I sat in our living room yesterday, writing and listening to a gentle rain on our windows as it starts, then stops, then starts again. The sky has been gray for the last two days. And it matches my mood.

A few days ago I got the sad, but not unexpected news of the death of my mother, Joy. Sad, obviously. Not unexpected, as she’s had health problems during the last several years. The day after Thanksgiving, she got the flu and never recovered. A few days ago she told my dad that she was ready to go, and that wasn’t a surprise. She lived a full life and her love for Christ and hope of heaven stayed strong to the end.

She was raised in the faith. Her grandfather was a circuit-riding Methodist preacher. He immigrated to the U.S. from Germany and settled on a farm in south-central Nebraska. I visited that farm often as a child, and still have Homestead Certificate no. 4932, signed by President Chester A. Arthur, as a memento.

Her dad took over the farm, leaving school after sixth grade when his father died early. Still, church was the center of life. He eagerly taught a Sunday school class for high school students, even with his limited education.

Then, at a Methodist Youth Fellowship, event my mom met Ross Winz. They carried the faith tradition into marriage and parenting, and I’m a beneficiary of that.

When I first joined Cru, I though back to the stories of three generations of people who chose to follow Christ. I hope and trust I have carried on that legacy.

As darkness swallows the gray sky, and the rain seems to have ended, I’m making preparations to go back “home” to Holdrege for mom’s memorial service. Dad chose to wait several days for the service, so we’ll gather on January 26. Anne Marie and I plan to be there, and Bethany hopes to join us. Michael’s schedule doesn’t permit him to come along.

At times like this, we’re especially grateful for the role you play in our lives. We treasure your prayers for us as we walk though these days, and for my dad, Ross, and my brother, Rex. Thanks so much.

(The photo below, from a few years back shows my parents with Michel and Bethany.)

Happy Birthday, Jesus. Tonight we remember that you are Immanuel, God with us, the reason we celebrate.

When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, under the law, to redeem those of us who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. Tonight is that night.

Jesus, the Son of God, who possessed both the power to create and the power to redeem, laid aside His rights as God, humbled himself and took on the role as a servant. Emmanuel, God with us.

He called Himself the Son of God, saying that He and the Father were one, and He could do nothing apart from His Father. He was God, coming in the flesh, to live among us, to model a life fully surrendered to His Father, to rescue us from our sins, to give us the power to do even greater works than He did.

This evening, as we light the final candle on the Advent wreath, we celebrate the babe in the manger. Emmanuel, God with us, the one who will save us from our sins. When we welcome Christ, the Son of God, into our lives, we are no longer slaves to sin. Instead we become God’s children, sons and daughters, ready to receive an eternal inheritance. Finally, the wait is over. Our king has arrived.

Let’s pray: Thank you Jesus, the Son of God, for coming to earth to save us from our sins. We can do nothing apart from you. Tonight, after waiting imperfectly and impatiently, we gladly surrender ourselves to you and invite you to take your rightful place in our lives. Thank you that we can become your children, sons and daughters who are no longer slaves to sin. At long last, You are here, with us.

When did life become so complex? Sweet Mary did everything her mother told her to do. Kind Joseph planned to marry her so she could support him at home while he supported her with his trade.

And then Mary announced she was pregnant. Suddenly their perfectly planned lives were thrown into chaos. Grieving Joseph planned to divorce the woman he loved. Frightened Mary understood he had no choice.

But then, an angel of the Lord appeared to unravel the mystery. “Fear not,” he said. “The child growing in Mary is from the Holy Spirit.” So Joseph, placing faith in what he couldn’t see, continued his engagement to Mary. He took care of Mary while Mary took care of the baby. They raised him from childhood and He raised them from the dead.

They trusted the Holy Spirit, who engineered the events of their lives, the third person of the trinity, the one who convicted them of sin and led them into truth. The one who promised to be with them, and who promises to be with us, too, even to the end of the age.

Today, as we light the fourth candle of Advent, let’s thank God that He is Emmanuel, God with us, the one who sees us through the events of our lives even when they seem unmanageable. Let’s prepare our hearts to receive Him as we wait impatiently for His coming.

Let’s pray: Thank you, Father, for the gift of the Holy Spirit, who has promised to be with us, to convict us of sin, and to lead us into truth, even in the midst of our troubles. Prepare us as we wait impatiently for His coming so we can give him His rightful place in our lives.

Advent means waiting. We wait for the day when we will celebrate our Savior, coming among us as one of us to pay for our sins and give us power over sin and death through the Holy Spirit.  

May you know Immanuel, God with us, the Son of God, this Christmas season.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”  (Luke 2: 13, 14 ESV)

On the night Christ was born, the angels announced peace. Peace to Mary who gave birth to a child conceived by the Holy Spirit. Peace to Joseph who married his pregnant bride and walked beside her throughout her journey.

Peace to the shepherds watching their flocks on just another ordinary night. Peace to those who were near and those who were far away. At long last, the unfettered reign of sin was about to expire. Emmanuel, God with us, was on his way, providing a pathway to peace with God.

Today, as we light the second candle of the Advent Wreath, that same Jesus, the one we wait for, has broken down the dividing wall of race, gender and privilege. In these heated days of division, while our culture screams for war, and the injustice in our midst astounds us, we wait impatiently and imperfectly for Jesus, the Prince of Peace to join us in the flesh and be Emmanuel, God with us.

Let’s pray: Jesus, as we wait impatiently for your coming, break down the dividing walls in our lives and in our cities. Prepare our hearts to receive you as our Prince of Peace.

Advent means waiting. We wait for the day when we will celebrate our Savior, coming among us as one of us to pay for our sins and give us power over sin and death through the Holy Spirit.  

May you know Immanuel, God with us, the Son of God, this Christmas season.

Week 1: Christ, the Anointed One

At the beginning of his earthly ministry, Jesus stood in the temple and read from the scroll of Isaiah:

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

Jesus, God’s chosen Son, the anointed one, came filled with the power of the Holy Spirit, announcing good news to the poor, freedom for those trapped in slavery, sight to those who were blind, relief for those carrying heavy burdens. God’s favor rested on Him.

Through one man, Adam, sin entered the world, and death through sin which spread to all men. Through another man, Christ, came an abundance of grace, the undeserved gift of having our sins forgiven, of being made right with God.

As we prepare to light the first Advent candle and prepare our hearts to receive our king, let’s take a moment to remember Jesus, filled with the Holy Spirit, who came as flesh and blood to live among us. He not only paid the price for our sins on the cross, he gave us the power to overcome sin and death.

Let’s pray:

Father, thank you for sending Christ, the anointed one, chosen and set apart to live among us and become the payment for our sins, to set us free from slavery, to open our eyes when we were blind, to provide relief from our heavy burdens. Prepare our hearts to receive our coming king as we wait for his arrival.

(These are scripts read at church during the lighting of the Advent wreath).

A lot of history and experience came together for us in our ministry this year. We’re looking back on 2014, and beginning to plan 2015, with gratitude to God.

Anne Marie returned to the office as a writer last winter. In June, on short notice she made a trip to Korea to report about how our staff members are using short films to share the gospel. Stories from that trip have already appeared online at Cru.org, and more will appear in the next issue of Worldwide Challenge magazine.

She also continued to build Writing for Life, teaching 25 staff members in Orlando and going on the road twice to teach 24 others. Writing for Life gives us a chance to help a growing number of people use the written word in print and online to proclaim Christ’s love. That is Cru’s focus, and the reason we have both served as staff members for more than 30 years.

I continue serving as editor in chief of Worldwide Challenge. My work on the magazine increased this year as one of our editors took a leave. I did much more editing this year and I enjoy the process of working on stories with our team of writers, making each story better and helping the writers increase their skill.

What are your highlights from this year as it comes to an end? And what do you look forward to in 2015? Let us know in the comments below.

We’re excited about the coming year. Anne Marie will continue to write for the magazine and our websites. And she plans to continue offering Writing for Life training. She’s been invited to teach a session here in Orlando, and has tentative invitations to teach in Texas, Colorado and Ohio. Two of those trips would be to train more Cru staff members, and the other would take the training beyond Cru staff members, as it will be offered to communicators with a wide array of ministries.

Her next magazine story is designed to help our more than 50,000 readers learn how they can share the gospel with their friends and others they know.

My work with the magazine will continue. And in May I’ll become the president of the Evangelical Press Association, which serves the staff members of about 300 Christian publications. It is a volunteer position that has to be added to my other work, so I’ll be busy.

We also look forward to family events this year. Michael plans to graduate with an engineering degree from the University of Central Florida next December. Bethany is in her junior year at Trevecca Nazarene University, and she plans to be done with an internship.

Mark and I just returned from a second Writing for Life three-day training on the Athletes in Action campus near Dayton, Ohio. Our students learned to write articles that will help readers grow spiritually. Their finished pieces will be published at various Cru online platforms.

We connected with Cru staff members from around the country who are budding writers looking for ways to sharpen their writing skills. We present content, leave time for students to write during workshops, and then offer feedback.

As much fun as the time is, the real success of what we do happens after the event ends. Seven months ago, we held our first training at Athletes in Action. Afterward, I kept coaching several of the people who attended. Since then, six of our students published stories in six different places, including Worldwide Challenge magazine, Cru.org and Athletesinaction.org.

Shannon published my favorite piece, a first-person article at Cru.org called “When You’re not a Mom on Mother’s Day.” The responses Shannon received indicated that she helped her readers grow spiritually. Courtney, another student who attended the training, has published three pieces at Cru.org. One of those articles will also appear in an upcoming issue of Worldwide Challenge.

This training ended less than a week ago. Three students have written strong pieces that will be posted on their ministries’ websites or at Cru.org.  We also have invitations from two Cru ministries to train their teams in 2015. Can’t wait. We equip writers so they can skillfully tell glorious stories of how God is at work around the world.

As you think of us over the next month, please pray for me as I follow up with staff members who attended our event. Pray that we can create content that will cause our readers to grow spiritually. Pray, too, for Mark and I as we continue writing and editing for Worldwide Challenge and Cru.org.

Thank you for the crucial role you play. We are grateful for your prayers and your gifts, which allow us to do the work God has called us to do. Please let us know how we can pray for you.

We celebrated in a small way last week as Cru reached its 63^rd anniversary. Campus Crusade for Christ started in 1951 with only Bill and Vonette Bright on the campus at UCLA. Now, we get to tell stories from all over the world as that movement has spread.

I’ve been reflecting on Psalm 145, and what it says about our role. Verses 4-7 say:

 One generation shall commend Your works to another, and shall declare Your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of Your majesty, and on Your wondrous works, I will meditate. They shall speak of the might of Your awesome deeds, and I will declare Your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of Your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of Your righteousness.

 While I often think of God’s majesty when I see mountain scenery or the stars in the night sky, His mighty acts are continually carried out in people’s lives. Declaring God’s greatness by telling stories of changed lives is a privilege for us.

In June, we told you about Anne Marie’s trip to Korea where she saw Yura share the gospel with Seojung. That story is written and edited, and our designers are adding the photos. Below are two paragraphs from what she wrote, illustrated by this photo:

The two women watch Sand Art together. As Yura cues up the film, the air conditioning unit in the courtyard kicks on. Dishes and silverware clink in the background. Yura plugs in her headphones and gently places them in Seojung’s ears so she can hear the video. Toward the end of the film, Seojung says she wants to invite Christ into her life. “Previously I was self-centered,” she says. “Now I want to be Jesus-centered.” 

Yura wills herself not to cry. She had prayed for the entire training period that she would see someone move from not believing in God to trusting Christ to forgive her sins. Today is that day. Yura explains how Seojung can know that Christ is in her life. 

This month, would you pray for safe travel as we plan two trips?

• October 12-16, I plan to go to Virginia with three coworkers. We’ll visit two companies—one that designs our magazine and another that prints it. Pray for productive meetings as we plan our future work together.

• October 27-November 1, Anne Marie and I are preparing to travel to Xenia, Ohio, for a third Writing for Life training event. So far, a dozen other staff members are coming to be trained, and several more are considering joining us. Please pray for wisdom as we prepare our lesson plans so we can equip them to continue to “commend [God’s] mighty works” to still more generations.

Thank you for your gifts, prayers and friendship. We’re grateful.