"Only Grace" -- a Christmas poem

You have to admit it.  We humans have messed  up time and time again, day after day, year after year, century after century...and we'll continue to do so till He comes again.

Reflect with me on the Hope that the Christ's birth brings after our failure to value his gifts...Hope in our lost-ness. Have we truly, truly understood, deep in the center of our souls, how much we have lost...and how eager He is to restore?
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                                     Reflect...as you share this poem with me:

                                                     Only Grace

                                       We lost your Way's simplicity,
                                       mazed in detours and dead-ends.
                                       Now only Grace can show us
                                       how and where to walk again.

                                       We lost Truth's bold identity;
                                        threw falsehood in its face.
                                        Only with Grace from Heaven
                                        can Truth reclaim its rightful place.

                                        We lost Life's sacred purity;
                                         we failed ourselves...and You.
                                         Father, your Grace alone
                                         can take us back to start anew.

                                         All along You knew we couldn't
                                         hold onto these things!
                                         You knew that fragile Man
                                         can only thrive beneath your Wings.

                                          So, your Grace wrapped up the perfect gift -
                                           no price too dear to pay -
                                           And now..."the Way, the Truth, the Life"*
                                           lies, Incarnate, in the hay.
                                                                                                               --Becky Rhon
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* "Jesus answered, 'I am the Way and the Truth and the Life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.'"  (John 14:6)

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A 45-year-old gift comes home. (Part 2)

If you haven't read the previous post, I suggest you do so now, before reading this one.

After the meeting I told about last time, Germán had help bringing in the Carrot Cake I had brought to share at refreshment time.  I decided to make a change from Banana Bread, and it went over very well.  I was glad I had thought to take copies of the recipe!  It's amusing to be sharing recipes with the Tsáchila - both men and women.  It's such fun!   
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HCJB  (the mission we used to work with) has for many years given away pre-tuned radios, especially to people in the remoter areas of the country.  Germán took down a box full of them to give to the Tsáchila.  There were just enough for each family to receive one.  Here they all hold up their radios for the photo.

See this little cutie?  As I was waiting at the church in our car, this little boy attached himself to me...or rather, to our car!  He had a ball pretending to drive, when he wasn't touching things and asking questions.  Hyper-active doesn't begin to describe him!  I asked him where we were going.  With an infectious grin, he replied, "Home!"
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Already we are looking forward to out next visit, in February or March.  It's so heart-warming to know that our Tsachi brothers and sisters in Christ will form part of the scene described in Revelation 7:9:

"Before me there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, every tribe, people and language, standing before the Throne and before the Lamb."
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A 45-year-old gift comes home. (Part 1)

Once again we visited the Tsachi believers in Cóngoma, joining in their joys, songs, and prayers.

(Once again I'm not starting at the beginning!)  Towards the end of the service, I was given the opportunity to present a special gift to the Tsachi church.  Let me tell you its story.

When I was 17 (45 years ago), I crafted a Bible verse, sewing the letters onto fabric, as a gift for my father.  The verse was Hebrews 13:8...in Tsáfiqui, the language into which he had translated the Bible.  He appreciated it so much that wherever he and my mom moved, the verse went along and was one of the first things to be put up on the wall of each new abode.  (My sister told me that!)  When my mother died, and I brought the verse back with me, I just put it away and sort of forgot about it.

Not long ago, I suddenly thought of it...and of the "verse-less" walls of the Tsachi church.  In a way, my parents' final "home" here on Earth is now the Tsachi cemetery, back with the people they loved.  What better thing than to, once again, put this gift up on their wall?  We had it framed, asking that it be done so as to protect it from humidity.  When I got up to speak, I told the story of the gift, and the reason I now wanted it to hang on the church wall...as a reminder of the love our family has for them (besides, of course, the love of our Father). I didn't finish with dry eyes.
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As the meeting ended, this young Tsachi couple let us know they wanted to dedicate their beautiful 6-week-old baby to the Lord.  Germán had the privilege of praying, and I had the joy of holding Ansel Daniel for this heart-warming event.
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After the singing in Spanish at the beginning of the service, we were so pleased to change languages!  Believers from another Tsachi area had come, trusting that I hadn't forgotten my offer to give them my keyboard.  As a group they did a lot of singing, but their keyboard was damaged.  They set this one up in a very improvised way (see photo below) and had us all sing  We were thrilled when he told us that one of their objectives is to make sure the children learn to sing to God in their own language.  Awesome!!

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Next week I will tell about some of the other highlights of this wonderful time.  Until then, think with me on the verse that now graces the Tsachi church:


"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."  
(Hebrews 13:8)