DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Park Cities Baptist Church
DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Park Cities Baptist Church
DEVOTIONAL GUIDE - Park Cities Baptist Church
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Tuesday, December 20 Wednesday, December 21<br />
What comes to your mind when you<br />
think of Christmas? What is the<br />
home movie that plays in your head?<br />
For me, it is the image of my family<br />
transforming into modern day Magi.<br />
Every year someone from my family<br />
would hide the baby Jesus from our<br />
nativity scene. Then, the rest of us<br />
would follow the clues that person had<br />
left behind to be the first to find Jesus.<br />
I remember loving to get to be the<br />
one who hid Jesus. Not because he<br />
was lost, but because I knew where he<br />
was—and I got to be the one who left<br />
the clues for my family to find Him. I<br />
would spend hours looking up the<br />
perfect verses and song lyrics to leave<br />
as clues. I wanted to make sure my<br />
clues were difficult enough to ensure<br />
those looking really had a desire to<br />
find what they were looking for, but<br />
clear enough that they ensured the<br />
success of the Christ child being found.<br />
All thoughts of presents and Christmas<br />
dinner were forgotten because we had<br />
to find Jesus. He became our sole<br />
focus. The search for Baby Jesus<br />
became a very visual reminder for me<br />
of the Christmas Story.<br />
For Discussion:<br />
Read together the story of the first<br />
search for the Christ child.<br />
(Matthew 2: 1-12)<br />
This is a great time for you as a family<br />
to share about the time you found Jesus.<br />
• Look at verses 10-11. How did the<br />
Magi respond when they found Jesus?<br />
• What can we learn from this?<br />
Read Jeremiah 29: 14.<br />
Here it is from The Message, “When<br />
you come looking for me, you’ll find<br />
me. Yes, when you get serious about<br />
finding me and want it more than<br />
anything else, I’ll make sure you<br />
won’t be disappointed.”<br />
• What is it that you are searching<br />
for?<br />
• What clues have you left for your<br />
family? What are they leading<br />
them to find?<br />
Erin Edwards serves as the Girls<br />
Minister to junior and senior high<br />
students. Erin is very close to her<br />
family. She loves holidays, hot<br />
chocolate, and curling up with a good<br />
book. Erin loves ministering to teenage<br />
girls and spends much of her free time<br />
hanging out at school musicals,<br />
volleyball games and pep rallies.<br />
Celebrating Christmas as a child at my<br />
grandparents’ home gave me many<br />
wonderful memories, and also shaped<br />
my celebration of the glorious holiday. I<br />
can still remember smelling homemade<br />
kolaches and chicken noodle soup in the<br />
kitchen and walking around my<br />
maternal grandparents’ home to see<br />
all the decorations in their places: the<br />
handmade stockings by my grandmother<br />
hanging by the fireplace, the ceramic<br />
snowman with black top hat by the<br />
glass door, and, of course, the beautiful<br />
Christmas tree reaching to the ceiling<br />
with every branch full of ornaments.<br />
But the one Christmas image that<br />
first comes to mind when I think of<br />
those Christmases is the nativity<br />
music box that was always placed on a<br />
table for all to enjoy and (I think)<br />
especially for me to reach, turn on and<br />
get a good view of the wise men as<br />
they rotated around the stable that<br />
held Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus.<br />
As I think about holding that music<br />
box in my hands and hearing “Silent<br />
Night” play, I see God reaching out<br />
to me even then. I find it so amazing<br />
that in the midst of all the Christmas<br />
in my grandparents’ home (and I mean<br />
a lot of Christmas!) this nativity music<br />
box was the most special thing to me.<br />
We know that Jesus “is the reason for<br />
the season” and that He is the Father’s<br />
gift to us. Scripture tells us:<br />
“For God so loved the world that he<br />
gave his one and only Son, that<br />
whoever believes in him shall not<br />
perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16<br />
Praise God that I accepted Jesus as<br />
my Lord and Savior years later. I am<br />
thankful that God kept reaching out<br />
to me and drawing me to Himself. In<br />
what way is God drawing you to Him<br />
this Christmas season? What<br />
memories are you making for your<br />
family? Let God lead you this year<br />
and pass it on to those most dear.<br />
These days, I have the privilege of<br />
celebrating Christmas not only with<br />
loved ones from my childhood, but<br />
also with my husband and his family.<br />
I carry on many of the traditions from<br />
my childhood and even make the<br />
homemade chicken noodle soup! And<br />
a few years ago, I found a tiny small<br />
nativity music box that I gave to my<br />
husband as a gift which we proudly<br />
display in our home. I still get that<br />
special feeling when I look at it and<br />
hear the music.<br />
Merry Christmas to your family from<br />
ours – Melissa and Eric McNeil<br />
Melissa serves as the Prayer and<br />
Women’s Administrator.
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