{"id":5,"date":"2015-01-06T00:57:24","date_gmt":"2015-01-06T00:57:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/?p=5"},"modified":"2015-01-12T20:32:54","modified_gmt":"2015-01-12T20:32:54","slug":"what-god-wants-for-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/?p=5","title":{"rendered":"What God Wants for Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Below is the story I wrote for our church’s Advent season in 2010. It is the story of my grandson Marcus Larabie’s salvation story from Christmas 2009 when he was 9 years old. I have not changed a word as I hope the context and story would speak to those who read it. Marcus went to be with Jesus on Boxing Day, December 26, 2014 due to a tragic car accident. This story has given our family great comfort in a time of grief. My prayer is that it will comfort you, too.<\/em> Jim Martens (Buppa Jim)<\/p>\n

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat God Wants for Christmas\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

A reading for Boxing Day 2010<\/em><\/p>\n

One story I had the opportunity to share with all six of my grand kids occurred exactly one year ago yesterday. It was Christmas Day 2009. Our immediate family was at my daughter Tracy\u2019s house for Christmas dinner. After dinner I had the privilege of sharing a story with them. But before I tell you what happened last year, you need some background information.<\/p>\n

Here at South Delta, from Monday to Friday, the First Steps pre-school has been offering their services to children in families within our church and the larger community for many years. At Christmas time, Director Dawna-Lynn Broadhead has given families a unique gift that\u2019s publicized as an interactive kid-friendly nativity. It\u2019s called \u201cWhat God Wants for Christmas.\u201d It\u2019s a small box that contains 7 little gift boxes and a story book to follow. Six of the boxes have a major figure from the Christmas nativity \u2013 the angel Gabriel, Mary, Joseph, the Baby Jesus, a shepherd and a wiseman. The seventh box is a surprise which I will only share cryptically now and explain later. The objective of this exercise is to tell the nativity story by using the gifts and having the kids open them as the story is read aloud. As you bring out each gift you explain its significance to them and have kids place each figure on an enclosed manger scene. Dawna-Lynn had told Nena that it was a great way to share the nativity story with children.<\/p>\n

And as Nena and I have 6 grand kids, the interactive nature of the 6 main nativity figures meant each child would be included. All 6 kids could pick out one gift to hold and open it and share it with the others at the appropriate time. It seemed the perfect story structure for our grand kids that day especially when the 7th<\/sup> gift in the box is actually for everyone to see and observe individually.<\/p>\n

As I read the rhyming couplets, the story hinted as to the final gift. At the end of each story it said:<\/p>\n

What God wants for Christmas? It\u2019s\u2013to you\u2013a surprise.<\/em><\/p>\n

In box number seven it is disguised.<\/em><\/p>\n

But\u2013no peeking! Be patient! For this you must wait.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s what you offer Him, and it\u2019s really great!<\/em><\/p>\n

This was repeated six times. If kids have never experienced this retelling of the nativity story, they are really looking forward to seeing what is in the seventh box. When you finally allow them to look, a smile usually is apparent. Kids are reflective\u2013cryptic reference<\/em>\u2013and they understand what God wants!<\/p>\n

Yes, the seventh box contains a mirror and their own face is reflected back to them. As the story book says:<\/p>\n

What God wants for Christmas? Now here\u2019s the surprise<\/em><\/p>\n

In box number seven, where it\u2019s been disguised.<\/em><\/p>\n

Peek in the box, for so long you have waited,<\/em><\/p>\n

What God wants is you\u2011the one he created!<\/em> \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

~~~<\/p>\n

\u201cMe?\u201d you ask. \u201cWhy is that so?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cI cannot wrap me and put on a bow!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

No, you cannot; but what you can give<\/em><\/p>\n

Are the choices you make in the life that you live.<\/em> \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

~~~
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

God wants you to know Him and love Him within<\/em><\/p>\n

And this is called worship, an offering to Him<\/em><\/p>\n

To do this, trust Jesus, who died in your place<\/em><\/p>\n

When you didn\u2019t deserve Him\u2014that is called grace.<\/em> \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

~~~<\/p>\n

Pray now and offer your life and your heart<\/em><\/p>\n

Say, \u201cJesus, I need You. I\u2019d like a new start.<\/em><\/p>\n

Forgive me today for the sins I\u2019ve committed<\/em><\/p>\n

So one day in heaven I will be permitted.\u201d<\/em> \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

~~~<\/p>\n

When you pray this decision, the heavens rejoice<\/em><\/p>\n

That you have made worship of God your life\u2019s choice.<\/em><\/p>\n

God wants you to know Him, so choose every day<\/em><\/p>\n

To love God and thank God and give Him all praise!<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

When I finished reading a few of the kids said they had already asked Jesus into their hearts. My grand son, Marcus, said, \u201cI haven\u2019t yet.\u201d I said, \u201cDo you want to do that?\u201d To which he replied, \u201cYes.\u201d And there, with all his cousins sharing in the experience, he repeated a pray of salvation. What a great Christmas evening that was!<\/p>\n

We all know that Christmas gifts come in all shapes and sizes but the gift of salvation is the greatest one we can accept no matter if we are 9 or 79.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s uncanny how seven little boxes, a poetic retelling of a story that many of us have heard for years, just needed to add a small, but critical, twist and the new gained perspective has been the catalyst to changing young lives for eternity. I don\u2019t know how many children have been affected by this interactive nativity, but I\u2019m one grandfather that knows its importance in my family.<\/p>\n

This year, lets remember the significance of the manger and the Child within it. He came that we might have life and live it abundantly. My hope this coming year is that if you have not accepted this Child\u2013who is our Savior and Lord\u2013that you will think on these things. My prayer is that the stories we share in heaven some day will include my family and yours as well.<\/p>\n

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<\/p>\n

Postscript<\/strong>: I didn’t know when I wrote that final sentence, that four years later, to the day, Marcus would be called home to Jesus. If you have not considered Jesus, please do. I would like you to meet my grandson Marcus and I some day and we can share our stories in heaven. May God bless you! (January 6, 2015)
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Below is the story I wrote for our church’s Advent season in 2010. It is the story of my grandson Marcus Larabie’s salvation story from Christmas 2009 when he was 9 years old. I have not changed a word as I hope the context and story would speak to those who read it. Marcus went … Continue reading What God Wants for Christmas<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-marcus"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p51b6V-5","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimmartens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}