"Does it really matter?" I, David, thought to myself yesterday; as I sat down to write a note to a friend, Sergei. With his broken English, and my VERY broken Russian, what could he understand? What could I write that would point him to the LORD over this language barrier?As I was writing to Sergei, my son Tosha quietly pulled up a chair much like my chair, pulled out a book and set it on his lap much like the book in my lap, placed a blank piece of paper on the book much like the note card on my book, and began writing on his paper much like I was writing on my card. As I was writing to someone ese, so Tosha was writing to someone else… to me. Of course, I didn’t understand his writing, and he didn’t understand mine, but he under-stood I was doing something for "ДЯДЯ Sergei" ("Uncle Sergei").
Yes, Tosha was imitating me! Although he did not understand what I was writing, he was following my example of caring for someone else.
So with Sergei, although he might not understand my writing, he’s catch-ing something. He is seeing an example. When we pray together for his sister-in-law who is dying of cancer he is catching something. When I bike up that last, long steep hill with muscles aching, and lungs panting and look back to Sergei, and shout "ВПЕРЁД” (“Onward!!") he is catching something. It’s what I’m doing! And he wants to do the same thing!
Our Lord God also did something that he wants us to do, He loves us and says, "Be imitators of God as dearly loved chil-dren" (Eph. 5:1) But, God doesn’t mean imitate what I say as some distant, transcendent god talking about some vague concept of love, but rather, "just as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us,…" (Eph. 5:2b) Just as God provided an example by becoming a man that we could see and hear and touch and follow … by becoming a man in Jesus Christ, so now we can "be imitators of God [and] … live in love just as Christ also loved" (Eph. 5:2a).
This is the significance of Christmas! God became man, not only to provide an example, but also to transform us by giving "himself for us" by dying on the cross, so that now we want to follow God’s example… we want to "be imitators of God." It brings me great joy as a Dad to hear someone say when watching Tosha or Evan, "now he is a Beatty boy!" It brings our Father in heaven even greater joy when we imitate Him by following the example of His son, Jesus Christ, and someone says, "now he is a true Christian!"
Let us rejoice this Christmas that we have an example to follow! We can ask "What would Jesus in his humanity do?"
Yes, Tosha was imitating me! Although he did not understand what I was writing, he was following my example of caring for someone else.
So with Sergei, although he might not understand my writing, he’s catch-ing something. He is seeing an example. When we pray together for his sister-in-law who is dying of cancer he is catching something. When I bike up that last, long steep hill with muscles aching, and lungs panting and look back to Sergei, and shout "ВПЕРЁД” (“Onward!!") he is catching something. It’s what I’m doing! And he wants to do the same thing!
Our Lord God also did something that he wants us to do, He loves us and says, "Be imitators of God as dearly loved chil-dren" (Eph. 5:1) But, God doesn’t mean imitate what I say as some distant, transcendent god talking about some vague concept of love, but rather, "just as Christ also loved us and gave himself up for us,…" (Eph. 5:2b) Just as God provided an example by becoming a man that we could see and hear and touch and follow … by becoming a man in Jesus Christ, so now we can "be imitators of God [and] … live in love just as Christ also loved" (Eph. 5:2a).
This is the significance of Christmas! God became man, not only to provide an example, but also to transform us by giving "himself for us" by dying on the cross, so that now we want to follow God’s example… we want to "be imitators of God." It brings me great joy as a Dad to hear someone say when watching Tosha or Evan, "now he is a Beatty boy!" It brings our Father in heaven even greater joy when we imitate Him by following the example of His son, Jesus Christ, and someone says, "now he is a true Christian!"
Let us rejoice this Christmas that we have an example to follow! We can ask "What would Jesus in his humanity do?"
THANK YOU for enabling Yulia, Tosha, Evan, and I to be imitable examples to others by what we do, to help leaders like Sergei and his wife Sveta to prepare for the possible GREAT task that lies before them… reaching a country of over 150 mil-lion people, and having one of the largest Muslim populations in the world.
About 1100 national missionaries from eastern Europe and Russia will gather in Slovenia for a time of vision casting, direction setting, training, encouragement and worship. We will hear re-ports of what our Lord is doing from 19 countries.
In addition to leading seminars, we will have opportunities to personally mentor key nationals with respect to biblical and theological development. Also, Yulia is sharing responsibility of di-recting and coordinating childcare for about 160 children under the age of four coming from at least 10 countries. God has blessed Yulia with the knowledge of several languages spoken in our area which will be helpful in meeting the needs of the kids.
Please pray for us and our chil-dren to stay healthy during the conference. Pray for David’s time of preparation for the seminars as well as fruit bearing time with the nationals during the conference. Thank You!
Rejoicing with You This Christmas!
David and Yulia (Tosha and Evan) Beatty
HUNGARY ADDRESS
2049 Diosd
Duna utca 60B
Hungary
Email Address:
beattdavidj@hotmail.com
yuliamk@yahoo.com
