Like us, you probably have your own Christmas traditions and those certain things that really put you in the Christmas spirit. There are three things that really prepare me for Christmas: Charlotte's peppermint cake, my personal rendition of O Holy Night, and reading the following article written by a missionary pilot with the Wycliffe Bible Translators. He had flown medical supplies to an Indian tribe deep in the Amazon jungle where there had been an epidemic. He was scheduled to return to his wife and family on the evening of Dec. 23, but because of heavy rains and fog, he found himself stranded in that remote village.
He writes: "I slipped on my poncho and trudged through the Indian village, down to the river's edge. The plane was tied against the bank, rocking gently on the rain-splattered water. I crawled out on a pontoon and sat under the wing, feeling desperately sorry for myself. It was Christmas Eve and night was descending on the jungle. There was no way I could get back home.
"'Oh, God,' I moaned, 'I'm in the wrong place.' More than anything else I wanted to be home for Christmas. Instead, I sloshed my way back to my hut in the little village. I shared some yucca with a couple of Indian children and read them the Christmas story out of my Bible, doing my best to translate it so they could understand a few words of that precious event.
"That night, under my mosquito net, I had a visitation from God -- something like those shepherds must have had on the hills of Bethlehem. There were no angels, and no bright light, but as I lay there in my hammock, desperately homesick, I felt I heard God say: 'My son, this is what Christmas is all about. Jesus left heaven and on Christmas morning He woke up in the 'wrong place'-- a stable in Bethlehem. Christmas means leaving home, not going home. My only begotten Son did not come home for Christmas--He left His home to be with you.'
"I opened my eyes. Overhead, through the mosquito net, I could see the brown palm-thatch leaves which formed the ceiling of the lean-to. Beneath me was the hard-packed dirt floor. All around was the sound of gently falling rain.
"But out there in the darkness, were men, and women, boys and girls, tiny babies--all part of this Indian tribe. I was there, away from home on Christmas Eve, because Jesus left His home on Christmas Eve. I was there because He said, 'As the Father hath sent Me, even so, send I you.' That night I realized Christmas is God's ultimate missionary outreach."
Merry Christmas!! May we seize every opportunity to be examples of the true meaning and message of Christmas.
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