What's Stopping You?

This photo was taken as we were trying to get a good picture for our Easter tag one year. We never used this one, but seeing it reminds me that we need to keep moving forward with confidence. We have the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, and the blood of Jesus shed for us!

Which brings me to this thought: Don’t let ‘the forces’ stop your ‘Little Christmas Caroling Gig’ from spreading Christmas cheer this Christmas season! If we had let ‘the forces’ working against us prevent us from Christmas caroling – over half of our 15 years of caroling would have never happened.

Throughout “The Lavine Boys’ Christmas Caroling Adventures Books” I speak of our many obstacles…

* The Van: Lack of heat, door handles falling off, no interior lighting

* Finances: Always scrounging money together to make gifts and for gas.

* The weather didn’t always cooperate: Some years were like caroling in the frozen Tundra; Some years we battled the snowy, icy roads and the boys trudged through snow and slid on ice covered sidewalks, driveways and doorsteps; Some years it was raining.

* Illness: Because the Christmas season also falls into the regular run-of-the-mill ‘Cold & Flu Season’, illness often played a roll in accomplishing our caroling task.

Instead of allowing these obstacles to stop us from bringing the love of The Lord to our caroling recipients, we pressed onward…

* The Van: We all bundled up, layering our clothing to keep warm. The boys used teamwork to reattach door handles and open the van doors quickly when the handles had fallen off. All the boys began bringing their own flashlights to light up their paths as they traversed in and out of the van.

* Finances: We acquired garage sale items throughout the year and sold them on eBay to make money to buy supplies to make our ‘Gifts to Give’ and provide gas for the van/Buick most years. There was a year when there was just not enough money for both gifts and gas, but we all decided that the boys showing up at someone’s doorstep to bring some Christmas cheer via a song and a friendly hello would suffice for the gift that year.

* The Weather: The boys watched the weather reports closely to dress accordingly, to maybe bring along a snow shovel, or to wear a raincoat and grab an umbrella or two.

* Illness: There were times when we worked around illness. It might cut an entire week out of our caroling, but we continued on when everyone was healthy and then may have chosen to sing from outside on doorsteps as an extra precaution.

The obstacles were certainly there over the years, and just like those 15 years of obstacles that were overcome, this year should be no different for any “Little Christmas Caroling Gig.”

Don’t allow ‘the forces’ to convince you that spreading the love of The Lord this Christmas Season is not doable. It is. Pray about it, then take all the necessary precautions The Lord puts on your heart. Maybe singing outside on doorsteps with your recipient at the door works for you. On occasion, the boys have sung to recipients who weren’t feeling well that chose to keep their doors shut, as not to get the boys sick, while the boys sang to them outside on their doorstep. Since the option of singing inside nursing homes may not work this year, see if your ‘Little Caroling Gig’ can carol outside the windows of the residents.

Throughout the books, there are many examples of how The Lord guided our ‘Little Christmas Caroling Gig’ to get us to the people He had a message for. He will surely do the same for anyone who puts forth the effort to follow His urgings to continue to tell the world He has sent a Savior to us all, those many years ago, so that if we believe, then someday we will spend eternity with Him. What better gift can be given?

Check out "The Lavine Boys' Christmas Caroling Kits" for a great start to your 'Little Christmas Caroling Gig' this Christmas Season! And grab "The 3-Book Gift Set" for your favorite reader!