Annual Bible Distribution at Princess Marina Hospital

It is a tradition here in Gaborone,Botswana that Flying Mission personnel will spend the morning of Boxing Day at the local public hospital distributing bibles to the patients who have had to spend their Christmas there. This year I was privileged to be part of this tradition.
I have to admit that the thought itself scared me...approaching total strangers and offering them a bible...what would say, how would it go? But like most things, the thought of doing something is much more terrifying than actually doing it. I was privileged to spend time with two men that received bibles. The first, Godwin was a middle aged man who had many complications from diabetes. He was very open to having a visit, and I was able to pray with him. A real peace settled upon us, and we were both grateful for our time together. The second man has a difficult multi syllable name which I can not remember, but I do know that he is about my age and had been in the hospital for about two months now. I knelt by his bed for about a half an hour, and almost the entire time, I held his hand. I prayed mostly silently for this man, and he wept from time to time.
I don't know what impact this day has had on my life, but I have been keenly aware that Christmas can be a lonely time for many, but that each of us can make a difference to someone.

The birth of a child

That's what we are supposed to be remembering this year as we run around to parties, go shopping and sing Christmas carols by the swimming pool (just rubbing it in - I heard about the -42*C last weekend). It's far too easy to forget about the real reason we have a holiday called Christmas. But I hope this year that we will take time to really reflect on what happened in Bethlehem around 2000 years ago... God came down to earth as a little baby. Why would the creator of the universe humble himself and take on the form of a defenseless baby - one that would depend on his parents for everything that he needed? Because he had a plan. It seems that God really trusted Mary and Joseph - and I guess that means he really trusts each one of us too. And if Mary and Joseph had a part to play in God's big plan for our salvation, it seems that he must have a plan for our lives that is bigger than we can understand too.
Since Johnathan died, we have been praying that God would use it for his glory, that he would indeed work good out of the situation. The fact that God sent his Son to earth to die for our sins, is the reason that we can have hope in the midst of a tragic situation like this. Johnathan has gone to Heaven to be with the Father. Yet we are still here, because God has a plan that is bigger than we can comprehend. We shed tears, and we grieve, but we also rejoice because of that.