December 2004
REFLECTION
O n the first Christmas, Joseph and
Mary, heavy with Child, entered
Bethlehem and sought a place to stay – for
Mary was ready to bring the Incarnate Son
of God into this world. It would be one of
the two most important events of human
history, the second being the Resurrection of
Jesus Christ from the dead 30+ years later.
Weary from the long journey, Mary and
Joseph undoubtedly prayed to God for rest
and for a safe place. But there was no room
in the inn. All they sought was warmth and
shelter from the elements. But there was no
room in the inn. Surely people would have
pity on a pregnant woman. But there was no
room in the inn. “But,” Mary and Joseph
surely thought, “this is no ordinary Child;
this is the Messiah – and more, He is God
Incarnate.” But there was no room in the
inn. Well, we today, looking back in time,
understand that the Father’s plan was for
His Son to be born in the humblest of
circumstances – in a stable in a cave – in
order to emphasize that the Second Person
of the Trinity was coming among us without
the trappings of royalty, without any
demands for kingly comforts; He was
coming as a Servant. But, still we reflect,
there was no room for Him in the inn, for
Him who was the very Creator of the
universe! So, what about today? Is not the
message of “no room in the inn” still at work
in our time? Consider: The efforts of some
to remove the
spiritual meaning
of Christmas in
public places by
forbidding
Nativity scenes or
religious carols – Sorry, Jesus, there is no
room in the inn; or the bans on prayer in
schools, on the 10 Commandments in public
places, or the attempt to remove from
history books references to the spiritual and
Christian foundation of our nation – No
room in the inn; or the European Union
Constitution which deliberately avoided any
mention of God – No room in the inn; or the
deliberate persecution around the world –
and even starting to be seen here – of people
who bear the name of Christ – No room in
the inn. But there is also good news: The
millions of people who welcome Jesus into
their hearts and become temples of the Holy
Spirit – There is room in the inn for you,
Jesus; and the innocent hearts of children,
whether in age or in heart – There is room
for you in the inn, Lord; and the loving
service of people who reach out to the poor,
the sick, the imprisoned, the forgotten and
unloved – There is room for you in the inn,
Jesus. Brothers and sisters, fellow
members of and supporters of the UP
Team, there is another way that we can
make room in the inn for Jesus; it is by
prayer. Every time we faithfully and
fervently intercede for one another, for our
communities, for our nation, for the world,
we are inviting Jesus into the inn; every time
we worship God the Father, God the Son
and God the Holy Spirit and thank them for
their wondrous love and mercy and bow in
submission before them, we are making
room in the inn. Every time we repent of
our sins and for the sins of others, we are
asking Jesus into the inn. Prayer not only
knocks on the door, it assures that the door
will open – for the Innkeeper of this spiritual
Inn is God Himself, who uses our prayers to
reach out and touch people in desperate
need, whether physically, emotionally,
financially or spiritually. Let’s pray for one
another, that the celebration of Christmas
inspire us anew to be people of prayer – and
thereby become a mighty army of
intercessors, made mighty by the grace of
God and the presence of the Holy Spirit
working in and through us.
REFLECTION
O ne of my favorite Christmas stories is
the little book entitled “The Fourth
Wise Man.” I encourage you to find this
book and keep it on your shelf for periodic
reading and reflection. In summary, the
story – really a parable – goes this way: In
addition to the three Magi, there was a
fourth not mentioned in the Bible. He, too,
planned on taking the
journey to follow the star
and find the promised
Savior. But he failed to
arrive at the agreed-upon
meeting place on time, and the others left
without him. The gift he was planning on
giving to the Babe was a small collection of
priceless gems, handed down in his family
for generations. He spent his life trying to
find the Savior of the world. Along the way,
he periodically came across a person in need,
life or death situations. Each time he had a
decision to make: To help by giving part of
his gift for the King was heart-wrenching,
and each time he chose to reach out and help
a brother or sister, his treasured gift
diminished in value. Finally, he had only
one gem left. He had made his way to
Jerusalem, following rumors that there was
a Man there who may have been the King.
But there he found yet another person in
need. He cried out to God, knowing that if
he gave up his final jewel, his life quest
would have been in vain – he would have
nothing to give the Savior even if he found
Him. But yet again he followed his heart,
and gave up his treasure. Broken hearted,
he lay dying in a gutter. He heard a crowd
and saw a Man passing by, carrying a cross.
Suddenly, the Man stopped
and looked down.
Though wracked by
pain and fatigue, He
smiled and said,
“Thank you. Thank
you for giving me such
a wonderful gift. For
as long as you did it to one of these, the least
of my brothers and sisters, you did it to Me.”
We all have an awesome gift to give – the gift
of love, the gift of God’s grace, through our
prayer, through our reaching out to people
who cross our path, through our sacrifice of
time and possessions and of self for the sake
of another. What an awesome way to
remember and celebrate Christmas – by
rededicating our lives to selfless service,
following the example of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ.
JANUARY GATHERING OF PEOPLE
WHO PRAY
T he 2005 January Gathering will be a
“Marketplace Prayer Summit” at
Stonecroft Conference Center, on the
evening of Friday, January 28 and the day of
Saturday, January 29. Two highly
experienced facilitators will lead us in prayer
– Pastor Howard Boyd from Branson and
Pastor Lewie Schultz from Minneapolis. For
those of you who have not experienced
summit-style prayer: This is not a seminar
or a workshop; it is the people of God
coming together to praise and worship the
Lord, to thank Him, to repent, and to
intercede for one another, our communities,
the world and the Church. This is an
opportunity for UP Team members to come
together and also for people from the area,
regardless of church affiliation, active in or
retired from the workforce, pastors and
laity.
Please call 336-7076 to register. Let me
know if you will be a participant both Friday
and Saturday, or just one or the other.
There is no fee, no offering, and lunch will
be provided on Saturday. Stonecroft offers a
peaceful, beautiful and prayerful setting.
DON HARTMAN
J ackie Hartman is the prayer leader for
the Medical Sector. For years now she
has been the faithful and loving caregiver for
her husband, Don. He had diabetes, was on
dialysis and lost both legs. But I am excited
to report that he today not only has two new
legs, he has an entirely new body. Don
Hartman went home to the Lord on
Wednesday, November 30. Jackie is
obviously grieving; but she is also rejoicing,
for her faith is telling her that Don suffers no
more and that one day she
will see him again. I have
had the privilege of knowing
this couple for almost 20
years. Here is an example of
how the Holy Spirit works in
daily life: On that
Wednesday I was in a
meeting and we were asked
to turn our cell phones off. At
lunch I turned the phone back on and
discovered that I had two messages. One
was from Jackie. I returned it, and she was
crying. She told me that the message was
from a week ago; but she asked if I wanted
to tell Don goodbye. Now is that not God?!
I went to the home and joined with some
others who were there. They included
Barbara Collins from the First Presbyterian
Church in Branson (UP Team member);
Aaron Viveiros, UP Team member and
spending most of his time there during Don’s
final days; Larry Moffitt, Secretary-
Tresurer of the Businessmen’s Fellowship
(and a new member of the UP Team). And
there were many other people who came
during those final hours, people whose lives
have been touched by Don and Jackie
Hartman. On Saturday morning at the
Businessmen’s Fellowship meeting, Jackie
was there – she and Don had been regular
participants – and there was a beautiful time
of reminiscing and prayer. Jackie’s address
is 176 Gooseberry Court, Branson 65616.
“12 PRAYERS FOR CHRISTMAS”
“P ray!” Magazine included a card in
one of their issues; it is entitled “12
Prayers for Christmas”: “Christmas is a
glorious time of year! God brings us face to
face once again with His design for and
redemption of mankind. His intentions
toward us are for life lived abundantly. His
plans for the kingdom are victorious! But
for many people, the holidays can be filled
with unrealistic expectations. Old hurts are
sometimes revisited and new ones inflicted.
Hope can go deferred and result in
heartsickness (Proverbs 13: 12) In the midst
of the tinsel and lights and shopping, let’s
remember what the season is really about!
Let’s pray for a spirit of all things Christmas
for ourselves and our loved ones. 12 Prayers
for Christmas: 1. Love: Lord, help us
follow the way of love – let the love of Christ
compel us. (1 Corinthians 14: 1; 2
Corinthians 5: 14) 2. Joy: Restore the joy
of Your salvation to us; let us experience the
joy of Your presence. (Psalm 16: 11; 51: 12)
3. Peace: Let Your peace rule and guard
our hearts; give us more of You – You are
our peace. (Colossians 3: 15; Philippians 4:
7; Ephesians 2: 14) 4. Hope: Enlighten the
eyes of our heart so that we may know the
hope You called us to. (Ephesians 1: 18)
5. Favor: Let Your favor rest on us. (Luke
2: 52) 6. Life: Shine Your light of life on
us; help us to walk in it. (Job 33: 30; Psalm
56: 13) 7. Salvation: Help us to fear You so
we can unlock the treasure of Your
salvation. (Isaiah 33: 6) 8. Selflessness:
Keep us from self-seeking attitudes that
reject truth. (Romans 2: 8) 9. Generosity:
Make us rich in ways that result in
generosity on our part so You will be
praised.(2 Corinthians 9: 11) 10. Receiving:
Help us receive Your kingdom, Your Spirit,
and Your grace. (Daniel 7: 18; John 20: 22;
Romans 5: 17) 11. Seeking: Encourage us
to seek Your face with all our hearts.
(Deuteronomy 4: 29;
Psalm 27: 8) 12. Praise: We ascribe glory
to Your name, Lord; we come before You in
worship, for You are holy. (1 Chronicles 16:
28-29)
ON THE LIGHTER SIDE
H ere are some Christian one-liners:
“Don’t let your worries get the best of
you. Remember, Moses started out as a
basket case.”…”Some people are kind,
polite, and sweet-spirited – until you try to
sit in their pews.”…”Many folks want to
serve God, but only as advisors.”…”The
good Lord didn’t create anything without a
purpose, but mosquitoes, ticks, slugs and
chiggers come close.”…”When you get to
your wit’s end, you’ll find that God lives
there.”…”Quit griping about your church; if
it was perfect, you couldn’t belong!”…Some
minds are like concrete, thoroughly mixed
up and permanently set.”…”A lot of
church members who are singing
“Standing on the Promises” are just
sitting on the
premises.”…”Coincidence is when
God chooses to remain
anonymous.”…”Don’t put a question
mark where God puts a period.”…”If God is
your co-pilot, swap seats!”…”Don’t give
God instructions; just report for
duty.”……..OK, you survived those; here
are some brain exercises: (Answer them all
before you go to the end): 1. What do you
put in a toaster? 2. Say “silk” five times
rapidly. Now spell “silk.” Now, what do
cows drink? 3. If a redhouse is made from
red bricks and a bluehouse from blue bricks
and a yellowhouse from yellow bricks, what
is a greenhouse made of? 4. A plane is flying
over Germany, when it was divided into East
Germany and West Germany. Three of the
engines fail. The pilot, realizing that the last
remaining engine is also failing, decides on a
crash landing. Sadly, the engine fails before
he has time and the plane fatally crashes
smack in the middle of “no man’s land”
between East and West Germany. Where
would you bury the survivors, East
Germany or West Germany or in no man’s
land? 5. If the hour
hand on a clock moves
1/60 of a degree every
minute, then how many
degrees will the hour
hand move in one hour? 6.
Without using a calculator: You are driving
a bus from London to Milford Haven in
Wales. In London, 17 people get on the bus.
In Reading, 6 people get off the bus and 9
people get on. In Swindon, 2 people get off
and 4 get on. In Cardiff, 11 people get off
and 16 people get on. In Swansea, 3 people
get off and 5 people get on. In Carmathen, 6
people get off and 3 get on. You then arrive
at Milford Haven. What was the name of
the bus driver?…..Answers: 1. Bread (hope
you did not say toast!) 2. Water (hope you
did not say milk!) 3. Glass (surely you did
not say “green bricks”!) 4. You don’t bury
survivors (right?) 5. One degree (sorry, if
you said 360 degrees, or anything else,
well…) 6. Don’t you remember? It was
you!!
HIS MYSTERIOUS WAYS
(A dapted from “Guidepost”): At
Christmas break, two friends had
arranged a ride from Chapel Hill, NC, to one
of their parents’ home in Michigan. Two
other students were driving to Ann Arbor
and agreed to take the two friends with
them. The route would take them through
the mountains in Pennsylvania where there
had been recent ice storms. The two friends
were both somewhat worried about the
drive. “Relax,” the other two said, “What
could happen?” One of the two
friends, Mickey, had a
nightmare the night before
they were to leave. She told
her friend, “The four of us
were driving in the mountains.
The car hit a patch of black ice, spun
around, broke through a guardrail and
plunged over a cliff. I know it’s silly, but I
can’t shake this nervous feeling about the
trip.” The friend thought about it and then
told her that if she did not feel safe, they
would take the bus. When they told the two
boys, they looked at them as if they were
crazy. They insisted on driving and said that
they would meet them in Ann Arbor.
During the bus ride, the two girls prayed for
the boys. The roads were indeed
treacherous. The two were relieved and
pleased to see the boys when they got off the
bus in Ann Arbor. “I’m so glad nothing
happened to you,” one of the girls said. The
boys exchanged a glance. “Something did
happen. We were on a narrow road up in
the mountains and the car hit a patch of ice.
It spun around and ended up with the rear
end hanging over a cliff. The police officer
who helped us back on the road said we were
lucky. If anybody had been sitting in the
back, the extra weight would have sent the
car over the edge.
ANOTHER “COINCIDENCE”
T his one did not have any life or death
consequences, but it is a happy memory
in my life. When Don Hartman and I were
visiting a few weeks before his going home,
we remembered the time over 18 years ago
in his very home where we were meeting,
there was a celebration get-together
following the going home of his first wife,
Mary, who died of cancer. The pastor was
there with a house full of other people. The
phone rang. Don answered it and called out
to the pastor, “Jack, you have a phone call.”
Jack picked up the phone. It was Sears, and
the person told him that his order was ready
to be picked up. Jack thanked her and then
asked her how in the world she knew where
he was. She asked him if his phone number
was 334-xxxx. He replied that no, it was
334-xxxo. She had dialed the wrong number
and called the very house where the pastor
was!
A BLIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
A bout a year ago, John Leo wrote the
following essay in U.S News and World
Report: “’Twas the night before Christmas,
when all through the house, not a creature
was stirring, not even a mouse. The
stockings were hung by the chimney with
care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would
be there. When out on the lawn there arose
such a clatter, I sprang from my bed to see
what was the matter. There was Santa
again, on his annual journeys, ensnared in a
group of eight tiny attorneys. They looked
pretty grim and they threatened to sue, so
we knew in a flash –‘It’s the ACLU!’ They
paid us no heed but went straight to their
work, handcuffing poor Santa, then said
with a smirk: “This is secular airspace, we
can’t have a saint flying our flight paths – we
need some restraint. A sleigh full of toys is
OK, we suppose, but faith-based incursions
we’ve got to oppose.’ Litigation on
Christmas is something we dread, so we
nestled our children all under their bed. The
Grinch doesn’t scare them, and Scrooge they
see through, but what kids are prepared for
the ACLU? The reindeer were shackled as a
further incitement, then the lawyers
unpackaged a 12-count indictment. ‘Merry
Christmas to all!’ they just had to foreclose
(though they had not complaint about all the
‘Ho, ho’s.’) Santa’s climb up each chimney
(one lawyer made mention) is a symbolic
reference to Jesus’ Ascension. And the
reindeer, of course, recall the Apostles, and
those who deny it are nothing but fossils.
These lawyers had labored at neighborhood
schools, making Christmas extinct there as
part of the rules. Praise Kwanzaa or
Ramadan – they think it’s quite splendid,
but say ‘Merry Christmas’ and you could
get suspended. Our children, God bless
them all, don’t get or recall why
‘inclusiveness’ doesn’t include them at all,
why diversity theory (as the lawyers insist)
must require the annual quashing of
Christmas. In Canada, home of post-
everything living, now ‘The 12 Days of
Christmas’ are ‘The 12 Days of Giving.’
Christmas trees aren’t part of their season at
all; they buy ‘multicultural trees’ at the
mall. At a USA hospital the staff is
ashamed, to use the word ‘Christmas,’ so
their tree is misnamed, as a ‘care tree,’
though some would prefer ‘tree of life.’
(Why not ‘tall lit-up flora’ to avoid any
strife?) Australians were told they should
have no compunctions, calling parties at
Christmastime ‘end-of-year functions.’ The
idea is to make Christmas somehow
unmentionable, a tactic I think of as wholly
contemptionable. Instead of ‘White
Christmas’ they will probably sing ‘I’m
dreaming of a snow day sometime in pre-
spring.’ Here’s my suggestion, a harsh one I
fear, why not call Christmas ‘Christmas’?
(It’s just an idea.) Merry Christmas!”
WE ARE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER!
A mouse (maybe the same one as in the
Christmas poem!) looked through a
crack in the wall to see the farmer and his
wife opening a package. What food might it
contain? He was aghast to discover that it
was a mouse trap! Retreating to the
farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the
warning, “There is a mouse trap in the
house, there is a mouse trap in the house!”
The chicken clucked and scratched, raised
her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell
this is a grave concern to you,
but it is of no consequence to
me; I cannot be bothered by
it.” The mouse turned to the pig, who said,
“I am so sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is
nothing I can do about it – except pray, of
course.” The mouse then turned to the cow,
who said, “Like wow, Mr. Mouse, a mouse
trap; am I in grave danger? Duh!” So the
mouse returned to the house, head down and
dejected, to face the farmer’s mouse trap
alone. That very night a sound was heard
throughout the house, like the sound of a
mouse trap catching its prey. The farmer’s
wife rushed to see what was caught. In the
darkness, she did not see that it was a
venomous snake whose tail the trap had
caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife.
The farmer rushed her to the hospital. She
returned home with a fever. Now everyone
knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken
soup, so the farmer took his hatchet to the
farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient.
His wife’s sickness continued, so friends and
neighbors came to sit with her around the
clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered
the pig. The farmer’s wife did not improve;
in fact, she eventually died. So many people
came to the funeral that the farmer had the
cow slaughtered to provide meat for all of
them to eat. So, the next time we hear that
someone is facing a problem and think that
it does not concern us, let’s remember that
when the least of us is threatened, we are all
at risk.
BLESSED CHRISTMAS!
M y prayers and love are with you all
during this holiday season and
always. Thank you so very much for your
faithfulness. We are now over 200 hours of
prayer and are only about 30 hour slots
away from having all 168 covered – 24/7
remains the goal, and even 2-3 deep for
every time slot! As you look ahead to 2005,
please let’s make a “resolution” to spread
the word and encourage Christians to take
an hour, praying that God’s perfect will be
done in our areas. Peace!
Bob Burton