JR. Forasteros - July 15, 2012

Joshua - Where's the Manna?

Road Trip

While Israel wandered in the wilderness between the slavery of Egypt and the freedom of the Promised Land, God provided manna for them to eat every day. But after they arrived in the Promised Land, the manna stopped. Did this mean God abandoned them? No. It meant that they now had to start feeding themselves, using the bounty of the Land God had given them. This is a model for our Christian faith: when we first start out, as spiritual infants, God\\\'s presence is easy to sense, and everything seems easy. But God won\\\'t let us remain infants; we must grow up, learn to feed our own souls.

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I don’t know about you, but I’ve reached that point in my holiday season where I’m just about out of holiday cheer. The other day, I was talking with my wife, Amanda, about a couple of possible events we had coming up. I asked her, “What do you have going on this date and this date?” and before I could even tell her what I was asking about, she said, “Say no. Say we’re busy.”

We walk a delicate balance every year on this road to Christmas: we’re in nearly constant movement between preparation and celebration, back and forth from parties to shopping to pageants to decorating. And it can get so exhausting that we sort of lose the reason for all this in the midst of it.

So let’s take a big, deep breath.

We need a chance to come together and rejoice. We need to celebrate together. Whether it’s the party plans we’ve got to get to later or the real work of justice we know God is calling us to as a part of our Advent journey, we need to stop and remember that everything we’re doing is in response to the God who has already accomplished the work of saving us.

Join us Sunday as we pause to rejoice in the midst of our preparation!

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