As Deep As It Gets
Yvonne Hortillo, SFC Chicago IL/USA

I marvel at how one CFC elder in the U.S. keeps on repeating the message over and over again, "Because God so loved the world, that He gave us His only Son, that whomsoever believeth in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

Okay, he didn't exactly tell it like that, but his message was the same. Over and over again. I'm blessed to have attended many community events, and when the time came for a crucial message in a bottle for the gathered to take home with them, this elder says the same thoughts over and over again. How can he stand it?

The message, of course, is John 3:16. It's the first verse we ever learn in the community, if we started our relationship with the Lord in one of the segments of Couples for Christ. From that starting point we've sprung, dived, leaped, bounded, strode, ran, jumped, danced, recited, quoted, remembered, and clung on to several other verses that God gave to us at our time of need. Sometimes some of the verses-- promises-- we ourselves find and ponder so that God will reveal to us His intent.

I'm not sure if the message of God gets any deeper than John 3:16. it says it so plainly, right there: someone died for me. I've known no one who even risked a papercut for me. Some have risked traffic, persecution, the weather, and probably even read some of my writings, but NO ONE has died for me. Somewhere in the Bible it also says that even before all creation God already knew I was gonna turn out the way I am right now. And YET, God KNEW I was going to screw up, and He still went ahead and created me. His Son ignored all warnings of my worthlessness and got Himself nailed on the cross for me.

What magic is that? No magic, just the power of God. Jesus's birthday will be remembered this year in splashes of light and pine perfume. He'll be in every warm eggnog, fruitcake, dinner, smile, snowflake, snowpile and carol this Christmas. despite all the shopping and commercials, He stows away in the simplest, most abundant things around me: family and
friends, work and goals, snow, chill, travel around the city. I want to see Jesus in everything that I experience, starting with this holiday season. It doesn't get deeper than this.