Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: The Rest Of The Story!...

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: The Rest Of The Story!...: Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: The Rest Of The Story! : Our Church Christmas Pageant is in full swing. After hours of set construction, costume...

I Wonder.....

Wondering is a favorite past time, maybe because I have always been one to dream and fantasize "What if."  As an only child, I spent a lot of time with me, and my imagination. This year as we start our second week of Pageant Presentations at our church, I have especially wondered. This year our writers have gone beyond Jesus birth, to His ministry on earth, and then His death and resurrection. As I wait for my cue, I have thought first about Mary.  According to scripture, she was young, and was engaged to Joseph. An angel, out of nowhere tells her she is going to have a baby. Not just any baby, but God's son. What would you think? Just for a minute she must have been incredulous. How do you explain that to your fiancé  and your parents. Mary trusted God, and if she was scared scripture does not reveal it. 

Next for Mary is the trip to Bethlehem with Joseph. Again she is going out of her comfort zone, and she is due to have a baby any time. If the baby is born away from home, she has no mother with her to help her through. Nothing familiar to comfort her. Next she is confronted with no place to stay. The Bible does not give us any clue as to Mary's attitude with all this, but it would be like having a baby, 100 miles from home, camping out in a tent, with no amenities at all. I can't imagine how amazed she must have been, perhaps scared, and wondering what God intended with all this strangeness. When Jesus is born what did she think when she looked at His little face? She gazed at Him with a mother's heart, but at the same time...this was God's son! Why her, why here, and what now? How overwhelmed she must have felt. Did that night with angels, bright star, shepherds, and a crude stable blur from one image to another? Did she grasp the major importance of this event?

What about Joseph. We don't know how old he was, but older than Mary. He is engaged to a nice girl, and then he learns she is going to have a baby. He knows it isn't his. Would you be able to understand this? He too is visited by an angel, and assured all will be well. We in our lives may have entertained angels and not known it, but these angels were there specifically to bring messages from God. Joseph as far as we know, took care of Mary, and was willing to also accept God's plan. Did he have moments of a lot of doubt. Did he feel betrayed, and reluctant to take on the care of a baby that was not his? He has a lot of responsibility to get a wife, who is due to have a baby anytime, and himself to another town just to register and pay taxes. This has to be out of his comfort zone too. 

Now it's a quiet ordinary night, shepherds are out settling their flocks. All of a sudden a brilliant star appears, and then an angel comes from heaven to tell you about a baby born in a stable, and He is God's son. I can only imagine what they must have thought. Were these amazing things a part of their normal world...probably not. During one presentation of our pageant, the goat I was leading, got spooked by the loud music. When I tried to quiet him, and lead him, he reared up on his back legs. Imagine a whole flock of sheep, and goats when a blinding, bright light, and a voice from the sky erupts their normal quiet. All it would take would be one animal to react, and they all would follow. It probably was hard not to be a little upset by the disruption. 

The Bible does not tell us how long Mary and Joseph actually occupied the stable. Once people started to leave town after the census, did they get a room? We know they were advised to go on to Egypt to protect Jesus, but we don't know what happened in between. Did more people come to see Jesus, or did they just spend time resting and taking care of their new son?  What did they do for food? Did people offer to feed them, or did they bring a lot of food with them? If the Bible doesn't address something, we are to trust God that it is not relevant, but natural human curiosity makes me wonder about the ordinary. I also wonder as I wear the same costume night after night for the Pageant, did they have more than one outfit? Did they have access to a place to wash their clothes? And did Biblical people have as much trouble putting on the head gear as I have been having each night? As one lady in our dressing room said, they probably just put them on and did not even worry about how it looked. They were for practical reasons and not part of a costume. 

When I think about all our luxuries I wonder if I could have gone through what Mary did. Then I remember that their life was simpler, but also harder. Mary and Joseph were asked to go way beyond comfort, and the things they knew for God's overall plan. If I pay attention God will move me out of my comfort zone too to do what He has for me to do. They trusted God. I trust God. They had the Holy Spirit to lead and guide them. I have the Holy Spirit to lead and guide me too. We are not so different, yet I wonder how well I would have done, had I been living in that time. It is hard to imagine sometimes....and that's all the more reason to wonder!

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: The Rest Of The Story!

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: The Rest Of The Story!: Our Church Christmas Pageant is in full swing. After hours of set construction, costume design, music learned, and parts memorized, it has c...

The Rest Of The Story!

Our Church Christmas Pageant is in full swing. After hours of set construction, costume design, music learned, and parts memorized, it has come together in the final Dress Rehersal. Now begins two weeks of presentations. Excitement is at peak levels, and the anticipation of knowing what we do will impact many lives hangs in the air. Each of us is part of an amazing network of players serving our Lord and Savior. What we present in 11 performances may be the first time some come face to face with Jesus. We will work as a team, we will pray without ceasing, and we will do it all that others may come to know Christ!

Each year the presentations lead obviously to Jesus birth. There is always a modern day thread with people who need to hear the message, then Jesus birth, the Magi when Jesus is a little older, and then the facts that surround Jesus death and resurrection. All culminating in a grand finale. The transition to Bethlehem is preceded by majestic camels, and then the sheep, goats, baby animals, and Mary riding a donkey.  Angels appear, flying angels proclaim the wondrous birth, and our sanctuary, transformed into Bethlehem,erupts in joyous music. 

Where does Christmas end and life begin? Christmas is only the beginning of the story, and that was foretold hundreds of years before it happened. There is so much more to the story. Jesus was not born as a human just to be a nice person. He was God's son in the flesh, sent for a specific purpose. It is not just so we can have a feel good holiday with lights, and gifts! From the beginning, when the earth was still void, God had planned mankind. He knew man with skin on, even though made in His Image, would sin, and become separated from God. He also had a plan for man's salvation, to restore Him to fellowship with God.....that plan was Jesus! Jesus had to be humbly born as a man, teach God's word, then He had to die. It was no ordinary death. He had to fulfill prophesy. He was arrested, but committed no crime. He was tortured, beaten beyond recognition, and crucified on a Roman cross. He deserved none of it, but we did. It was our sin...yours and mine that kept Him on that cross until He had no more blood to give. His one time blood sacrifice washed our sin from us, and it all was put on Him. In three days, He rose from being dead! That death and resurection gives us all a way to be saved from our sin. Jesus was born a man just to die in our place.

It is a free gift from God to us. Like any Christmas gift, we have to take it from the giver, open it, and use it. What it all means is, that until Jesus died on the cross, sin kept us from fellowship with God. God cannot have fellowship with sin. The blood of Christ washed us clean, whiter than snow, His word says. Now if we say yes to that gift, ask for forgiveness, and turn from our sin, we say we believe that Jesus is God's son, and we are willing to turn our life over to Him. We become new creatures on the inside, and now when God looks at us, we are covered by the blood Jesus gave to get us clean.

The Pageant this year will follow Jesus from birth to His ministry, to His crucifixion, and death. The scene where Jesus hangs from the cross is powerful.

The final and lasting and best part of Christmas is the resurection and the gift of eternal life He gives to us all! That is our final destination.....Eternity in Heaven with God! I pray that you all are blessed by this season, but that you will remember, Christmas is only part of the story! Life with Christ is the rest of the story!

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: It's All About Me... Yes Or No?

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: It's All About Me... Yes Or No?: Do you have days when you just want everything to be about you? I think we all do that at one time or another. Young children are wired to o...

It's All About Me... Yes Or No?

Do you have days when you just want everything to be about you? I think we all do that at one time or another. Young children are wired to only care about themselves, and we have to teach them to start caring about others, and teach them not to be selfish. I was a terribly selfish child. I was an only child, and I thought the world and everyone in it revolved around me, and if it didn't it should have. Thankfully I had people in my life that were willing to teach me to care for others, but it took awhile. Even then, God was putting people in my life to change me into a more caring person.

The most unselfish person I have ever known was my Dad. He was a humble, unassuming man, who lived to serve and take care of others. Of course he took care of his family, but he was always there for others too. Many nights after working a full day, if anyone called and needed something in regard to their life insurance (which is what he did) he went back out to see them. He didn't just sell insurance, he councieled his clients, he spent time with them to give them exactly what they needed, not just to make a sale. He selflessly gave up his evening if there was a need. He never gave thought as to what was easy or comfortable for him, it was what worked best for someone else. If a client was a farmer, and couldn't meet anywhere else, Dad would tromp out into the corn field to take care of his client's needs.

When he coached the Lutheran Hospital student nurses' basketball team, he wasn't just a coach. He was their father away from home, he was their mentor, he cared about each of them. If they had a problem, they knew they could call him anytime and he would do what he could. When my mother decided cooking was too difficult for her arthritis, he took her out to eat every single night. At home, he fixed breakfast and lunch, cleaned up, and then did a day's work. He did not enjoy eating out. After a long day, he longed to come home and rest and eat in his own home, but he gave that up for her. 

When I needed anything, he was there. He gave up many Saturdays to teach me to drive. He spent hours watching Dance recitals, Ice Skating Shows, and any other thing I wanted to try. I know there were times when all he wanted to do was read a book, watch a western, or a wrestling match on T.V. But instead he did what his family wanted. He loved working on his cars. He changed his own oil in our driveway, and even taught me about cars and how they run. That just made him happy. Then my mother decided that didn't look good and what would the neighbors think. So he quit what gave him pleasure, so she would be happy. He never complained, he never got mad about it, he just did what he had to, selflessly, and quietly.

God blessed me also with a husband that is a selfless example of putting his wants aside for others. He is a pastor, so there are many times he sacrifices his time and energy for those in need. He has made it a policy to keep his phone on 24/7, 365 days a year. He could just not answer after hours, or on his days off, but he won't. He is there at 2:00 in the morning, or any other time someone is in crisis. He will use his day off to visit hospitals, council, or pray with others. He too will eat out, or have food delivered that isn't on his diet, just because he knows it helps me. I have seen him get dressed at 3:00 in the morning to meet a family at the hospital. Yes that is his job, but even if it wasn't he would do no different. If someone needs something, he will work until he can find a way to help them. 

These men in my life are prime examples of my Lord and Savior, Jesus. Jesus of course was the ultimate, perfect example of selflessness. He left His heavenly throne, was born in a stable, and humbled himself every day on earth for us. He faced a cruel death, shed His blood, until there was no more, took the weight of all the sin past, present, and into forever, and did it no  matter what He may have felt as a human. He gave of His time to teach and bring God's word to the nations, got very little respect, and yet never once did what He wanted. He did what God, the Father wanted! Through Christ, I have learned to do for others too, but I am not consistent. I have the heart to take care of others, and to put their needs first, but I fall short. If I am tired, or in pain, or don't feel well, I put me first. Not so with my Dad and my husband. On the upside, after Jesus' example, and their example, I have a constant goal to aim for. I am still learning, and one day, I will be unselfish, and I will put everyone in my life first! Role models like I have are rare, but you may find some in your life too....if you just look around. 

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: Christmas Past!

Carolyn McBreen Gibbs Blog: Christmas Past!: My first Christmas was in Immanuel children's home in Omaha. Needless to say I don't remember it. I imagine the Deaconesses there di...