Love

This is the first Sunday in Advent, as we prepare to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. What a sacrifice God had made when He allowed His Son to be born on earth only to be crucified out of love for us: that we too would have eternal life with Him. Could we sacrifice our only child for the salvation of others???? How wide, how long, how high, how deep is the Lord's love for us. There are so many different kinds of love - the love of a child for it's parents, the sweetness of a first love, the love for your first car,  the love of engaged couples for each other, the love of a parent for  their child, the love for your country, the love of material things,  the love for your God. Each type of love is so very different in so many ways, but are they sacrificial love??  What would you sacrifice for the love of your life???? True Christian love revolves around love for others - the giving up of something for the benefit of another. I am sure all of you saw the Internet story of the young New York  policeman who bought a homeless man socks and a pair of boots because the man had bare feet in  the cold. This was not a thought out plan to go out and do a good deed that day - it was a spontaneous reaction to a person need. This is what God instructs us to do. This is why we do what we do - we do not get up in the morning and ponder over what good thing we could do today. We just face the day with the thought of being able to see what needs to be done and to do it. Holding a door open for someone else, stopping and letting someone in line in front of us in traffic, putting a dollar or so in a cup of a homeless veteran begging on the highway, inviting a widow or widower to lunch with us AND paying for it, putting a neighbor's newspaper on their door step so they do not have to go outside for it, helping to raise money and collect food for the food bank, going to Mexico on Christmas Day to serve hot dogs and give presents to those in need. I could go on and on about ways to show your love for your neighbor just here in our park - can you imagine all the avenues out there in the world that are open to serve??? You don't have to become a chaplain, minister, or missionary or be rich  to serve the Lord: just love your brother as yourself and recognize a need when you see it and act upon it. Then you will then see love in it's most explosive moment.

As I continue to walk every morning I am totally amazed at God's orchestration of the universe. Everything has a purpose and each purpose is carefully scheduled to perform perfectly. "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1 We have a small lake here at he park, where the whistler ducks spend their daytime, squawking and whistling to each other, keeping us all entertained. There is also a multitude of white egrets that spend their time on the lake. God, in all of His great wisdom, realizes the the lake is not big enough to support all those birds at one time, so the whistlers spend their their days here, and the egrets spend the night here. As I near the end of my 3 mile morning walk, the whistlers begin their inbound flight pattern: they come in a series of flocks, carefully and gracefully landing on the lake. At the same time, the egrets begin their outbound flights, each group in it's own time schedule, flying in a white cloud to where it is they go in the daytime, each type of bird never interfering with the others flight pattern. I can time their flights almost to the minute - if I am a bit early, they just begin their daily routine, if I am late I may miss this extraordinary event

 More and more people are traveling here to the Valley for winter, as our park is filling up quickly. It is such a comfortable feeling, seeing winter friends returning, being able to share their time with us. Church attendance has almost doubled since last week. The resale shop at CHI is very busy and we are selling Christmas items almost as fast as we put them on the shelves.  CHI activities, tours, and events are taking place almost daily, as we all prepare for Christmas at RIN with the children. Not only are the yearly activities planned, but a special anniversary celebration of CHI/RIN is in the planning. A couple who come to our Sunday services here at Alamo Rec are from a different park. The gentleman worked at RIN over 10 years ago, building the bunk beds and picnic tables there. We are so honored to have them wanting to attend the anniversary celebration in March - we personally will make sure they will be in attendance.

I cannot believe that I did not take any pictures this week - usually I go no where without my camera. We were busy with so many different things it seemed to have just disappeared from my mind. Next week there will be pictures, I promise.

We are traveling to Reynosa on Monday to deliver items needed for the Christmas party at RIN, also Monday night is our CHI Bible Study night - we do not seem to be growing in number yet, but we are certainly growing in knowledge and understanding. As we study Luke, we begin to see that Jesus was just a normal boy growing up, disobeying His parents only once when He was 12 years old and stayed behind to teach and learn in the temple. And we don't know that He disobeyed Joseph and Mary, just that He did not do what was expected of Him by His earthly parents. He was certainly not any different than any other child - I am sure His heavenly Father knew that Jesus was doing just what was expected of Him.

Everyone have a wonderful week - try to see what needs to be done and act upon it. From the simple to the most extraordinary thing - do it with a love for your brother and obedience to God.

Many of you have asked how you can join with us in our walk along God's pathway. Your love offerings can be sent  in our name online by going to online giving on this page or mailing them to the address listed. The opportunity to serve God is made possible by your support, prayers and faith. God bless you as you share with us in this wonderful ministry.