2 Haiti 4 Him

The Heckman family serving the Lord in Haiti at Emmaus Biblical Seminary

Monday, December 1, 2014

Advent Day #1- Bearing the Name and Living in Community

Today was our first day of advent devotionals... and what a blessed time it was.  We started off the day reading from Isaiah 11 "Out of the stump of David's family will grow a shoot..."



From the line of David came hope and redemption for the world.  God loved the world so much that He sent Jesus.  His love reached down to us and enables us to love others.  And Jesus' love showed no boundaries- He loved and cared for the lost, for the lonely, for the "least of these."

No matter where we are, whether it's in Haiti or in America, in our communities or in our homes, we have the opportunity to pour out love.  When we share our very lives with people, when we live out love in tangible ways, we are living as God's children.  As we carry the name of Christ, we have the responsibility to BE Christ to the world.


Today... may we stop and reflect on the areas of our lives that are lacking the image of Christ.


How can we begin to live out Christ's love in our work place? our homes? our community?

How can we show self-sacrificing love to our co-workers? our friends and families? even strangers?

Let us pray and ask God to live through us, by His Spirit... so that this Christmas season we can show that we carry the very image of our Savior, Jesus Christ.


Often times I think we take advantage of community.  It is within community that we have the opportunity to love, laugh, cry, celebrate, forgive, serve, sacrifice... community is the body of Christ in action.  Living in community is such a blessing for our family...


 Today was the start of our Christmas celebrations here in our Emmaus community. The staff vs. students soccer tournament was a great beginning to the festivities!  

 The game ended in a 0-0 tie (which was quite an accomplishment for the staff!)  They fought hard and it is always fun being with our "family" here and celebrating together.

[Lily and Sofie worked hard to keep Pepper off the field... he SO wanted to play soccer today. It seems silly to say but even HE enjoys community and loves to be where the people are!]

Today I am especially thankful for the community that we have here at EBS...  For the Ayars family next door, for our Emmaus family of Haitian brothers and sisters, and for our support family that makes it possible for us to be here!



(Advent devotional thoughts are adapted from Ann Voskamp's Unwrapping the Greatest Gift.)

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