Blogger Friends – A Story By Me

What a fabulous blog post and Christmas challenge from one of my El Salvador trip friends, April Rogers over at Reflecting Light.

Taking Baby Jesus Out of the Manger by April Rodgers

Christmastime is here! One by one the boxes come out of the attic and treasures from years past are rediscovered. A handmade ornament here. A special candy dish there. A picture of your child screaming while sitting on Santa-from-the-Mall’s lap. Oh, the memories.One thing that our family likes to collect is nativities. We have several from around the world: Peru, Israel, and I even brought back one from El Salvador this year. We have full sets from Willow Tree and Fontanini. We have big ones and small ones. Like I said, it’s our thing.

As I carefully unwrapped one manger scene to display, I was thinking of the sweet baby Jesus asleep on the hay and what an amazing gift it is that heaven came down to create this scene. Everything is so serene, so tender and mild.

But I wonder, how content are we to let Jesus stay in the manger?

You can read the rest of April’s post and Christmas challenge here -> Taking Baby Jesus Out of the Manger | April Rodgers

I am also planning to join April in her in her Christmas challenge to take baby Jesus out of the manger this Christmas and make Him Lord of my life. I hope you will join in too. What a great way to celebrate the gift of our savior this Christmas season!

Thanks for reading!

About a week ago I read a blog post that has stuck with me all this week. It was written by a one of my fellow Compassion Blogger friends Kerri over at Giving Gratefully. Her post is so beautifully written and I am sure it had to be very hard for her to write. As I read it I could feel the pain and the compassion she felt for a young boy named Jonathan and his mother that she had met in Guatemala while traveling with Compassion International.

Sometimes we can’t understand so all we can do is pray and cling on the the promises in God’s word….

Unforgettable Jonathan ~ By Kerri Kaczynski

My eyes had been open all week, taking in the poverty, the difficulties and challenges, and the sometimes seemingly hopeless situations of the families we visited.

My heart was full of the details of their lives, of their struggles and their hopes. I saw the pain in their eyes as they shared their stories, the raw, human pain, and it hurt to see it. There were broken families, alcoholism and even death, all to be dealt with in addition to unimaginable poverty.

And on the last day of home visits, we met another family living in poverty, this time in a dangerous “red zone” in Guatemala City. This family also was struggling with challenges, but my heart was too full, there was no more room to squeeze in this family’s story. Or there was room, but this family’s reality hurt too much to let it in.

It was like the last drop of water before the bucket overflowed, and frankly, I was tired, and didn’t want the bucket to overflow.

You can continue reading the rest of this post over at Givinggratefully.com . Be sure to leave your comments on Kerri’s blog so she will see them.