Wasn't that a party?!

Seeing as we are sharing a building with Soul's Harbour, we decided to have a joint staff-volunteer Christmas potluck party this year! It was SOOO much fun!

We played a get-to-know you game in the form of 20 questions. Now, I must say, there was all kind of Christian cheating going on all over the place! But we do know interesting facts about each other now.

Such as, who races chariots? Who is the real Prince Charming? Who has had scabies three times? Who belongs to a motorcycle gang? Who found a devil's head on the floor of the women's home? Who has 5 dogs?

Lots of great comments about the food. Yummy! We then had a devotional and opened presents and played the white elephant gift exchange game. On the way out everyone got a red and gold Christmas candle to take home.

Here is the devotional I prepared:

16 years ago, there was no Soul's Harbour. There was a woman who read in the Bible that she should sell everything she had and give it to the poor.

Now, Geri Carroll didn't have much, but her widows mite sacrifice began with a few milk crates and a cup of coffee.

7 years ago, there was NO long term solution for homelessness, addiction, and mental illness in Regina.

But God called Ken and I here by faith, and quickly brought together a team that became the Regina RESCUE Mission.

And now, on this incredible evening, I stand up here in amazement at how God has planned this moment from the very first day.

From that very first cup of coffee on a milk crate.

And I believe that Geri is rejoicing in Heaven tonight.

I want to talk a little bit about why we're here. Why we're all here. The one thing that unites us.

The poor? Perhaps.
Good works? Yes.
The Lord? Of course.

But that one thing that binds us, and has drawn us all here to the inner city, is our calling.

Scripture says:

Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

We love to talk about spiritual poverty, don't we?

"For our sake He became poor."

But our calling is also to the very real sacrifice of poverty. Of giving something up for the sake of the call.

Now, poverty is NOT a virtue.

It is motive that matters. And the motive is to follow Jesus. To talk about Jesus. To obey Jesus. To love Jesus.

Our calling is to pay a debt forever out of love and obedience. We will never repay Him but the desire to try by losing our life for His sake must be our priority!

Naturally sacrificing - houses, cars, money, nice things, time. These things are not your own. LIFE is not your own.

What IS the virtue, then? Contentment.

"Godliness with contentment is great gain."

The virtue is wanting to sacrifice, wanting to dedicate every minutia of our lives to Jesus.

It is keeping out lives FREE from the love and money and being content with what we have.

It means downsizing instead of upsizing.

It means hemming the rip instead of buying a new pair.

It means puttig people first. Just like Geri did.

One thing I remember about Geri. I didn't know her well, and yet, every time I came to Soul's Harbour, she asked if we could pray together. EVERY single time. If you ever do any one thing with another believer, unite in the fellowship of prayer. You'll never regret it.

Soul's Harbour has a theme verse from Matthew 25:35 & 36:

For I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.

Regina RESCUE Mission's Purpose Statement is also common to both missions:

To RESCUE people from poverty, addiction, and sin, by offering emergency help, such as food, clothing, and shelter, life changing recovery programs, and the Gospel Message.

To conclude I asked all the paid staff of both Missions to stand and I said something like this:

All of us here tonight are committed to sharing the calling of Jesus to the inner city and to the poor. You are giving of your time, your finances, and your prayers to the poor. But it is the folks who are standing before you today who face the battle each day on the front lines. I want you to know they have sacrificed much to be here.

To be a missionary in your own country... in North America, means to be very different from your peers. It means saying no to the pleasures offered by the world. It means sacrificing homes and cars and having few like-minded friends.

It is the men and women standing here tongiht that you are partnering with in your ministry. They have been called to full time missions and and lay their lives down for the Gospel every single day.

Let's commit to pray together for them and ask God's blessing on their ministry and lives for 2007.