A Different Kind of Love Story

I would like to recognize World AIDS Day. It was on Dec.1. Please see Erika's Blog.

I love the CD message for small group this week. As many of you know, the Advent Conspiracy founders are speaking to us. Some great points from the message are made that I had never thought of. One of them is that the story of Jesus Christ is a love story. We know this but we are in the wrong story when we worship things instead of God. We yearn for Him. We are made to long for Him - to want a relationship with Him, but instead we fill our emptiness with things. We love things. We buy each other gifts of things. Instead of giving them our love and spending quality time with them and really being disciples of Jesus Christ, we run around stores. The high we feel from this is not the Holy Spirit.

Another point made is that the shepherds were told about Jesus Christ. They were an unrecognized group in society. Their status in society was very low. Yet God chose them to announce the birth of His Son to and to lead the way to Him.

I now realize the people in Nigeria we met are the shepherds. They are poor, sick and suffering. They are also stigmatized in society. They are a left out group of people who feel like they don't belong. Yet they are disciples every day by leading the way to Him.

Who did Jesus Christ come for? Not the pious, high ranked people of that culture. He came for the poor, sick and suffering. Those people in that time were thought to be sinners that were cursed by God. The thought was that your status in society was a reflection of your status with God. Of course, that was that culture's view and not God's. The eyes seeing them were not God's. Do we see with our own eyes or the eyes of society? The closer we get to God, the more we can see life through our Savior's eyes.

Nigeria opened up my eyes. So to them I will always be grateful. They helped me see the world through our Savior's eyes. And it isn't very pretty. But the good news Jesus brought wasn't that everything would be pretty. It was that you don't have to die to be saved. We can experience heaven here on earth. The kingdom we thought could only be entered when we go to heaven, was here now. Jesus was coming now. But you have to want to enter His kingdom. You have to believe it is true and make a choice now to turn your life over to Him. Only then can the Holy Spirit enter your heart. Then you will know the greatest joy you have ever felt. And no, He didn't promise it will be perfect while we are here on earth. We will continue to have to suffer. But He said He will walk with us through our suffering and that we can feel His presence now if we choose to. But we have to offer it up to Him.... and trust Him. The Nigerian people I met understand this.

May you all experience this joy this Advent season. Let's make this Christmas about a different kind of love story.

Teresa Pompa