Have you found it hard to get into “the Christmas spirit”
this year? Maybe you’re not even sure
what that is, but you know what it’s not.
Something inside you questions how “chestnuts roasting on an
open fire” and “folks dressed up like Eskimos” has anything to do with the
birth of a baby born in the Middle East a couple thousand years ago. You have a hunch there was more sand than
snow and suspect that reindeer were not, in fact, present at the birth of Jesus.
The July 2010 World Race (“P”) Squad is currently spending Christmas in Mozambique; this time next year, the
September 2011 World Race Squad(s) might also be there. It took the P Squad thirty or so hours to get from
Malawi to Mozambique — how long do you suppose it took for Joseph to get
himself and (a very pregnant) Mary over to Bethlehem (probably by donkey)?
actually camping out in a house that they rented for us, on our sleeping mats
under jimmy-rigged mosquito nets and so well taken care of…While here we have
the opportunity to do prison, hospital, widow, and orphan ministry, as well as
community outreach in this village and others. We are serving with and living
with an orphanage with 15 kids as well, and get to spend time with the kids of
the orphanage and neighboring homes as well. God is just so good!
sleeping on a dirt floor would probably be as close as you’d get. That’s one way you might get a
taste of what it was like for God’s son to leave heaven and come to earth.
presence.
We’re not gonna lie: it won’t be easy to sleep on the floor, to eat foods that are foreign – even repulsive – to your palate, or to be away from your friends and family. But we believe that experiencing and sharing the true meaning of Christmas is worth it.
