"BEYOND THE MANGER"
Luke 2: 10 - 11
On Sunday afternoon, June 1st 1975, Darrel Dore was on an oil rig in the Gulf of
Mexico.
Suddenly it wobbled, tipped to one side, and crashed into the sea. Darrell was
trapped inside a room on the rig. As the rig sank deeper and deeper into the sea
the lights went out and the room began to fill with water. Thrashing about in
the darkness, Darrel accidentally found a huge air bubble that was forming in
the corner of the room. He thrust his head inside it. Then a horrifying thought
sent a shiver down his spine. "I'm buried alive". Darrell began to pray - out
loud - and as he did, something remarkable happened. He said later:
"I found myself actually talking to Someone. Jesus was there with me. There was
no illumination, nothing physical, but I sensed him, a comforting presence. He
was real, he was there."
For the next 22 hours that Presence continued to comfort Darrel. But now the
oxygen supply inside the bubble giving out. Death was inevitable. It was just a
matter of time. Then a remarkable thing happened. Darrel saw a tiny star of
light shimmering in the pitch-black water. Was it real? or after 22 hours was he
beginning to hallucinate? Darrel squinted his eyes. The light seemed to grow
brighter. He squinted again He wasn't hallucinating. The light was real. It was
coming from a diver's helmet. Someone had found him. His 22 hour nightmare was
over. Rescue had come. He was saved.
That true story is a remarkable illustration of what CHRISTmas is all about.
Sin had wobbled our world, tipped it to one side, and sent it crashing into the
waters of spiritual disaster. Darkness was everywhere. The human race was
hopelessly trapped. There was no hope. Humankind was doomed to certain spiritual
death. People turned to God. They prayed in the words of the prophet Isaiah –
"O Lord, you are angry and we are sinful, all of us have become unclean. Yet O
Lord, you are father. Save and deliver us."
They prayed, and they waited for the time promised to them - the time of the
Messiah, the time of the one who would inherit the throne of David and rule - in
peace forever. Then, when the night seemed darkest, something remarkable
happened. A tiny spark of light appeared.
As Kitty and I ate lunch at one our local restaurants, we were told as we
entered by the casher, “I can’t wish you a MERRY CHRISTMAS” – she gave emphases
to the statement. About twenty minutes later a man and woman who were leaving,
stopped at about the center of the restaurant, and she said for all to hear;
“MERRY CHRISTMAS.” She got a response” “MERRY CHRISTMAS.”
God help us to see, as the night seems mighty dark, something remarkable happen
in these United States; God fearing people giving testimonial in their walk and
witness of God’s amazing grace. Let us stand and be counted for what we know, as
Christian, for what is right.
“MERRY CHRISTMAS”
<))):> In "HIS" Service
Bro. Roy