Twenty-Nine :)

Yesterday I received a call to sub for Children's Church this morning.  Unsure of what I would teach on I asked the Lord to lead me where He desired me so I could teach from His heart and not mine.  Since it's Christmastime and many of the children hear the same stories repeatedly with each program they attend.  I didn't want to teach on something I knew I'd be teaching at kids' club nor did I want to teach on something that their regular teacher may have prepared for the coming weeks.  I thought about foretelling of John the Baptist's birth but I couldn't seem to move beyond the story.  Then I stumbled upon the Legend of the Candy Cane and I knew this was what I was supposed to share with the kids this morning.

And today it is what I'm thankful for.  The reminder in a small Christmas candy of the Savior's loved...poured out for me.

I'm thankful that you can hold a candy cane and make a "J." A "J" for Jesus!  Jesus...my Savior, Prince, My Love...the one who willing stepped down from all riches and glory and became a man.  Think about Exodus 33.  Moses asked God to show him His glory (33:18).  And God replied, "I will cause all my goodness to pass in front of you, and I will proclaim my name, the LORD, in your presence.  I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.  But...you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live" (33:20).  Moses couldn't see His face and live.  God resided in a temple and no one could see His face and live.  He was too glorious for human eyes to behold...but He made a way.  When Jesus forsake all glory and riches, He gave us a way to look upon God's face.  Through Jesus we saw God's face.  I can hardly imagine what it would have been like to look into Jesus' eyes when He walked this earth and I anticipate the day when I get to see Jesus face to face.

I'm thankful that if you flip the candy cane you can see the shepherd's staff.  The story I told read the kids this morning spoke of the shepherds who came to see Christ on that first Christmas.  They were lowly shepherds.  There was nothing spectacular about them.  The pharisees weren't invited nor was the king...it was the shepherds who were able to see the baby Jesus.  The common, ordinary shepherds.  It's the reminder that God comes for all people.  All people are invited to Christ.  And just as the shepherds left changed and desiring to share the sight they had beheld, we are called to share the hope of Christ.  But the shepherd's staff also reminds me of how Christ is our shepherd.  "I am the good Shepherd.  The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep...I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me" (John 10:11).  Christ didn't just lay down His life for me...He knows me...He wants me.

I'm thankful for the red stripes and the reminder that "by His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

I'm thankful for the white and the symbol it gives that because of Christ and His bloodshed I am made white as snow.  It was neat to talk to the kids about this as they sucked on their candy canes and one little boy called out, "Look!  As I suck it the red disappears and all that's left is the white! Like when Jesus comes into my heart.  My sin washed away!"


So eat a candy cane and reminder the hope that came down at Christmas.