Happy Holidays from Hogar de la Roca!

Presents under the tree bring is a great place to begin as they always bring a warm blessing to any Christmas celebration.

The gifts you see are all for the men and families here at the ministry.  The guys have been doing such a great job here and yet, most of them were to spend Christmas without their families, wives, or children.  God put it on my heart to try and raise money to buy presents for the children who are without thier fathers this year.  The readers of the "Guatemala: Revelation and Response" blog generously gave enough to buy toys for the kids and the men themselves!  Thank you!

Edgar´s two children Danny and Alexis recieved Batman sneakers that light up when you walk on them!  They were clearly more than thrilled to receive these gifts from their father.

In addition to the gifts we were able to open up our ministry to the willing families and have a dinner celebration on Christmas day.  The festivities included a complete meal, a spiritual word about Christmas from Chris, a rather extravagant firework display also from Chris, and original songs performed by myself, Danny Chapeton, and even the men themselves joined us in performing a song for those in attendance. 

Because God is in the business of restoring families, Youth Challenge and Hogar de la Roca are in the business of restoring families.  Most men come here with a high level of guilt and low expectations regarding thier involvemnt with their families future. Yet I see God move amongst us on a daily basis as he first changes the men who come in from the street, and then changes the hearts of thier families as they see an undeniable change take place in the person they love so much.

One of our proud fathers Ronnie was overjoyed to be reunited with his wife and children this Christmas right here at Hogar de la Roca!

  

 

     Has Christmas begun to lose some of  its magic for you?  Often times the way we experience the holidays is shaped and shifted by associations we connect from our hoiday seasons prior.  Then if someone or something goes missing, or some expectaion you may have had wasn´t met,  there often lingers a small void containing only a touch of sadness within itself.  This void can be acutely noticed or hardly at all, yet it holds the potential to cling as a permanent fixture for your holidays for the rest of your life if permitted. 

     Did you get what you wanted for Christmas?  As an adult this is a question we prabably don`t often ask ourselves anymore.  Yet it is a relevant question if what we are seeking can`t be found wrapped in paper under a tree.  

      It is my hope that everyone reading this blog passed through the Holiday season in true peace, joy, and love. Please don`t merely skip over those three words.  Think about each one, what it means to you, and if you hold it now, or if its a gift your still wating to unwrap.

     One of the most exciting aspects of Christmas for me is the celebration of the wonder of God coming to live with us on earth. What if Shakespeare decided he wanted to have a conversation with Hamlet?  How could he?  I mean, after all Shakspeare created Hamlet.  But what if Shakespeare was to write himself into his story?  The interactions between himself and his creation is now seemingly limitless.  That is C.S. Lewis´ picture of the incarnation.  Christmas is a celebration of when God wrote himself into our creation story, to walk with us and teach us about true peace, joy, and above all love.  It is beautiful to think that the creator of everything we see loves us so much that he would humble himself to inhabit a human body which was subject to every pain, cold, and sickness, only to walk with us for a while, show us where we were getting important things such as faith and love all mixed up,  and to even wash our feet. 

     If there is a gift your still hoping to unwrap, it is because God came to live with us that your gift is already prepared for you.  Whether it is peace, joy or love, you need only to ask your father in heaven, walk with Him as he walked with us, and believe.

Mathew 7:7  "Keep on asking and you will receive what you ask for.  Keep on seeking, and you will find.  Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you.  For everyone who asks receives.  Everyone who seeks, finds.  And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened."