The weekend before Christmas we got in our final weekend of 2021.
We had a pretty good group from around Pike and Amite county come up and join us. It was a returning group with a few new comers. Most of us came in to a late supper Friday night and a message of Christmas. Saturday morning came in bright and early, with a good hunt and a harvested buck. We came back in for breakfast and a message about how we are filling our lives. We left early afternoon for the evening hunt, with several deer seen but no luck for a shot. We finished out Saturday night with supper and a message. Sunday came really early with a final first kill for the year. A great time was had by all and everyone left with the Christmas message on our minds.
Friday and Saturday nights messages were all about Christmas and our coming Savior, and I’d like to share a little of those with you now.
The speaker talked about the Nativity and who was present for the birth of Jesus. On that Christmas night long ago besides Jesus, Mary and Joseph the only ones to make an appearance were the shepherds. They had gotten a personal invitation to meet the newborn King. They left what was important to them to seek a Savior. Later, we learn of other men that came in search of the new King, they were following a star, the wise men had to take a long, probably rough journey out of their own comfort to find what they were looking for. We can read about both of these first encounters, one in Luke and the other in Matthew.
The reason I bring those two groups up is to ask you if you have done as they did over 2,000 years ago. Have you met the Savior? Have you left all else like the shepherds, have you decided to cast aside your comfort to find Him? You see instead of an angel letting you know of His arrival, we have His Holy Spirit drawing us to Him. Instead of having to follow the stars in the sky, we can follow the very One who created those stars. So where are you? Are you still busy taking care of everything else? Are you trying to figure everything out, studying books and history? Cause nothing is wrong with taking care of business, nothing wrong with understanding the world around us, but just be careful that you don’t let the opportunity pass by to meet the one who gave His life just to save ours. He loves you, he cares for you, and He came to this earth just for you. He lived His life as an example for us of how to live a life of faith. He died a sinners death for every one of our sins. And He arose with victory on the third day as victor over death. He is today at the right hand of the Father, pleading our cases.
Today, Christmas is but a memory, but the One we celebrate lives and reigns with all power and authority. I pray you have chosen to seek Him out like the wise men from Matthew. I pray you have found Him and are telling everyone you know about Him just like the shepherds did in Luke. But, more than anything I pray that just like Peter, James, and John you have left everything behind to follow Him.
Love in Christ,
Briar Ridge
