I have previously referenced Charles R. Swindoll as one of my favorite Christian Communicators. He is a well-known pastor and teacher who founded “Insight for Living”, which today airs on over 2000 radio stations. He was later President and then Chancellor of Dallas Theological Seminary.
Currently, he is the founding Pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas. He has been recognized by Christianity Today as one of the top 25 most influential preachers of the last 50 years. And, along the way, he has written over 70 books, most of which were developed from his sermons.
In two of those works, Come Before Winter and Share My Hope, he relates the story of a bumper sticker that caught his eye while he was out driving one particularly hectic day before Christmas. He writes:
The bumper sticker caught my eye. Made me think. Even aroused some guilt.
I was on the freeway as his car was pulling off. My day had been full and it was far from over. Stuffed in my pocket was a list, most of the items not yet purchased. A little panic rushed over the back roads of my mind as I pondered all the things yet to be bought in those few days left before Christmas. The guy didn't seem in much of a hurry, which irritated me a bit, yet it told me that his sign was for real. I began to study the words in my head. They started making sense. His bumper stick read:
I BRAKE FOR CHRISTMAS
Easing up on the accelerator and releasing my frown, I began to calm down my inner motor with questions like: Why the hurry? What's the rush? Could this explain the reason you've been unable to enjoy the spirit of the season?
Psalm 46:10 drifted into my mind like the ringing of a distant bell on a clear morning.
"Be still, and know that I am God." (NIV)
C'mon, slow down. Be still.
This year . . . let's give Christmas a brake!
Is that perhaps a bumper sticker you needed to see this time of year? Is that perhaps a message you needed to hear this Christmas season? I know I did. And I am choosing to slow down just a bit as a result.
SOURCE: Excerpted from Come Before Winter and Share My Hope, Copyright © 1985, 1994 respectively by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc., as posted at: http://daily.insight.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=1903.
Currently, he is the founding Pastor of Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, Texas. He has been recognized by Christianity Today as one of the top 25 most influential preachers of the last 50 years. And, along the way, he has written over 70 books, most of which were developed from his sermons.
In two of those works, Come Before Winter and Share My Hope, he relates the story of a bumper sticker that caught his eye while he was out driving one particularly hectic day before Christmas. He writes:
The bumper sticker caught my eye. Made me think. Even aroused some guilt.
I was on the freeway as his car was pulling off. My day had been full and it was far from over. Stuffed in my pocket was a list, most of the items not yet purchased. A little panic rushed over the back roads of my mind as I pondered all the things yet to be bought in those few days left before Christmas. The guy didn't seem in much of a hurry, which irritated me a bit, yet it told me that his sign was for real. I began to study the words in my head. They started making sense. His bumper stick read:
I BRAKE FOR CHRISTMAS
Easing up on the accelerator and releasing my frown, I began to calm down my inner motor with questions like: Why the hurry? What's the rush? Could this explain the reason you've been unable to enjoy the spirit of the season?
Psalm 46:10 drifted into my mind like the ringing of a distant bell on a clear morning.
"Be still, and know that I am God." (NIV)
C'mon, slow down. Be still.
This year . . . let's give Christmas a brake!
Is that perhaps a bumper sticker you needed to see this time of year? Is that perhaps a message you needed to hear this Christmas season? I know I did. And I am choosing to slow down just a bit as a result.
SOURCE: Excerpted from Come Before Winter and Share My Hope, Copyright © 1985, 1994 respectively by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc., as posted at: http://daily.insight.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=1903.