? Should we chance setting up the Nativity Scene in front of the court house, a Christmas tree, Santa and his sleigh, lights? Law suits are filed and millions spent on ads voicing the minority seasonal opinion. The ads this year declared, “No God; No problem!” and “Yes, Virginia, there is no God.” Why is a Christian holiday such a threat to unbelievers? Most Christians are content to mind their own business as the atheist celebrate winter solstice, the Jewish people celebrate Hanukah and other ethnic groups celebrate their traditions, so why do Atheist/Humanist groups feel the need to take away our religious freedom? I am reminded of the story of Irina Ratushinskaya as told by Chuck Colson.

Ten year old Irina Ratushinskaya lived in the Soviet Union city of Odessa. Attendance during atheist instruction time was compulsory, so Irina sat in the classroom watching a rare snowfall. She wanted to be outside enjoying the snow instead of listening to the instructor drone on about the nonexistence of God. The students had been told about a Baptist woman who roasted her child in an oven. Irina knew a Baptist lady who loved and cared for her children. The seventh graders had preformed a play depicting priests as oafs and fools. The Young Pioneers, the teachers, the headmaster, the broadcasters on the radio, the whole country seemed to be against God. It seemed odd that such a furious battle raged against someone they said didn’t exist anyway.

Irina thought, “Can’t they tell they are giving themselves away? Adults tell you there are no gremlins or ghosts. They tell you once or twice, and that is it. But with God, they tell you over and over again. So He must exist—and He must be very powerful for them to fear Him so greatly.” With her childlike logic, she prayed, “Okay, God, if you did not exist, we wouldn’t have to listen to this lecture. So it’s Your fault we’re sitting here missing the snow. If You’re so powerful, make it keep snowing!” It snowed for 3 days, Odessa’s largest snowfall in 60 years. School was canceled and Irina enjoyed the snow. The God her teachers denied had made the snow fall from official Communist airspace.

Irina began to talk to Him secretly at night asking endless questions. Was he kind, all powerful? The Communist state was powerful, but they were not kind. If He was kind but not all-powerful, how could she depend on Him?

At the age of 14, Irina had a pivotal moment in her young life. A classmate threw a chestnut across the room. It crashed into an inkwell, splashing a splatter of ink on the wall. When no one would tell who had caused the mess, each student was interrogated individually. When Irina’s turn came, she began to lie, saying she had been looking in her book bag and hadn’t seen anything. The next student looked the teacher straight in the eye and said, “I’m not going to tell you.” This pierced Irina’s conscience. She thought, “I am becoming what THEY want me to be. I shall never lower myself like that again before anybody. I’ll learn how to behave decently from books, I’ll think a lot, and talk to God more. Then my soul will remain my own. Nobody will be able to manipulate me to suit themselves.” She instinctively knew that she would become a servant to one master or another.

Irina began to explore the great Russian books on her parent’s bookshelves. In them she found a reflection of the God whom she knew was kind and all-powerful. The values of good and evil did not change. Pushkin told her the truth lay in Russian Orthodoxy, Tolstoy’s theories left her confused. She had no way to get a Bible and there was nobody trustworthy to ask about Jesus.
When Irina was 23, a Jewish friend gave her an 18th century volume of the Scriptures printed in Old Church Slavonic. She spent a month and a half learning the ancient alphabet so she could read the Bible. Excitedly, she discovered a God she had already come to know.

At 28 years old, Irina was targeted by the KGB for her writings celebrating Christian faith and human rights. She was arrested and sentenced to 7 years of hard labor and sent to the Soviet Union’s notorious gulag. In prison she refused to rat on fellow prisoners or praise the regime. She continued to serve God and record her writings on tiny bits of paper. Human Rights groups and Christians in the West raised an outcry over her case. In 1986, Irina was released from prison and finally made her way, with her husband to the West and freedom.
Irina’s greatest desire was to have children. Because of the torture and deprivation experienced in the Gulag, doctors said a successful pregnancy would be difficult if not impossible. Friends began to pray as the months went by. Finally, in 1992, Irina delivered twin boys, Sergei and Oleg.

You see the Christmas holiday is not the real problem, it is the power behind the reason we celebrate the season that is the real threat. We celebrate that the great God of Heaven robed himself in flesh and came to earth in the form of a tiny baby. 2000 years ago this tiny baby was such a threat to a king that thousands of babies were given the death sentence. The story continues because this baby was born for a purpose. He would become the perfect sacrifice to redeem fallen man back to God. He not only took our place in death but sent His Spirit to give us power to conquer our hedonistic nature.

So when you hear that another lawsuit against public professions of faith has been filed; if you see another anti-God slogan or witness materialism replacing the Baby in the Manger, take a minute and thank God that you know the truth about a baby that grew up to bear the sins of the whole world on a cross and rose again that His Spirit may live in your heart today.

IF ONLY............

Have you ever indulged in the mind game, “If Only?” Most of us have at one time or another. Usually we’ve experienced a bad situation and a little depression has set in. Don’t be fooled, this game will not help! Your “pity party” will continue until you stop the game or do something that fulfills the fantasy of “If Only.”

It started in the garden! I’m not sure of the year since we are not told how long it took Eve’s dissatisfaction to bring her to the point of standing in front of the forbidden. Sometimes we imagine that Eve was strolling through the garden, happened to pass by the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil when Satan began talking to her. Then on a whim, Eve reached out grabbed an apple and took a bite, shared it with her husband and brought sin on the world. I believe it was more of a process. The Bible doesn’t tell us how many times Satan confronted her before she began to entertain the thought, “If Only!”

Satan’s tactics have not changed since Adam and Eve’s exodus from the garden, so I think this might be a more accurate scenario. One beautiful day Eve was enjoying a moment of solitude, which should have been easy since she only had Adam to think of, but it seems a “woman’s work is never done!” She should really gather fresh boughs for their bed, but maybe it would be ok for one night, fortunately, there was no laundry to finish. Soon it would be suppertime and she hadn’t picked out anything for the meal. Would Adam be happy with fruit salad again or should they start with a wonderful vegetable soup? If only she had some new recipes. Satan began to whisper and Eve began to wonder…If Only!!! Genesis 3:6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. And the SIN OF DISSATISFACTION came into the world.

What is the “If Only” that Satan has been whispering in your ear? It may be, If only I had…, If only I had not…., If only that was mine… Your “If only” may be a different spouse, another career, the house down the street, your bosses automobile, Bill Gate’s money, a model’s body or another Christian’s gifts. We all have different “If Only’s” we desire. James 1:14 says, “But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death.” How do we combat this trick of Satan? Is there a way to avoid reaching for the fruit?

The antidote to the “If Only Syndrome” is a huge dose of “Thankfulness.” When Satan whispers, “If only you had not married him,” think of 10 reasons you are thankful he is your husband. Perhaps you think, “If only I had her money, home, figure, fashion sense or personality.” Make a list of all the things that God has provided in your life; include your healthy body and the fact that God created you with a personality to be used for His purpose. The” Blessing” side of your list will soon overshadow the “If only” column. If only Eve had rebutted Satan with a list of blessings, thanking God for the beautiful home he had provided, delicious fresh food for every meal, a loving, hard working companion and faithful furry friends, always at her side “If Only” must be stopped before it is conceived. If it is allowed to give birth to the “Sin of Dissatisfaction,” “If Only” will destroy you.