It was this time last year that we first made a trip together to visit Hungary. December is a special time to visit any foreign country and to experience their holiday and traditions. Budapest was definitely getting ready for Christmas with their lighted trees and decorated shopping centers. We enjoyed visiting the Christmas vendors at a local street fair and tasting the unique flavors of the season. The shopping mall we visited reminded us so much of the Circle Center Mall in Indianapolis with its multi-level decorations. Little did we know that only a year later so much in our life would be changing...that God would be moving us so distinctively toward missions and that we would be excited and ready to follow!It truly saddens us to think that Christmas has become so much about the gifts and so little about the Gift. We would have to admit that in years past our wish list was not for want...but suprisingly this year we could find very little to write upon it. Through the process of God's calling on our lives and our preparation to go overseas, we have come to the realization that stuff only amounts to more stuff, and what truly matters to us at Christmas is that someone has not yet heard the news that Christ came to this earth to be our Savior. That He is the greatest one true Gift from God and that God wants to bestow that Gift upon all of us.
This year the gift we are thankful for is a change in perspective. Would you like to have this kind of gift? Things will never look the same!
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:8-11
