Priceless Gift

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord. - Luke 2:11 KJV

Growing up I never really connected Jesus with Christmas. Sure, he was in the mini-nativity scene at grandma’s house, but so was the little drummer boy, and I found him much more intriguing. Although I never believed in Santa Claus, I always tried to pretend that he was real; I loved the idea of a big jolly man in red giving me toys and candy.

What I didn’t realize was that there’s someone far better. Santa is only a very cheap copy of the real thing. Jesus Christ came down to the world, but He didn’t come on a shiny red sleigh. He came as a baby to a little town that no one knew about. Instead of bringing toys and candy, He brought a gift that cannot be equalled: the gift of salvation. He lived with us and taught us. While Santa only comes once a year, Jesus is always with us! We can talk to Him whenever we need to, unlike Santa where you’re allowed to send him a letter once a year with all your selfish requests.

Legend has it that Santa lives in the North Pole with little elves to make all the toys. Jesus lived on earth with us, healing the sick, helping the poor, and working hard for His meals. Santa requires milk and cookies, but Christ doesn’t expect anything in return for his gift; it’s a free gift, all we have to do is accept it. But the most compelling argument in Christ’s favour is this: Jesus is real! He’s not merely an old legend attempting to make children good, like Santa is. He is the real reason we celebrate. Christmas isn’t about the lights or the food or the traditions. It’s a celebration of the birth of Christ. But this celebration shouldn’t take place on just one day. This celebration can occur in our hearts daily as the result of God’s gift for us. His son, whom He sent to earth to die for us, is truly the ultimate gift—one that money could never buy.

Who Is God?

The love of Christ controls us. -2 Corinthians 5:14A

I once had the opportunity to tell someone of Jesus for the first time. I was reading a Bible story to my kindergarten class of gypsy girls in Albania when one little girl raised her hand and asked, “Teacher, who is Jesus?”

I responded, “Well, He’s God’s Son”

She paused, “Teacher, who is God?”

“He’s like a father.” Then realizing her perception of a father, I quickly added, “But a good father, the best one in the whole world.”

“Oh!” She responded “Like your Daddy!”

Suddenly I realized how good my life is. Not only do I have a father, but I have a warm place to sleep in; I have food, family, and friends (the list goes on and on). But what if all those things were taken away? What if I had been born into a family like the one this child came from? Would I still want to serve God? Am I serving God for my own selfish reasons, or do I truly love Him?

I remember the first summer I was away from home. I came to Fountainview and was out in the carrot fields angrily accusing and questioning God. “Why did you bring me here?” I asked. After praying for quite a while, I finally ran out of words and fell silent. Almost as if through an audible voice, I heard the words “Because I love you.”

God loves me, shouldn’t that be the reason I love Him? Instead I sometimes base my love on what God gives me. This is a love centered on myself. A selfish type of love, and in fact, it isn’t love at all, but merely self worship. The only way we can have true love toward God is by looking to Christ. By beholding His goodness and love, we will become changed. Christ has portrayed a perfect picture of love in his death on the cross. By looking to the cross, our carnal love is changed into the likeness of His perfect love.

~ Moriah Mays

True Identity

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come. - 2 Corinthians 5:17

“Come on Moriah, don’t be a chicken!” “Yeah” Bobby Jo chimed in “quit being a sissy, just jump!” The “jump” was in fact a 20 foot leap from our barn loft into a stack of hay. It was 4^th of July weekend and all my friends were having a blast hurling themselves through the air and landing soundly in the soft hay. Everyone except me that is, I’ve never liked heights. But after 2 days of teasing and begging they finally convinced me to make the leap.

So there I was standing at the edge of the loft with kids all around me chanting “1 for the money! 2 for the show!” and I knew that on 4 I had to finally go. I threw myself into the air but unfortunately I fainted in midair so instead of landing in the squishy pile of hay I ended up on the horse’s metal trough. The next thing I remember was waking up with pain searing through my body and people standing all around me, and someone saying that my back must be broken after such a fall.

Miraculously nothing was broken and I healed within a few days. But I came away from that experience with a valuable lesson; if I follow the crowd they could lead me astray, but Christ will never lead me on the wrong path; I can always trust him as my leader and my shepherd.

If my identity is based on Christ when people look at me they will be able to see Jesus in me. I will only be a window into Christ’s character. I constantly find myself making decisions based on what people will think. When really I should only be worried about what Christ will think of me. If I have my identity in Christ I won’t need to follow others. Who I am, should be a window to who I belong to. I want to be a window to Christ. Don’t you want to be one too?

~ Moriah Mays

Tuna Fish Character

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new”. - 2 Corinthians 5:17

I’m somewhat of a perfectionist. If I’m going to do something, I want it to be done right. Lately, I have been agonizing over the fact that I don’t feel as though I’ve grown at all spiritually. Every time I try to help myself become a better person, I fail, and end up reinforcing in my mind how horrible I really am inside. Just last week, as I was chopping lettuce in the cafeteria, the reason finally hit me! I can’t remember one time that I have asked God for help! I have been trying to make myself into what I know He wants me to be instead of asking Him to help me be perfect.

As a child I remember wanting to do things by myself. One day my mom consented to let me make my own meal. I innocently tried to make ice cream out of tuna fish, milk, applesauce and barbecue sauce. As you imagine, it turned out disgusting! Fascinatingly enough, after it froze it turned out looking pretty good, with nice red swirls. However, frozen tuna fish is still tuna fish.This reminds me of what I am trying to do in my relationship with God. I can make myself beautiful and seemingly good on the outside but on the inside I still have a repulsive, dirty heart that only Jesus can clean. If I would only have given my whole heart to Christ in the beginning it would have been beautiful by now.

So many times we rely on our own strength to get things done when in reality, if we would only give our problems to God, it would save us so much confusion and heartache. I tried so hard to be the person I knew God wanted me to be but in the end I failed because I was relying on myself.

~ Moriah Mays

Influence

Lately I've been trying to think of what I can do for God in a christian school where everyone seems to have their lives together. I mean, yes you can encourage those around you but it's very difficult to know who's real and who's not. I started looking at my own life, am I real? Do I always think of what God wants me to do? Or am I more interested in what I want to do, where I want to go in life. I've started to realize that I should be setting an example for others, I tend to think that it doesnt matter what I do because it's just a small thing, not really bad but at the same time not really good either. Am I willing to give something up for God? Do people look at me and say is she real?

I've also started observing the people I hang out with, are they real Christians? Are they uplifting? Am I more tempted to do wrong when I'm around them? The problem is that I love them, theres no way I'm goign to leave my friends, but at the same time I've made a choice not to go along with them when I know it's not right, I'm goign to make a stand no matter what they think of me when I do. I must admit I was dissapointed when I realized how many times I'd compromised, so many times I could ahve led them to Christ, but didnt. But ya know what? I cant change the past, but I can change my future. I WILL change my future.

Hawaii

Guess what happened today?

We all got called up from our rooms this morning and were told there was a major earthquake in Japan, hundreds of people were killed and there's a tsunami watch for a lot of places including Hawaii. So we spent our worship time in small groups praying for the people in Japan and that Gods will would be done for the Hawaii filming trip. All the airports there are closed, so Gods going to have to do something big. The devil is working hard, but we know that God is WAY bigger.

Well I just got back from Christmas break, it was really nice seeing my family. I also had the chance to see alot of my old friends....I must say I was rather shocked. I was invited to someones house for a family get together with all of my church family. Well...I guess that was code for adults downstairs teens upstairs. I was sent upstairs and WOW! It was pretty scarring. I walk in and theres my friends! With purple hair and multiple piercings. Wasn't expecting that! Or the jokes they were telling, music they were playing, or things they were talking about. Lets just say I was pretty uncomfortable!

When your at a place like Fountainview you kinda forget about the real world and the dangers in it. It's like...you walk into a store and are taken back at the fact that their playing "unaproved" music, then you remember where you are. I wasn't prepared to deal with the situations I faced that day.
I wasn't sure whether I should walk out or just shut up and deal with it, or say something to them. I really didn't want to stay, there's 2 things you should know about me. I hate vulgarity and I hate conflict. and either choice I made I would have to either listen to their jokes and language, or stand up tot hem. Or I could do the easy thing and just walk out. And I gotta say, I REALLY wanted to just get out of there! But what would that help? Sure it would help me, but would it leave an impact on them Nope. I dont really care what people think about me, but however I do care what they think about my religion and lifestyle. Because that means that if they think bad, that's my fault. I didn't do my job as a christian. So now you see my dilemma!

As much as I hate to say it, I just walked out. But after I walked out I knew I shouldn't have, I should have stood up and said something. So I walked back in, and I did. I didn't stand up and rebuke them. But I talked to one girl, I talked to her for a long time. She didnt like where she was at, she wanted to change, but she didn't want to be rejected by her "friends" or her boyfriend. This girl is 13. Her boyfriend? 12.

I feel like I need to do SOMETHING! But in order to do anything I need to pop my bubble, get out of my comfort zone and get out there and do something. Nothing felt worse then the realization that I had let God down.