A Sweet Christmas Eve

So far, none of the holidays I've been waiting for were dull. In fact, dull was what they were anything but of! Okay, so this Christmas Eve, I've received the best gift I've ever had from (guess who?) God Himself! I just LOVE how the big GUY works! So here's what happened.

Weeks before today (December 24, 2008), we've been preparing for our Living Stone's  Christmas Outreach so we can minister to the kids in the children's ward of NOPH (Negros Oriental Provincial Hospital). The kids who were taken in were the less fortunate ones, and they came from every part of Negros just to have their precious one(s) be put in a hospital. It just breaks my heart to know that this Christmas time, which is supposed to be the most joyous part of the year because we remember the day of Jesus' birth, the kids were stuck in a crummy hospital with dextros attatched to their wrists, and I'm sure everyone who went in the outreach felt the same.

Okay, so while we were preparing, Kuya Glen said that our means of preaching would be to share the real Christmas story through a skit. The cast composed of Angel Gabriel (Cole and Miguel [who were active all throughout the outreach and didn't get a break]), Mary (Kori, Abby and Ate Rochelle), Joseph (Champy, Aaron and David), Shepherd 1 (me, Ate Carylle and Benzi [the worship leaders with their oh so trusty guitars]), Shepherd 2 (Bryna, Melanie and Karen), and last but definitely not the least, Shepherd 3 (Ate Kim and Ate Karen [who didn't get breaks as well]). The team would never be complete without the guys who took care watching over and helped with the gifts: Kuya Jerry, Kuya Glen, and Kuya Izzy. We had to practice and get our lines right, especially for the Angel Gabriels coz they had the most lines, Aaron, who struggled a bit with the lines coz it was in (medyo) heavy visayan, and the guitarists (us) weren't used to playing Christmas carols, so we had to learn three songs we were familiar with singing, but not with the guitar, and Kuya Glen and Kuya Cole were (somewhat) perfectionistic about everyone's acting skills. We had to be real kids, and flexible for the outreach, and it was fun learning to be so.

When the day finally came, we had to come to church early (at 7:00am), so we had to have a good night's rest the night before. When we all came (and almost surprisingly early), some of us were still sleepy, some tired, some restless, and some just plain excited. We then had a quick devotion led by Kuya Jerry.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And He committed to us the message of Christ's ambassadors, as though God were making His appeal through us. We implore you on Christ's behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." 

- 2Corinthians 5:17-21

KJ inplied that you can never find it in the bible that Jesus was too tired to minister to anyone. He was always always willing to share truth to the world around Him. He preached to the sick, the blind, the crippled, the isolated, and even the thousands who were interested in listening to Him. Most of all, He did not turn His back on the children who just wanted to jump on Him! We could just imagine how many times His beard could've been pulled, or how many kids hung onto Him from each arm, nonetheless, He said, "Let the children come to Me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these (Luke 18:16)." KJ reminded us that we need to be like Jesus, who gave His undivided attention to the kids, and do the same to the children and their families and just give them Jesus! The goal wasn't to evangelize, but rather to remind the families the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate it, wherever we may be, and to just pray for the families and their precious ones.

Okay, so the mission was set, and we put on our costumes when we arrived. The gifts were brought by KJ, KG and Izzy, and we all prepared our hearts. There were only two teams of six who could do the skit to the rooms at a time, so the rest had to take a break (except for the Gabriels and Shepherd) while the skits were done. I was especially blessed by a mother and her five month-old son, John Carlo (who had pneumonia), whom was really touched by our visit when ministering time came. She cried when we shared Jesus, and cried even more when me and Abby prayed for her. She wanted us to know that she reads the bible, and that she was really blessed by our coming. PRAISE THE LORD! The child had been in and out of the hospital for a while, so they really needed prayer. I'm glad we met them. God is just sweeter than anything coz He used all of us to be a blessing to the families who were stuck there for Christmas (and imagine, on CHRISTMAS!). After all the rooms were done, one room asked if we would do some caroling in their room, so KJ and KG called me, Cole, Miguel, Izzy and Champy to sing carols in that very room and be as noisy (and in tune) as we possibly can, coz that's exactly what the people there really wanted. I tell you, being noisy carolers was AMAZINGLY FUN!!! Not only did we make as much (proper) racket as we wanted, but the guys (excluding me coz I was carrying the guitar) made a hilarious dance on the spot which made all the kids in the room laugh! It was awesome!! KJ and KG told us it wasn't over yet after we went out of the room, coz the Nurse's lounge needed some cheer as well, so we surrounded the place from all two corners and everyone sang a carol to the nurses just to make their day.

Afterwards, we got out, prayed thanks to God for using us, and decided to call it a day. Everyone was sweaty, especially the angels, who's wings were already wet with back sweat, and all of us were just blessed! We then had a few group pictures, then some of us went for lunch in the nearest kiosk, while others headed straight for home.

All I can say is that I'm blessed to be a part of something as special as this. God just continues to fill my heart to the brim. GOD BLESS THE WORLD!!! (no exceptions)