What Christmas Means to Me!
By The Bagby Kids
It is Jesus’ birthday and it is a wonderful holiday to celebrate. I think it is a great day.
The real story is that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. I was there but I don’t remember much except there was a hole with a star around it where you could touch the rock. I was six.
The wise men were coming to celebrate his birth. They brought gifts. They came in a certain way. They followed the star. Jesus grew up in Nazareth. I was there too. We went to an underground place where we saw a home that a baker lived in back then. My friends were scared that the church above was going to fall on them. Jesus left there and went to Capernaum and then began to preach and do some miracles. I was there too. It is by the Lake of Galilee. We went on a boat and I got a necklace from Uncle Chris that was a rock with a silver thing over the top with a fish on it.
Moz on the “Lake”
After he died, some of his disciples got a white cloth to put over him and they took him to the tomb. But that is the Easter story.
Christmas means celebrating his birthday and all the good things that He did. He made me. If it wasn’t for Him, I wouldn’t be here. So I am thankful that I have Him. He got us into the Seek The Lamb ministry where we can help other people.
This is the perfect time to celebrate because He made you too and He provides a lot stuff for you.
So I hope that you have a good Christmas.
Merry Christmas from Moselle
I have a lot to say about Christmas. I love everything about it. It is a good holiday to celebrate. I like the giving and getting stuff too. But Christmas is about a new hero born-Jesus. A few years ago we went to Bethlehem and went were Jesus was born. It was a very cool little cave under a church. As I walked down the wet steps, I was thinking “Oh I hope I don’t slip down these stairs”.
After we were all down in that cave I was thinking “Wow I am where Jesus was born”. I think that is pretty amazing because it is so old where we were. The cave could collapse on us any second. Jesus is a very good hero and why? Because he does all these miracles and he does a lot more things than you think. Think about it.
Jesus has done so many things in my life. He has provided for so many things like my house I live in and all my friends that I have and all the good food I have eaten. The most important thing He has given me is my Family that I have.
Christmas is not about buying and giving presents or even getting presents. It is about celebrating Jesus’ life every day.
I hope all of you have a Jolly Christmas.
Arielle
Christmas is that time of year, when a lot of good memories are made. Time with family and friends, food, ham, cookies, the good’s ya know. And of course there is always presents, gifts and all that Santa stuff. .
Usually family’s draw a little bit closer and show a little more love this time of the year. It’s a great feeling you get when your all gathered around the tree unwrapping gifts from your loved ones, it’s a great feeling seeing the look on your little sisters’ face when they are just thrilled at the present you bought them.
But Christmas is much more than that to me. This day represents when our savior, Jesus Christ, took on human form, and came to bring us salvation; To die on that cross and reconcile us from sin.
Christmas is the start of Jesus’ journey to save us from being condemned, we are honoring our savior this day and honoring his arrival to our world. His purpose in coming here is our reason to celebrate!
There are a lot of things during Christmas time that will brighten your day, make you laugh, and even make your heart beat just a little quicker. Everyone experiences at least a little bit of the “Christmas Cheer”.
Getting to open your gifts on the big day of course is one of the bigger highlights of the whole thing. But there are other moments we value too.
From seeing the family, buying gifts for our special someone’s, or just straight up relaxing because Christmas break has finally arrived. All of it is more than pleasant and hopefully, will have great memories attached to it.
Of course there is another side to Christmas that everyone has to go through too. It is the stresses of juggling events, having major company over, and buying gifts not forgetting anyone while trying to stay on some kind of budget is chaotic in so many ways.
Also, if you get a late start, you’re racing against time too.
All this can get extremely overwhelming and make all the good things I mentioned before this, seem dull and almost nonexistent. I have already caught myself multiple times getting caught up and stressed because of the things I had to do. I had to stop, take a breather, and remind myself that this happening, this “holiday” was not about me and it wasn’t about everything going on around me. It was about celebrating a birthday … our savior’s birthday.
I mean it is called CHRISTmas so I don’t have to tell you anymore on that.
But I encourage you while reminding myself to not get caught up or stressed out during this celebration, but to do your best to make it something special and enjoyable… the whole way through.
Merry Christmas To You All! Mikaela
By Laura
The power of two words…… ”THANK YOU”.
When the words thank you are written or spoken, it has the ability to impart a piece of the goodness into another life. Goodness is at the very heart of God. Good words said or written are hardly ever forgotten, but rather get played and replayed over and over again in a person’s mind and heart. Many remain desperate to be acknowledged, noticed, appreciated and perhaps simply thanked for being who they are…a vast majority go unseen, unnoticed and sadly unrecognized as a creation of God given to this world as a gift.
We are all gifts…God’s highest most prized creations upon the face of this earth. We are valued and infinitely precious in the sight of God. He designed us for the sole purpose of enjoying us and relating to us. He longs to be recognized as our Creator and acknowledged by us in our own special way. Our uniqueness displayed before him through our relating with Him. Then, our design naturally gets reflected to those around us in love and enjoyment of the relationships that surround our lives. The love and enjoyment God imparts to us naturally overflows through our lives into the lives around us. Much is given and much is received. It is a full and abundant life with the treasure of relationships being at the very heart of it all. God’s design is always perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. It is in faith that we live this life of being loved, loving, and overflowing with love for others. The purposes of our lives are lived out and established in the midst of such relating. We are free to “want to” and not “have to” when love drives us at the center of our lives. We “do” not because it makes us look better or feel better or because “they told me to”, but because we are loved and we desire to love, obey & live in freedom. We were never designed to be “religious” beings, but rather appreciably relational.
I want my children to grow up passionate about their love for God and for one another. It is a joy to observe them at times in their spare time to gather all together in one locale and just hang. In the morning before Bible study, they all often go to Mikaela’s room and squash together on her twin bed. It is quite the sight and very noisy, but cute. They genuinely seem to have a liking of one another and show it. They also know how to get on one another’s nerves and mine….but that will be for another article.
When they appreciate one another, it does our hearts glad. Michael told them yesterday how proud he was to see them actually enjoying being together and how that made us feel. They are learning the value of standing in the gap for one another when one is unable to complete their assigned chore…those that are home pick up the slack for them, but they are sure to cash in on those “chips” at a later date when they can’t complete their task for one reason or another. They are becoming quicker to help one another realizing that they too will need that help at some point in time. It is good to live our lives generously, never holding back when we have the power to give. All goods things make there way back multiplied…I have carefully observed this over the years. One can never ever out give the beautiful, good hand of God. He is an unlimited Source of goodness and delights in giving it all out immeasurably.
Those who appreciate such goodness seem to only receive more. When my children display thankful hearts toward us, it causes me to “want” to give to them more. When I observe them being generous, I can’t help myself from wanting to be generous with them.
When they are acting dissatisfied and complaining, I have no desire to even want to interact with them much less give to them.
A thankful life is a powerful life full of potential and ability to attract goodness. Appreciation is at the heart of God. He created all things to enjoy…to stand back and bask in its beauty. We do well to do the same.
Our family is finishing up the book of Romans. The process has been interesting as we read about the different kinds of men the book talks about…whether moral, religious, evil, Jew, Greek or Gentile, we all must come to the place of giving ourselves over as a living sacrifice to God especially contemplating all that He has already done for us. Then the book addresses the need to keep the unity in the body of Christ…to recognize the different parts each one plays in the whole and to learn the art of appreciating the differences and not putting walls up between ourselves because we don’t agree or appreciate another person’s gifting. Human nature likes to create boundaries and ways to make ourselves feel better or holier. We erect walls, change churches, make divisions in order to not deal with the human stench in our own lives.….we are faced with differences for reasons that serve to sharpen us and cause our love to grow and expand within our very being. Yet, instead we are used to judging, dividing ourselves and running. rather than facing up to the myriad of differences and giftings that are prevalent. It is possible to be victorious in the midst of these differences. We find it in our hearts when we can come to the place of gratitude and thanksgiving in spite of that which grates us.
Are you able to muster up a hearty “thank you” in your present challenge? It is there for a reason and it is not so much about “them” as it is about what God is doing in you.
When I am in that space of appreciation and thanking, I find I do so much better. My state of being is so much healthier and less “me”, myself and I orientated. My life is so much better living outward and not “I” ward & inward….this only leads to depression and a terribly defeated and ungrateful heart. As far as I am concerned, an ungrateful life is a useless one. One can never live for eternity being useless……….
“In everything give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.”
We Love You All! Merry Christmas. Laura
The Bagby Bunch Corner
We have come to the end of another exciting year, which God has shown Himself to be so present. This year, over 2500 kids were successfully educated in Nicaragua, three buildings were almost completed, pastor and teacher training conferences held, and our Deep Water was the most successful one ever! During it all, we felt His Presence and Your Prayers! We enjoy so much working with you for eternal things, and seeing God bring forth the fruit through our combined efforts.
We now spend these next week celebrating the Arrival of Our Savior on Planet Earth. This year is one on which we can easily avoid the normal materialism and focus on what this season is really about: Loving and appreciating God, and loving those He has placed around us.
Can you read the sign our teachers in Living Creek made for us when we visited this summer? It says: “Wellcome Group The Bagby”. You see us there with our muddy boots. Do you see yourselves standing behind us? We do.
Thank you for being such a big part of the ministry which we have all been called to in Nicaragua and all the other places we have gone in these past two decades.
Merry Christmas! May God pour out Peace and Joy as we celebrate! Laura and Maik
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