Verse:
My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant.
Thought:
Hundreds of people have flocked to a polluted stream in an overcrowded slum in the
Philippine capital after some residents found gold nuggets. A village chief said
it was a puzzle as to how the nuggets got into the trash-strewn and heavily silted
channel. It is puzzle. All we got from this before was trash, he said.
Alfredo Gallo, 15, found a nugget of gold after scouring the riverbed on Friday.
I scratched the riverbed with a stick and saw a yellow thing glittering. I immediately
took it and ran home, said Gallo. This from a channel which frequently overflows
during the rainy season, flooding low-lying slums and causing intestinal diseases.
Treasure from trash, hope from the unimaginable.
Hear the Good News, God turns our world upside-down with His activity. When we look at
how he decided to enter into the world, humble and without the attention one would
expect, we see an unexpected intersection between the ordinary and the Holy. Over and
over, God chooses the unexpected to make a difference. The Son of an unwed mother,
common fishermen, swindlers, a symbol of execution, from all of these people or symbols,
we are drawn closer to knowing what it is God is doing in our life and in the world.
Just imagine, what God can and will do in your life. We hide so many things in our life
we feel God certainly can not use, yet, this is what He does. He does not use the
perfect, rather he redeems the broken, because this is only something God can do, and
God alone. Oh, the roller coaster Mary must have been experiencing. What a way to
face today, knowing God can and will use our worst to bring out the best.
Prayer:
Gracious God, thank You for turning so much upside-down, topsey-turvey, because this is certainly what I need. You help me see how big You really are. With the arrival of Jesus in a manger, You remind us You do things differently, powerfully. Please, I pray, take the trash in my life and use it for something good. Allow me to draw closer to You and always point to You with all I do. Thank You for all You have done and all You continue to do. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Grace & Peace
Rev. David Banks
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