CHRISTMAS: The GREATEST Gift

Well hello, here we are, right on the cusp of Christmas day. The first Christmas I can remember is 1946, when I was four years old in India. This is Dick Foth with stories from the road. What is now Bangaluru in southern India, sort of the Silicon Valley of India now, was at that time a moderate-sized city, and we just lived there for a short time. But I can remember that Christmas. I don't know where in a land of palm trees my folks got a pine tree. I'm sure there must have been some around. What I do remember is the smell of it, not just the smell of the pine, but somehow we had gotten a box of what was then called ivory snowflakes. I don't know that that soap is even produced anymore, but if you put water in it and whip it up, so it's like whipped cream, and then you take it in your hands and spread it on the branches, it hardens up, and looks very realistic, very much like snow, and the only challenges that your house will smell like soap for a few days after the holidays. But it was a wonderful time that I remember. I remember the generosity of people who weren't with us. We were supported by folks back in the states, and we got a box of two for Christmas and inside for me. There were, I think, as I remember correctly, two flannel shirts, because I went to school up at 6,000 feet in the hills of South India. So we had two flannel shirts, but what I particularly remember is a red metal fire truck with an extension ladder. The whole idea that people would give each other gifts based on the premise that the greatest gift we ever got was the person of Jesus at what we call Christmas time now, is just stimulating and exciting, and generous people are magnetic people. I don't know anybody, I've never talked to anybody who just said, I'd like to hang out with a stingy guy, somebody who's a miser, but I know a lot of folks who say, I just like to be around that person because they're generous with their time and thoughts and so forth. So our daughter Suzanne and I had a chat about that. Well, here we are, Susanna, the last episode, if you will, of our quartet of episodes that we've used this December, talking about Christmas, and I love doing this with you. It's been so fun, Dad. It's been a fun way to celebrate. We might want to think about something else down the road, but it sounds good. Let's get on with this one for the moment. I think the way that Tim Keller in his book, Hidden Christmas, the surprising truth behind the birth of Christ, the way he frames it in the early pages, this is page two, captures the heart of what we've been talking about, because of the commercial indispensability he writes of Christmas, it will remain with us as a secular festival. My fear is, however, that it's true to become more and more hidden to most of the population. The emphasis on light and darkness comes from the Christian belief that the world's hope comes from the outside of it. The giving of gifts is a natural response to Jesus' stupendous act of self-giving when he laid aside his glory, was born into the human race. Concerned from the needy recalls that the son of God was born not into an aristocratic family, but into a poor one. The Lord of the Universe identified with the least and the most excluded of the human race. I'd like to, for our closing podcast here, reach in and take that line. The giving of gifts is a natural response to Jesus' stupendous act of self-giving. You are in the middle of writing, helping to write a school curriculum for children. Through an enterprise led by our friend in Southern California, Brad Formsman, and Brad some years ago came up with this theme, this idea of I Like Giving, and it's been expressed now in books that he's written in a podcast that he has called The Wow Factor, Words of Wisdom Factor, and now this emphasis on trying to help children, young people experience the joy of generosity, and you get to be one of the writers. How did that come to be? Can you just give me a little snapshot of how that happened? Well, we were connected to our good friend, Mark Batterson, and so they were looking for someone to help with some writing and some editing, and we got connected. And I, from the first time that I talked with Brad, was so excited about what they were doing. I think that, well, we like giving, dad, being generous, and so you have always been so generous and taught us to live that way, but the framework that they talk about with I Like Giving, I think that Brad's entire family was transformed by the thought of generosity and how much that reflects Jesus to the world and how it actually helps us turn away from what our natural intent is to be really just thinking about ourselves a whole lot. It's kind of the thing that happened in the garden when we said I want what I want when I want it. So, the opposite of that is sharing what we have with others, and they have this really amazing framework called the Seven Ways of Living Generously that everything is built around. A lot of us just think about when we're being generous, that we're generous with our money, but there are a bunch of different ways that you can be generous. You can be generous with your thoughts towards others and towards yourselves, because some of us don't think too nicely of ourselves either with our words, with our money, with our time, with our influence, our attention, and our belongings. So there are all of these different ways that we can actually share who we are, what God has given us with the world around us, and Scripture says that God loves a cheerful giver. I think that's because it's who he is. I mean, the very person that he is is so giving of himself. I think that we barely scratch the surface of how much it changes us and our hearts when we decide to embrace that instead of just thinking about ourselves or keeping what we have to ourselves, which is what we like to do, most of us anyway, not you dad, but the rest of us. We like to be a little selfish here and there. I have a master's degree in selfishness, it's like I've been forgiven like yesterday, so. Amen. So part of your responsibility and gifting in this collaborative endeavor for writing a curriculum about generosity is that you have written a number of what I call doctors soos like pieces of prose, and I'm going to read part of it, you sent me one, I'm going to read part of one, but the title of it is Jasper G and the me thinking madness. How do you come up with a title like that? Well, I think I got to piggyback on the ideas of a lot of amazing people that I'm working with right now at. There's a group of amazing educators at like giving them a writing the curriculum and this little piece, they had come up with the idea of these animal friends that could help teach the seven ways of living generously. So when it came to thinking about being generous or being selfish, I think I tend to get caught up in the me thinking madness a little bit myself, so that is probably where that title came from. Okay, so I'm going to read this in a little chat a moment. Well, and I should tell you, too, that it's written under the pseudonym of I like giving and that would be better to give as written as written as book. Jasper G and the me thinking madness in the land of the givers were kindness is free, but the selfish giraffe who was named Jasper G, Jasper G sang a song when he got up each day. I'm the king of the world, yes, I ruled it my way, a giraffe with the most couldn't get quite enough. Oh, he wanted more toys and more food and more stuff till the day that the friendship or Rama came through with bright colors and lights, it was something to view. There was something quite special about this fun fair with the feeling of kindness that filled the spring air, all the moms, all the dads, all their kids came to play, Jasper G brought his grandpa and came late in the day. I'm behind. Let me in Jasper yelled at the crowd, it's not fair, I'm the king. He was hussy and loud. While the other shared snacks Jasper G shouted mine, then he shoved and he pushed, broke the rules, cut the line. Jasper G called out move, get away, I'm the first, all the kids told their friends, Jasper G is the worst. When the partner up challenges about to begin Jasper G said, I've got this, it's me for this win. Teams of two hand in hand would compete for first place in the egg toss, the relay the three-legged race, go real quick, find a friend, make a team, oh what fun. As the kids partnered up Jasper G asked each one, say, would you be my partner? They all told him, no. Not a pal, not a buddy or friend, he felt low. He was left all alone with his old grandpa G, while the other kids ran through their eggs laughed with glee, Jasper said they don't like me, they all stay away. Grandpa G understood and explained it this way. Do you think there's a chance that your heart has grown small? From your endless me thinking, not sharing it all, there's a generous way that God gave us to live being generous is choosing to share and to give Jasper G took a breath because his day had gone south. Then he thought of his brain and his heart and his mouth. Yep, my brain is quite full of my thoughts about me and my heart is quite small. In my mouth, it runs free. The draft wiped the tear roll in off of his nose. Can a small hearted me make a change, you suppose? There's more to it than that, there's an ending to it. How do I get the ending, Sue? The really fun part about this is even though we're writing these books for the curriculum, it's actually a generous kids book club that you can sign up for and get one of the stories each month. They're super fun. The illustrators that are doing the pictures are amazing and it's just a really neat way to connect with your kids or maybe yourself. Okay, so where do I go to get this? You can go to the generouskidsbookclub.com or you can just visit at generousfamily.com and you can find the books there. You can also get them on Amazon. So friends who are listening to this, this is a bold face promotion. Yes, it is. That I'm doing. Not safe. Well, Susanna, thank you for being with me. I think it'd be great to close our time and this quartet of podcasts by thinking about what the Apostle John wrote about Jesus. For God so loved the world that he gave his only unique son that whoever believes in him will not perish or die but have everlasting life. I love the way that one of my favorite translations of scripture says it. Sometime back 27 years ago, I think would cliff Bible translators translated scripture into Hawaiian Pigeon English and it's called it's the New Testament. It's called Jesus book in Hawaiian Pigeon and this is how it reads and I'm just reading it the way it's written. John 316, God when gets so plenty love and a lower footer people inside the world that he went and sent me his one and only boy so that everybody that trust me know get cut off from God but get a real kind life that stay to the max forever. I just I don't know. I just get a kick out of the rhythm of that and hearing it and the truth in that is the same whether you're reading it in English, a Hawaiian Pigeon, Swahili, Chinese, whatever it is. Well, that's it for now, Sue. I'm going to sign off. Thanks for tag teaming with me. You're the best. You're the best. I love you. That's your name. Bye-bye. I love that phrase to the max forever. Who wouldn't want to live life to the max forever? I would submit that comes from a generous spirit. One of my favorite stories that I've told I don't know hundreds of times in the last 25 years is this story of a young boy standing outside a pharmacy, a drug store in a very poor section of town and for some reason a man drove up in a numerous eighties and got out of the car and clicked the fog and the beeper went off and started toward the door of the drug store and the little boy says, cool car, mister. He said, oh thank you, son. And the boy persisted and said, where'd you get that car? He said, well, you probably won't believe this but somebody gave it to me. He says, get out. What do you mean? Somebody gave who would do that? And the fellow said, my brother gave it to me. The little boy looked at the car, looked back at the man, back at the car and said, oh wow, that's the kind of brother I'd like to be. In this Christmas, that's the kind of person I'd like to be. I want to be a giver all in caps. I pray you do too. I also pray that you and yours, those close to you, those whom you love and who love you have a wonderful celebration in the midst of all the food and condiments and candies and what football games and board games in the midst of all of that. Remember at the heart of it is the most high god who came in baby shape and that life changed everything. We'll catch you in the new year. We're so grateful for the fact that you listen in, subscribe, all of that and we pray, God's great blessings upon you in this season. This is Dick Futh, signing off with stories from the road and we'll see you next time.