Project Christmas 2006 - Love Your Neighbor

A blessed Merry Christmas to all the wonderful people of the greater Delta area. It’s time to rid yourselves of that old Scrooge attitude and shine for Jesus. What I’m referring to is the start-up of 2006 Project Christmas. There’s a group of new faces and hands administering the program. This year, Delta Presbyterian/Faith Lutheran have agreed to run the program, and similar to other years, your assistance is requested.

In the gospel of Matthew, chapter 22, verses 37-40, Jesus spoke: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is equally important, love your neighbor as yourself. All the other commandments and all the Laws of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

Our group has chosen “Love your neighbor” as our theme for this year. In the spirit of the season, let’s all pitch in to make this Christmas a little brighter for those less fortunate. At businesses all around town, you will find festive looking donation cans. Please give what you can. Donations may also be mailed to Project Christmas, PO Box 884, Delta Junction, AK 99737. Our area clergy will also have referral forms, if you know an individual or family needing some help with some special holiday meals and some gifts for their children. Pick up a form or contact an area clergy and help us reach those who need it most. Both of our local banks will be displaying hearts of gratitude as Delta’s generous donations arrive.

Please take note, here is the schedule of events for this year’s operations and your chance to get involved.

• Sunday, December 10, Referral forms due by 4 pm
• Tuesday, December 12, 1-9 pm, Wrap gifts (bring scissors, tape and giftwrap)
• Saturday, December 16, 9 am – 5 pm, Pack food boxes
• Monday, December 18, 4-7 pm, Recipients pick up boxes at Delta Presbyterian Church
• Tuesday, December 19, 9am – 12 noon, Recipients pick up boxes at church

Now on to more heartfelt issues. When one takes the time to ponder and study the real meaning of Christmas, it all can be summed up in one word, giving! John 3:16 -17 states “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” It is in this spirit of sacrificial giving, that I’d like to share a couple of things with you.

First, I am honored to serve our community, as this year’s project coordinator.

Second, I’d like to share as a gift, the story of my own spiritual enlightenment. When God wants to draw you closer into a personal relationship, at first he may use gentle nudges. He’s given us a free will, and wants us to choose Him, but should we choose to ignore him, he’ll change his tactics. By using our circumstances, our ivory towers can soon come crashing down around us. Be it a serious health issue, financial disaster, or breakdown or death in a vital relationship, we may soon find ourselves humbly seeking God’s help to get our world rightside up. And as our loving Heavenly Father, that’s all he really longs for us to do. He waits for us to come to Him in our brokenness, only then can he transform us from within, into His glorious plan for our lives. The problem lies in our prideful, stubborn fleshy self. As soon as the crisis has passed, we tend to forget how God came through for us and go back to living for ourselves, not God,

Now in my own spiritual journey, having been born and raised in a God serving and revering family, I’ve always believed that if I died, that my soul and spirit would go to heaven. But other than having this assurance, my life was as carnal as most non-believers. I was no different than anyone else , I mean, where were those covenant blessings of peace, joy and prosperity? The only abundance I was experiencing was in problems and bills. Then, through a process of some very difficult times, I had a revelation. I was claiming to be a world class swimmer, but I had never stepped out of the kiddie pool . It was then that God called me into the deeper waters and thus my life has never been the same. He’s not interested in your half hearted devotion and obedience, he wants it all! Do you want to know the peace that passes all understanding? Feel a joy in your heart that is there when you wake in the morning till you go to sleep at night, not just one that’s there till your buzz wears off? Experience a hope that no negative thought or circumstance can squelch? A vision of how temporal and fleeting this life is? A realization that you’re only a foreign traveler passing through this world, that your true home lies where the streets are paved with gold and there’s no need for the sun because the glory of the Lord shines so bright? A faith so real that you can reach out and touch it – not something distant and abstract like some algebra equation?

Put God first and foremost in your life and you too can experience these things. Start your days seeking him prayerfully and diligently reading His word. 1st Corinthians 2:9 “No eye has seen, no ear has heard and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him” Give yourself the greatest gift ever this Christmas by putting God first in your life.
My prayer is that all those reading this would have your eyes opened to see the wondrous gift God gave us in sending his Son to earth. That in believing in Him and accepting his sacrifice, the door would be opened for you to receive His glorious riches, both in this life and the one to come.

Blessings in Christ
Scott Miller
Project Coordinator