Foundation (ADVENT-URE DAY 22)

Welcome in to Christmas week, as we move into our final 4 entries of the Faith Radio Advent Guide, "The Story For the Ages."  We're exploring the characters, the players, in the incredible Christmas story, a narrative so glorious that Hollywood can't even touch it.

Over the weekend, Saturday's reading highlighted the teachers in the temple.  Luke 2 says,  regarding Jesus, "After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers…all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers."  The principle here is that the answers we seek are found through searching the Scriptures.

Then on Sunday, we find the calling of a fisherman named Andrew.  Let's look into the book of John, chapter 1, to get a glimpse of his story.  We find there were two disciples of John the Baptist, who observed that when Jesus walked in their vicinity, John said, "Behold the Lamb of God!"  We read on:
38 Jesus turned and saw them following and said to them, “What are you seeking? ”And they said to him, “Rabbi” (which means Teacher), “where are you staying? ”
39 He said to them, “Come and you will see. ”So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day, for it was about the tenth hour.
40 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother.
41 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, “We have found the Messiah” (which means Christ).
42 He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon the son of John. You shall be called Cephas”(which means Peter).

And, there you have the theme Scripture for the entirety of this year's Faith Radio Christmas Advent-ure.  "We have found the Messiah," is what Andrew said to his brother, Simon Peter. Jesus later said to Peter in Matthew 16, having become Christ's disciple that, "you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it."  

Our principle for today is a simple question: What foundation is our life built upon?  Our lesson from today's character, Simon Peter.

A recent Faithwire article told the story of someone who has built his life on a foundation of generosity, someone who can be considered an example for us.  His name is Samuel Weidenhofer.  The article relates that recently...

...Weidenhofer posted a video of a seemingly impromptu conversation he had with Ed Bambas, an octogenarian who initially retired in 1999, but is still working a full-time job at a grocery store in Detroit after losing his pension, health insurance, and home when General Motors went bankrupt. His wife, who was ill when he lost his pension and healthcare, passed away seven years ago.

In just a number of days, the GoFundMe set up by Weidenhofer has raised $1.78 million for Bambas.

Weidenhofer is from Australia, and the article states that he "...was diagnosed at a young age with verbal dyspraxia (also known as childhood apraxia of speech), a motor speech disability where the brain has trouble coordinating the movements of the tongue, mouth, and jaw to form words.  He says that even though his parents did not think he would ever "communicate properly," according to the article, "...to see that a voice can make such a difference in the world — a voice that I didn’t even know I would be able to communicate properly [with] — spreads a lot of awareness out there for people with hidden disabilities.”

Spurred on by the suicide of his aunt when he was 10 years old, Samuel relates, “And it just hurt me so much and that’s why I do [this] in honor of her. … I believe, if you see a video, you can save someone’s life. And I believe, because of her, so many lives have been saved.”

Although I didn't find details of his faith walk in the Faithwire article, he certainly can be an inspiration to us as we seek to live according to the foundation of Jesus and walk in His love. The Faithwire article does say, "As for his encounter with Bambas, Weidenhofer said their meeting was divinely inspired."  He says, “To see what has come out of it and to have him share his story and how authentically it came across, because it was at complete random, out of the blue, and now it’s inspired millions. It’s unbelievable to see the support that’s come through.”

Simon Peter shows us the fruit of a life built on a firm foundation - even though he had his idiosyncrasies (who doesn't), he developed into one of the pillars of the early Church, whom God use to write multiple books of the Bible.  He, Andrew, James, and John are all included in "The Story For the Ages," because they are directly related to the earthly life of Christ, which began at the manger in Bethlehem.

During this Christmas season and beyond, we can be sensitive to people in need, and be involved not only in physical generosity, which can be inspiring in and of itself but the motivation behind our generosity.  For a life built on the foundation of Christ, we can be sure that we are allowing His life to flow through us.