Over the past few days, our medical mission team to Antiqua Guatemala has been ministering to dozens of patients in the Obras hospital. These patients have traveled to this small town where the church has built a clinic with four operating rooms, all under the support of Faith in Practice, which is the Houston mission that we support as a church.Currently, about 20 members from our congregation are joined with another 12 people, forming the surgical and support teams. Each day, nearly 20 operations are performed on Guatemalans of all ages while their families stay in the Casa de Fe ( House of Faith) which was built and has been maintained by Faith in Practice.

My task has been to help my daughter, Marianne, cook for the team and to pray with the patients before surgery. My heart has been touched by the strong faith of the patients who have come to a town for the first time and face the unsettling prospect of walking into a hospital. Yet, God is evident and His peace is felt by all.

Yesterday, I journeyed into the hills surrounding this city to visit a place where Habitat for Humanity has built six simple concrete block homes with 500 square feet each. These will house six families whose parents work for the Obras church and hospital. It was such a joy to deliver 7500 dollars which Sugar Land Methodist raised to connect the sewer, water and electricity to the homes so the families can move into their new homes and leave behind the tin and cardboard houses now. Continue to pray for this team and its healing presence in this poor country.

It seems that every day, the traffic in Sugar Land increases and frustrations grow as well. As more people move to the community, as more stores are built and as more offices are constructed, the number of cars and trucks swells and the streets are clogged. Then, complications always seem to arise. Due to the changing nature of our community, the major roads are under extensive construction and improvement, but in the meantime, motorists are required to navigate the confusion and complications as best they can. Detours, road closures and warning delays constantly interrupt the normal flow of traffic, not to mention the untimely and unfortunate accidents that occur, causing long lines of cars.

All of the traffic issues make it increasingly difficult to journey to the destinations where we travel. A quick trip to the store now can require more time. A visit to a friends house or to the gym means leaving earlier than before. The roads around our schools are filled with cars and it takes more time even to travel to church.

Jesus, during his ministry of teaching and healing, travelled all throughout Israel
for three years. During the last months of his life, he made an important and necessary journey as he set his course toward Jerusalem and the events that would lead to his execution, his death and his glorious resurrection. That journey, which started in Galilee, ended in Jerusalem on the cross of Calvary and the empty tomb in the garden.

Along the road as he travelled, Jesus did not encounter the kinds of complications and challenges that you and I face in our daily trips, but his encounters with people along the road and in the villages and towns can be enlightening and helpful to us today. He encountered men and women who needed to hear the good news of salvation that he offered, who needed to feel his healing and transforming touch on their lives and who needed to be challenged to believe and follow him.

Over the next few weeks, during the holy season of Lent, I invite you to join me in worship as we examine these encounters on the road with Jesus. I know and trust that you will discover new insight for your life and new hope and confidence that God is with you on the journey that you make every day as a child of God.

The news the last several days has been filled with reports of Jamie Lynn Spears, the 16 year old sister of Brittany Spears. Jamie Lynn has been the popular star of the successful television series "Zoey 101" on the Nickelodeon network. In this show, she plays a perfect, well-liked, virginal teenager and, according to the New York Times, the show has attracted a large audience among the youth of our country as the show won wide acclaim as a sanctuary from the hypersexualized culture of our youth.Now, however, this 16 year old has become pregnant, once again demonstrating the pressures and temptations thrust upon the students in our communities.

The irony is that this holy season, we announce and celebrate the birth of one who came to redeem not only our lives but also the world itself. Jesus was born to reveal God's love to us and to call us to accept that love and live in it. A new way of living and a new set of values are the gifts God offers us in the birth of Jesus on Christmas morning. And, Jesus was born to a teenage mother, who found herself pregnant by the Holy Spirit.

Mary faced the pressures and challenges of her day and we can in no way underestimate the precarious predicament that confronted her. Her family could have abandoned her, unwilling to face the shame of a daughter not yet married who was with child. Joseph, her fiance, could likewise have cruelly and publicly discarded her. All the villagers in the tiny hamlet of Nazerth could have been vindictive in their judgement and criticism. Yet, Mary was faithful to God's holy plan and became the obedient servant of God despite the risk and cost.

As I ponder the irony of God coming to earth in a teenage virgin in light of the today's headlines, I realize that God chose to come in such a humble and unpredictable manner so that we could only respond in faith and belief according to God's terms. God appeared in a way radically different than humanity could expect or manipulate. The unassuming advent of God in a manger in Bethlehem to poor peasants, witnessed by shepherds requires and demands our trust in God, not in any preconceived notions about God that we have developed nor in our own intellect, achievements or abilities.

This Christmas, may you be open to the mystery of God and the surprising way God greets you. When you respond with trust, like Mary, God will bless you and God will direct your path. May our world see that there is truly a better way to live than the values of Hollywood or the seduction of popular celebrity status.

On my first journey to Bethlehem, I was struck by a sight that truly left an imprint on my heart and mind about God's revelation in Jesus. The trip from Jerusalem to Bethlehem is not long and as soon as the crowded city of Jerusalem is passed, a stretch of fields can be seen along the highway just a short distance from Bethlehem. In fact, Bethlehem is visible on the approaching hillside from the fields, which even to this day are used by shepherds to tend sheep.

When I stopped to watch the shepherds in the field, I looked beyond the city of Bethlehem and saw a massive fortress shaped like a hill called the Herodian. This structure was built by King Herod as a fort to protect him from any rebellion or insurrection. After constructing a tall, strong fortress, the sides of the Herodian were covered with dirt and soil to appear as a hill and camouflage this place of last refuge and safety. In fact, just recently, a tomb has been discovered in the ruins of the Herodian, which may contain the remains of this cruel, vindictive ruler.

It seemed to me, looking at the fort in the distance, Bethlehem on the hillside and the shepherd's field before me that it can be easy at times to miss God's presence in our lives and in our world. Even though magi from the Orient informed Herod of the birth of a special child, he did not comprehend. His quest for power, control and authority blinded him to God's reality and activity. Remember, in fear and insecurity, Herod ordered the execution of children in Bethlehem in order to remove any possible threat or pretender to his power.

But it was poor, humble shepherds who sensed the promise of God and journeyed expectantly into Bethlehem to see the child Jesus. In trust and faith, they witnessed the advent of God into our world. God became flesh. Emmanuel, God with us, was born to show us God's love and to redeem our lives so we can live in relationship with God.

With the pace and activity of the Christmas season, it is an ever present temptation to lose sight of God in our midst. We can easily become absorbed by the demands and the attractions of the season and fail to spend time in worship, seeking God. I hope that, unlike Herod who followed his own will and way, you will rather come to God this Christmas like the humble, faithful shepherds.

Christmas time produces a wide range of emotions and feelings in many of us. The holiday season before and even after Christmas Day is filled with preparation, shopping, travel and activities unlike any other time of the year. For so many, the impact of all the Christmas rush can leave an accompanying sense of anxiety, depression or sadness. During the holidays, it is easy to overspend, overeat and over indulge. Families are scattered around the world, making it difficult to join together in celebration of the birth of Christ into our world.

Even though Jesus was born in the midst of chaos and bedlam in ancient Bethlehem, God has promised us the gift of peace, joy, hope and love and God has delivered the perfect present in Christ. Joseph and Mary, while struggling to understand fully God’s plan for them, overcame their confusion and doubt to discover the rich blessing God offered them. Likewise, shepherds from fields and Magi from the Orient came to witness the love of God for the world revealed in Jesus and were changed by it.

This Christmas, find time to pause, slow down and become aware of the hurried pace that has the potential to overwhelm and capture you. Make a special effort to place yourself in a setting, like the characters of the first Christmas morn, where God can break through the hustle and rush of your life and touch you. Give yourself an opportunity to hear the Christmas story and find that the ordinary routine of your world can be transformed by the extraordinary power of God.

Christmas time is a time to discover, to behold and to worship. May God greet you in a new way this Christmas season.

Have you ever noticed how muscles require exercise? In order for a muscle to be healthy and vigorous, it must maintain itself by movement and activity. Once a muscle deteriorates, a routine of exercise must be followed to restore the strength and flexibility.

The same is true with the gifts that God gives us. God is a generous, loving Heavenly Father who willingly showers gifts and graces on our lives. In fact, the air we breathe, even the day we have, have been bestowed to us by God. Our lives, our talents and abilities, our time and treasure have been granted to us as gifts from God. It is these gifts that God expects us to use in a way that demonstrates our love of God and our concern for people.

In other words, God expects a return on the blessings in our lives. They are not to be hoarded or held as if they belong to us or came from us. Our blessings, our resources and our lives are to be dedicated to God, taking risks with them to help build God's Kingdom.

The temptation, however, is to play it safe and secure, to be cautious and reluctant, and keep our resources for ourselves. But God can unlock your heart and you can discover the joy of releasing who you are and what you have to Him. You can see with gratitude that every moment and encounter is a gift from God. You can risk offering a return to God with the confidence that your blessings will bless others. And you can accept God's reward that comes to faithful and devoted followers of Jesus.

I hope you take the risk and use what God has given you.

The night that I discovered that I needed glasses to see objects in the distance has been etched in my memory. It was as a ninth grader that I visited an ice skating show with my family and some cousins. In the dark arena, the skaters became distorted whenever that crossed the large skating rink and I was unable to focus on them with clarity and precision. However, one of my cousins, who had been wearing corrective lenses for years, suggested that I look through hers and see if it made any difference.

Was I ever in for a shock. The ability to see seemed to improve instantly for me and I discovered what I had been missing for months, even years. Perhaps my vision slowly altered at a such a slow pace that I was unaware of the the constant erosion that was occurring. In any case, the change of perspective was drastic.

When God unlocks our hearts, a change of perspective occurs as well. We see that our treasure and our time are all gifts from our Heavenly Father, to be offered to God and used to build God's Kingdom. When our hearts are touched and transformed, we can make new priorities about our money and lifestyle so that this new perspective liberates us and our hearts are not clouded by debt or confused by materialism. This new perspective allows us to see the shape and condition of our lives with godly focus and clarity so that we become aligned with our Creator instead of the objects of the creation and worship God instead of something other than God.

Maybe your vision has slowly become clouded over time. Maybe you need to allow the Holy Spirit to alter and adjust your perspective so you discover all the blessings God offers and gives you instead of simply taking them for granted. This new perspective will allow you to prioritize your life in a new way by bringing a careful focus and understanding to the difference between what you want and what you truly need. As God unlocks your heart, you will discover the satisfying joy that comes when you can freely and generously release what you have in love of God and in support of others.