Author: Wick

Today I lit a new candle for the first time.  “Nag Champa” was the scent.  I can finally enjoy it again, because it’s in candle form.  It’s the same scent as an incense that I burned back in college.  The problem was, the smell of incense always stayed in my clothes.  When I wanted to go out on a date that night, Sarah would shrink back from me, NOT a fan of the smell.  So at some point, I stopped burning the incense.  Because my love for my (now wife) was stronger than my appreciation of “Nag Champa”.

The Bible tells us that we are “the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing.” (2 Corinthians 2:15)  Similar to the story above, it is by spending time in the presence of God and Christ Jesus, that we are able to naturally carry with us the “aroma”.  It’s interesting also, that the verse does not simply say “to those who are perishing.”  We are reminded that even people who we rub shoulders with at church (including ourselves) need reminders from time to time of what Jesus “smells like”.

How are your prayer times lately?  Is it a time of quickly passing from one thing to the next, so that no one who comes close to you later even knows you were in the room with Jesus?  Or do you set aside time and space to “be” in the presence of God…allowing his very “smell” to saturate you so richly, so that as you walk through the rest of your day, people are caught off guard, thinking to themselves – “Whoa, what was that smell?”

As you spend time in prayer this week, may you receive God’s presence so much, that his aroma is carried with you throughout your day.  After all, none of us smells as good as we think we do on our own. 🙂

ps.  Reminder to parents – we bathe our children, because they don’t realize they begin to stink. 🙂

Need.
It grew like a weed, with uncompromising speed.

The seed was planted long ago. Long before any of us know.
Like the beginning of a show. But it was a show who’s channel was turned.

And then, like the flickering of dawn, light was breaking through.
Not that anybody knew what to do, and so God sent his Law into view.

But that only began the picture that was planned, the time and space His people spanned,
God had so much in store for man.

Something new was beginning, and it wasn’t so much about winning.
It was about reaching out to humanity and creation, at the end of their rope.
With the birth of New Hope.

“Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. Then Isaiah said: ‘Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.”

Isaiah 7:10-14 (NRSV)

I’ve been given the opportunity to share my thoughts/experiences on “Outdoor Nativity Sets” with you!!  Be sure and watch the video, that shows how easy the set-up is, even for the average Joe who doesn’t read the directions much at all for as OCD as he usually is.

It looks a little wobbly in the video, but rest assured, after attaching the brackets to the back of it, sliding the metal poles into both sides and into the ground….this thing isn’t going anywhere!!!

As much as I would really love a giant glowing plastic Santa, or a huge inflatable snowman to frighten children with and reduce the value of our neighborhood listings……I’m stuck with this.  A dignified, simple, elegant way to say “We’ve decorated our yard with Jesus.”

And really, who doesn’t wanna say that? 🙂 Check out OutdoorNativitySets.com for more info!!