A LOVE LETTER...(A Very Special Christmas Series)(3)

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          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.

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And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David

a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

Luke 2:10-11

 Have you ever stopped to think that this Gospel account of the birth of Christ is a heavenly love letter?

And in that moment, by that deed, God was communicating that “I created you and I love you, and though you abuse your freedom by continuing to sin, I have now sent my son to save you.”

This divine affection is so profound that when you allow yourself to really think about it, it should leave you breathless.

          It is also a LOST AND FOUND STORY – LOST because we would definitely be lost if we had to earn our own way to heaven.

And a FOUND STORY because we have been promised eternal life through our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

          Out of the darkness of the night there was a bright and shining star.

          Out of the darkness to a world so prone to war, came riding on the wings of God’s promises, the “Prince of Peace.”

          Let me tell you a story: 

          A seminary student had been studying the book of John and now sat staring out his dorm window at the darkness beyond.  Completely overwhelmed, he repeated part of the scripture (John1:5) to himself again, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."  

He wished he could think of a way to tell his fellow students just what it meant to him to say that Christ was the light of the world. 

And then an idea came to him; he finally figured out how to do it.

He would need a place that was really dark, and after searching all around the campus, he found the perfect place for his living analogy -

an old racketball court in the basement of a seldom used building.

With all the lights turned off, there was complete darkness.

Not a single ray of light from outside penetrated the utter blackness.

          Then he persuaded his Theology professor to let him take over his class for a day.  “I want to make a point for my thesis, but I also want to make a point for my fellow seminarians.”

          So he led his class across the campus to the deserted building, down the stairs and sat them around the edges of the court.

          Then the young man turned out the lights. 

          Some students gasped for now it was totally pitch black dark. 

The minutes passed and still he said nothing

until finally the darkness became a living thing and when he felt he had waited long enough, he quoted John 8:12 -        

           “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

          And with these words he struck a match, lit a small candle and said “And that is what Christ is to this world of darkness.”

          Then he quoted those words from John's Gospel that are so clear in their meaning.

          “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."

          The young man continued, “And so it was that the

Son of God entered our world to become one of us and endured the darkness up to and including that dark day at Golgotha.”

And then, in a voice hardly more than a whisper he drove home this wonderful truth…

“Hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on

earth, good will to men. 

     Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;

     God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

     The wrong shall fail, the right prevail. 

     With peace on earth good will to men.” 

(poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

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                      VISIT NEIL'S OTHER BLOG

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

"""""""""""""""""""""

            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franiklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To order a DVD with all four One Man Dramas (Lincoln, Wesley, Luther, Franklin) send a check of $20 (shipping and handling free) to

            Pageantry Inc., (The church without Walls) 

7430 SW 59^th Street
Miami, Florida 33143

A LOVE LETTER...(A Very Special Christmas Series)(2)

If you want to share this blog with a friend go to the bottom of day’s content and click on TELL A FRIEND

          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on Neil’s One A Day blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.

        GO TO NEIL’S OTHER BLOG ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS and read the following brain teasers.  CLICK ON URL BELOW

          To visit this site…click on the URL below

        http://oneadayyourspiritualvitamins.blogspot.com/

When Jesus was born, the pagan religions offered only despair, and evil spirits, and fear.   Then came the Bethlehem babe with the Good News of forgiveness and freedom.  God’s gift of strength and salvation for man’s weakness and sin. 

When Jesus was born, slavery was universal and severe.  The whole world, except those enslaved, considered the use of chains a right and profitable way to control a large part of the population.  It has taken a long time, but slowly, surely the fetters have been falling away.                       

When Jesus was born, work was a degradation.  He brought to honest toil the dignity it deserved. 

Ever hear of William Larimer Mellon?   When he was only 37 years old, he was a millionaire, leading the good life on a ranch in Arizona. 

Then he read about Albert Schweitzer and he and his wife, Gwen, visited him in Africa.  Enthralled by Dr. Schweitzer’s 365-day-Christmas-spirit and the medical missionary work he was doing, Larimer decided to go back to college to study medicine. 

And having earned his medical degree at the age of 44, these two compassionate individuals went to Haiti to spend their lives and fortune helping its impoverished people.

So now I challenge you...in the spirit of these unselfish people… to think Christmas.

Indeed, to give this blessed time a Christmas face, because folk find in you love’s abiding place.  

                                     (rewrite of poem lines by Madeline Miller) 

To have a double dose of manger thoughts this Christmas Eve let me share another story..…

The novelist Margaret Lee Runbeck tells the following -  “I was calling on Lillian and when I knocked at her door I knew what I would hear – that dear, dark voice calling out from her window above,  ‘Jes one minute… wait’ll I get on mah wrapper.  Who is you down there anyway, honey?”

“I chuckled to myself,” Mrs. Runbeck writes.  “Lillian didn’t know who it was at her door, but she was sure whoever it was, was honey.”

Ah, the Lillian’s of the world.  All year ‘round calling out with that special Christmas spirit, “I don’t know who you are, but as far as I’m concerned, you’re honey. 

You may be acting like vinegar, raising Cain, causing war, making good people lonely and bitter with all your strife, but God made you to be a honey, so I’m going to call you honey whether you are acting like it or not.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu of Africa summed up this kind of spirit so very well - what this grand and glorious promise of Christianity is all about.  Remember, he personally experienced the abundant evils of apartheid and yet still was able to write,

“Goodness is stronger than evil;

love is stronger than hate;

light is stronger than darkness;

life is stronger than death,

victory is ours through Him who loves us.” 

It is the manger message that will not ever go away. 

Yes, we live in an era of great technological advances, but so much of this kind of happiness is written with fading ink.  It is why there are so many today looking for spiritual answers and why there is such solace when we find the Savior and give ourselves to Him. 

Because “Wherever we are, we find that God has just departed.  Wherever we go, we find God has just arrived before us.”  (editing of quote by Thomas Merton)

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visit neil's other blog http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

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Click on the URL below to WATCH NEIL IN HIS WORLD FAMOUS ONE MAN DRAMATIZATIONS OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY AND MARTIN LUTHER

        http://www.speakerneil.com/

          TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franiklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

        V. Neil Wyrick’s ninth book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN and is available at

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A LOVE LETTER...A VERY SPECIAL CHRISTMAS SERIES

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.

                     +++++++++++

And the angel said unto them, ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David

a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

Luke 2:10-11

Have you ever stopped to think that this Gospel account of the birth of Christ is a heavenly love letter?

And in that moment, by that deed, God was communicating that “I created you and I love you, and though you abuse your freedom by continuing to sin, I have now sent my son to save you.”

This divine affection is so profound that when you allow yourself to really think about it, it should leave you breathless.

          It is also a LOST AND FOUND STORY – LOST because we would definitely be lost if we had to earn our own way to heaven.

And a FOUND STORY because we have been promised eternal life through our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

          Out of the darkness of the night there was a bright and shining star.

          Out of the darkness to a world so prone to war, came riding on the wings of God’s promises, the “Prince of Peace.”

          Let me tell you a story: 

          A seminary student had been studying the book of John and now sat staring out his dorm window at the darkness beyond.  Completely overwhelmed, he repeated part of the scripture (John1:5) to himself again, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."  

He wished he could think of a way to tell his fellow students just what it meant to him to say that Christ was the light of the world. 

And then an idea came to him; he finally figured out how to do it.

He would need a place that was really dark, and after searching all around the campus, he found the perfect place for his living analogy - an old racketball court in the base of a seldom used building, 

With all the lights turned off, there was complete darkness.

Not a single ray of light from outside penetrated the utter blackness.

          Then he persuaded his Theology professor to let him take over his class for a day.  “I want to make a point for my thesis, but I also want to make a point for my fellow seminarians.”

          So he led his class across the campus to the deserted building, down the stairs and sat them around the edges of the court.

          Then the young man turned out the lights. 

          Some students gasped for now it was totally pitch black dark. 

The minutes passed and still he said nothing

until finally the darkness became a living thing and when he felt he had waited long enough, he quoted John 8:12 -        

           “When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world.  Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

          And with these words he struck a match, lit a small candle and said “And that is what Christ is to this world of darkness.”

          Then he quoted those words from John's Gospel that are so clear in their meaning.

          “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."

          The young man continued, “And so it was that the

Son of God entered our world to become one of us and endured the darkness up to and including that dark day at Golgotha.”

And then, in a voice hardly more than a whisper he drove home this wonderful truth…

“Hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on

earth, good will to men. 

     Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;

     God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;

     The wrong shall fail, the right prevail. 

     With peace on earth good will to men.” 

(poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)

 +++++++++++++++++++++++++

VISIT NEIL'S OTHER BLOG...click below

http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com

"""""""""""""""""""""

            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franiklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To order a DVD with all four One Man Dramas (Lincoln, Wesley, Luther, Franklin) send a check of $20 (shipping and handling free) to

            Pageantry Inc., (The church without Walls) 

7430 SW 59^th Street
Miami, Florida 33143

CHRISTMAS PLUS

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.

                     +++++++++++

There was a wealthy European family that decided to have their newborn baby baptized

in their own private mansion chapel.

Dozens of guests were invited to the elaborate affair, and they all arrived dressed to the hilt.

They were wined and dined and entertained lavishly.  

Then it was time for the main purpose of their

gathering: the infant’s baptismal ceremony.

The nanny went upstairs, but soon returned with a desperate look upon her face.

          “I can’t find the baby.” She cried.

 Where could the baby be? No one seemed to know.

 Everyone, the parents, the servants, even the guests frantically began to search through all the rooms.

      Finally one of the maids found him.  He was fast asleep right where he had been “temporarily” laid, but in the rush of arriving guests had been forgotten, and soon covered up under the pile of coats, jackets, and furs.  

     The object of that day’s celebration had not been noticed, and then had been forgotten, neglected, and nearly smothered.

And that is how it is with our Christ.  Christmas comes and goes and if we are not careful our Christ goes unnoticed, forgotten,

neglected; buried under the busy-ness of our days.

Therefore, I challenge you to make every day Christmas Day.

Easier said than done?  Of course…but I challenge you anyway…

Let's put it this way. If, in the next week or so, you find yourself suffering from, what is often called, an after Christmas slump - when all the excitement and happiness of the season has leaked away and left you out-of-sorts, I have a suggestion that is just off beat enough to work.

Remember how up-beat and light-hearted the Christmas carols made you feel?  Well, why not

continue singing them? 

    Why not?  I doubt the angels in heaven stop singing on December 26^th.  Fact is, since there are no time limitations in eternity, I think they jus might  keep on singing and praising God forever, which they have been doing forever anyway.

Therefore, try doing the same…No, it won’t make an angel out of you, but it might take a little of the devil out of you.

Sing a Christmas carol tomorrow on December 27^th and on the 28^th and maybe the 28^th of March.  And what would our mind set be like if we were still singing Christmas carols on July 4^th?

Why not try it? 

Keep the gift that keeps on giving alive and well because you keep on giving yourself to this eternal truth.

            Perhaps be a little like the boy in the following

story – who in his delightful naiveté, kept the Christmas spirit alive and well.

It was the day after Christmas and the pastor had just noticed that the baby Jesus was missing from the Nativity scene. 

       Then he became aware of a small boy pulling a little red wagon into which he had placed Jesus.

     Walking up to him the pastor asked, “Where did you get that baby Jesus I see in your wagon, little friend?”

“Oh, “replied the lad, “I got him from your nativity scene and I’m going to put him back…but you see, a week before Christmas I prayed to Jesus that I might find a little red wagon under the Christmas tree with my name on it. 

And I told him that if I got it I would give him a ride around the block in it.”

That is what we need to do…give Jesus a ride around the block and down the street and to all the different places we go, showing Him off to a world that so badly needs Him.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franiklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To order a DVD with all four One Man Dramas (Lincoln, Wesley, Luther, Franklin) send a check of $20 (shipping and handling free) to

            Pageantry Inc., (The church without Walls) 

7430 SW 59^th Street
Miami, Florida 33143

GIVE THAT SPECIAL CHRISTMAS GIFT THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.

                     +++++++++++

You  probably will receive some quite good gifts on Christmas day…may haps even some great gifts, but nothing can compare to that first one.

Consider what was included in that Christmas gift.  Not just the promise of life eternal but also He offered us the gift of mercy - a caring heart,   an unselfish soul.

It was a gift that keeps on giving. But have you gladly received and kept

alive this gift of mercy?

I can quickly think of five ways we can all keep alive God’s wonderful gift of our Savior Christ...the Christmas gift of compassionate caring.

How?  Ask yourself the following questions and then work and pray toward being able to give the answer “yes” to these questions.

1.                  When people are hurting, do they seek you out?  Do you make them feel better just because you are not condemnatory or rude in thought and deed?

2.                  Do you seem to say the right thing at the right time or are you capable far too often of saying wrong and hurtful things?

3.                  Do you help people without looking at your watch or wondering what’s in it for you?

4.                  Are you sensitive enough to feel it when people are down and depressed, and then try to help them with a word or deed?

5.                  And a very simple thing - are you a good listener?

You can find a number of mercy people in the Bible who kept God’s gift alive. 

Allow me to tell you of one of them, a man by

the name of Onesiphorus.

The Apostle Paul was in jail in Rome.  This was his final incarceration.  In not that long a time the Emperor Nero would have him beheaded.

There were Christians in Rome and they were angered and ashamed that an apostle would wind up like this - but they were not bothered enough, or too frightened, to do anything about it.  You know…inconvenience and all that kind of thing.

But none of these excuses stopped Onesiphorus for he had the gift of mercy. He had come all the way from Ephesus to Rome searching for Paul and found him chained in prison.

To say the trip was inconvenient would be an understatement and to add that it was dangerous to be a Christian in Rome at this time goes without saying but he visited him anyway…and more than once.

Paul writes about it, “May the Lord show mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, because he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains.  On the contrary, when he was in Rome, he searched hard for me until he found me…”  (Timothy 1:16-18)

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franiklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To order a DVD with all four One Man Dramas (Lincoln, Wesley, Luther, Franklin) send a check of $20 (shipping and handling free) to

            Pageantry Inc., (The church without Walls) 

7430 SW 59^th Street
Miami, Florida 33143

A GIFT YOU MAY NOT HAVE CONSIDERED GIVING...AND MORE THAN ONCE THIS CHRISTMAS SEASON

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEND THIS BLOG TO A FRIEND GO TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS BLOG AND CLICK ON THE ENVELOPE.

          There are over 900 stories and commentaries on this blog that began Nov 24, 2009. It is added to daily.

                     +++++++++++

Author Mary Ann Bird shared this very personal story in The Whisper Test.

          She wrote, “I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I started school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others: a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech.”
          “When classmates asked, ‘What happened to your lip? I’d tell them I’d fallen and cut it on a piece of glass.

           Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me.”
          “There was, however, a teacher in the second grade that we all adored—Mrs. Leonard [was her] name. She was short, round, happy—a sparkling lady.”
          Annually we had a hearing test . . .
          Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something, and we would have to repeat it back—things like “The sky is blue” or “Do you have new shoes?”

          I waited there for those words that God must have put into her mouth. [They were] seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said in her whisper, “I wish you were my little girl”

          It takes so little to give so much...so what compassionate gift of love and understanding and kindness are you going to give this day to a friend or family member or just some stranger that crosses your path...what gift indeed?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++

            TO WATCH NEIL WYRICK IN HIS ONE MAN DRAMAS (Presented to millions all around the world) (Ben Franiklin, Martin Luther, Charles Wesley and Abraham Lincoln (this Lincoln film takes 11 seconds to download but is worth the wait)

        CLICK ON THE FOLLOWING

http://www.speakerneil.com/

            To order a DVD with all four One Man Dramas (Lincoln, Wesley, Luther, Franklin) send a check of $20 (shipping and handling free) to

            Pageantry Inc., (The church without Walls) 

7430 SW 59^th Street

Miami, Florida 33143