christmas

it's still a couple months away but christmas decorations and shopping started september 1st. the family doesn-t have much in the way of christmas decorations so i bought some stuff to make something for them. the store was packed with shoppers like it was the week before christmas. the store was filled with tons of toys of every shape and size. there was a very tiny display of nativity scenes. it was so very commercialized. people so intent on buying all the glitter and glamour of A holiday season. people with money to buy all the latest fashions, latest gimmicks, newest cd's, games or toys.

and people up north (cr) without enough money to buy food. living in shacks without lights, without water. people forgetting to celebrate the birth of christ. people forgetting the humble place of His birth. people forgetting His humbleness, His holiness. people forgetting His mercy and compassion for others and forgetting that He asks us to be like Him. His mercy and compassion extended to feeding the hungry. and He asks us to do the same. what will you do this christmas?

one person CAN make a difference. fill a shoebox or 2 or more? donate to a gospel mission to provide a christmas dinner for people that would otherwise have nothing? donate blankets to a shelter? donate winter clothes / boots to a shelter or thrift shop? donate money to buy seeds and tools or chickens or goats or fruit trees to world vision or another charity. ask your friends, family, class mates or co-workers to donate a can of food, a pair of sox, a dollar or ??? don't think your $1.00 won't make a difference. if 20 people each gave $1.00 you would have $20.

as you sit in your nice warm comfy house filling your face with more food than your stomach can possibly handle, drinking your third latte of the day, or you've bought your 20th pair of shoes, or the newest gameboy game, the latest cd, new towels to match the new paint job, i ask you to think about the other 97% (this may not be exact) of the world's population that don't have shelter never mind food.

there are storms, fires, earthquakes, floods, disasters of every kind, all around the world. the news depicts scenes of death and destruction that countries live with each and every day. almost every country in the world is facing one or another disaster it seems.

and then there are the people that have just existed without what north americans consider the necessities of life. microwave, tv, stereo, washing machine and dryer, dishwasher, stove, fridge.

if you have the money to buy food that requires refrigeration you would buy it each day but rice and beans don't require refrigeration. neither does yucca (cassava). it's a root you dig up from the ground and eat.

Jesus says if someone asks for food or water we are to give it to them. it's pretty humbling to have to ask. but where do you go when all the people are poor. who do you ask then? so for the people that can't reach out, don't know how or where to reach out, we need to reach out to them.

it's like if you want your village to be included in a world vision project you have to ask world vision to include you. but what if you don't know who or how to ask?

we that know need to help those that don't. we that can need to help those that can't.

please. remember those in need this christmas.