A lump of coal or a pound of steel?
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1
Christmas time is here! Our chance to proclaim the most incredible of births to the whole world. Each time we pass by the Nativities in our cities or in our neighbor’s yards we should take a moment and remind ourselves exactly what we are celebrating, the “Word made flesh”. The second person of the Trinity, the Creator of our universe, our God most high and holy, became one of us. As the early church fathers and later on C.S. Lewis explained, “The Son became man, so that men could become God’s sons”.
This past year has been nothing less than Christmas everyday. We have seen churches planted, pastors trained and young girls given hope on a level like never before. We have seen evidences of His coming as well as proof of His sending of the Holy Spirit. Bodies healed, minds restored, addictions broken, lives changed through salvation and water baptism. We just concluded two of our Christmas traditions, our pastors retreat and our Christmas gifts for kids in the jungle villages. Both were high water marks for those events! Over 240 attended the pastors retreat and more than 3500 kids will receive a gift bag with candy, cookies, a small gift and the true Christmas story.
Later this week we will be celebrating Christmas with more girls in the Ecuador Hope House than ever before! They are so excited and have prepared dramas, songs and decorations to make the night special. We love to give gifts that reflect on our having received the greatest gift. To say we are excited is an understatement! It truly is the "most wonderful time of the year”!
We are excited to announce that the first steel shipment is in route to the Sucúa Christian Center (our main campus church)! This has been a long process, after 20 months of waiting on permits and engineers to come through, we are ready to build the new sanctuary. Our church in the middle of the jungle has learned to give because they have received the greatest gift, Jesus Christ. In the time since we began the project, they have responded with over $20,000 in gifts and offerings. Some have donated food, others land to be sold, others jewelry, they just want to build their church.
This year we want to give you the opportunity to be a part of their Christmas miracle. They need to purchase 60,000 pounds of steel for the first phase of construction, they are doing their part, but they need your help, your generosity, your partnership to help extend the kingdom even further. Each pound will cost exactly $1 for purchase, delivery and work to get it in place. This year for the cost of couple of candy canes you can be a part of miracle.
Our prayer is that you would live Christmas everyday, knowing that your God and Creator has given you access to His Kingdom and that you would give simply because you have received.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours,
Joil and Leah Marbut
Drew, Will, Emelia & Aidan
