“When you go into the wilderness you will find that Jesus is already there.”

 A friend of mine is in a very hard time.  She is dying of abdominal cancer.  Her strength is very low.  She is on oxygen.  She sleeps 20 hours a day.  She has lost a lot of weight.  She is constantly sick to her stomach.  She drinks very little and eats even less.  In days or weeks she will be in the very presence of God.  Her family is walking with her but the main Person coming alongside her is God.

 I know a man who just lost his wife due to his workaholism.  He is a “Type A,” Driver, Driver who made a boatload of money in his profession and came home one day to a wife who said, “I’m done with this.”  His obsession with his work and his ignoring of his family for a couple of decades brought his wife to exasperation and she took the kids and left him.  The wife and kids are hurting big time.  God is walking with them.  The husband is hurting big time.  God is walking with him.

 A family I have known for years had to give up their home due to prolonged unemployment.  They moved in with extended-family.  Major adjustments had to be made.  Everything has changed.  They suffered a major setback.  God walks with them.

 These are very difficult times for these people.  My own situation is far less dire but still has its challenges with workload and resources and health concerns and uncertainties about the future. 

 Your situation may be dire or bitterly difficult or mildly challenging or OK or pretty good.  In any level of thriving or surviving it is centrally God Who walks with you.  As Mary said 2,000 years ago in Luke 1 and I said in the message this past Sunday He is “mighty, near, and for us.” 

 To put is succinctly:  God is mighty, near, and for you—and He is with you all the time.  You never walk alone.

 You never walk alone, but what you may do is forget that you never walk alone.  It is so easy in our lives to encounter choppy waters and immediately begin to feel that God is not powerful or He is not close or He does not care much about us.  Choppy waters for a few days are usually navigable but as those choppy waters stretch into weeks, months and years we easily get down.  We easily feel abandoned.  We easily fear the future.

 Could you use a reminder about the reality that this mighty, near, and “for us” God is with you?

 On Sunday December 11th at 5 PM, CBC is presenting a multi-faceted Christmas program entitled “God with Us!”  It is an hour and fifteen minutes of music, testimonies, dramas, and videos that highlight the truth that God walks with us at all times.

 We are trying to do two things with this brief time on Sunday evening the 11th. 

 First, we are trying to give courage to those of us who know Christ and yet are walking through some tough times.  We are striving to remind ourselves about our Companion in the choppy waters.

 Second, we are trying to give you an opportunity to invite friends who may be in need of finding God in their hard times.  We will have fliers in the bulletin this coming Sunday and we so hope that you will continue to cultivate your friendship with unchurched people by inviting them to God with Us!

 I have been lost in the woods a few times.  When I am alone and lost, it is very difficult.  When I am with someone and lost, it is only a nuisance. 

 Sunday December 11th at 5 PM:  “God with Us!”  Bring a friend please.