Advent-ure Day 19: Salvation

During the Christmas season, we have the opportunity to celebrate and share our salvation; to reflect the light of Christ, who has come into the world as light in darkness, to bring us out of darkness into
His wonderful light. Colossians 1 says:
13 He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
14 in whom we have redemption through His blood,the forgiveness of sins.

The world was separated from fellowship with God because of sin - God, as we see portrayed in the pages of the Old Testament, was reaching out to His chosen people, but, by and large, they rejected Him.  He sent His Son into the world so that in Him all people could be saved.  When we see darkness in our world today, we can take seriously our charge to shine Christ's light into those places, so that people might encounter His love.

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We are continuing our trek through our Advent guide, 25: A Christmas Advent-ure, and we now enter into another section of the guide, dealing with worshiping Jesus for what He's done - His performance.  Previously, there were six items relative to his fulfillment of prophecy: worshiping Him because of what He's fulfilled.  There were also six items about personality: worshiping Him for who He is.  And, we just concluded a round of six about what He's said: His promises.

Today, we look at salvation - what transpired as the result of God sending His Son to earth as a man, Who lived a perfect life, was crucified and rose from the dead, defeating the power of sin and death.  Titus 3:5 says: "not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit..."

Salvation is a free gift - it cannot be earned by human effort, not obtained by human achievement. Jesus came to bring His light into the world so that we might be rescued from the darkness.

Darkness - that's the experience of thousands of travelers on Sunday at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta.  According to a report on the AJC.com website, based on the comments of Mayor Kasim Reed, at around 1:00pm on Sunday, the power in the airport went out, and Georgia Power reports that an underground fire had been the culprit.

The site described the scene:

Inside the airport, a swirling mass of people waited in an aimless pattern trying to get cellphone signals in a darkening airport as passengers sat stranded in parked planes on the tarmac.

The terminals were pitch black and people had to use cellphones to light their path. People in wheelchairs had to be carried down stopped escalators and stairwells.

There was the smell of smoke in an area of one of the terminals. A Fox News story reported that over 1100 flights had been cancelled as of 9:30 Eastern Time on Sunday night, according to FlightAware.com.

The Fox story referred to the mayor's comments:

Reed noted that if the power outage were to take place on a Monday or Tuesday, it would've been a bigger inconvenience due to the volume of people flying.

The mayor said that the Georgia International Convention Center in College Park which he says can hold between 8,000 and 10,000 people will be open to stranded travelers, and shuttles will be provided. He added the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta will also be available for people to stay.

He said that airlines were working to rebook flights.  An AJC.com story released yesterday afternoon instructed passengers how to retrieve checked baggage.

Meanwhile, while the Atlanta airport was essentially shut down, an Atlanta-based company that is usually shut down on Sundays swung into action.  Stranded passengers were provided free food from Chick-fil-A.  According to FoxNews.com:

“The mayor called about 10 p.m. and asked for assistance,” a spokesman for Chick-fil-A confirmed in a statement obtained by Fox News. “We immediately mobilized staff and team members who live and work near the airport, and they began making sandwiches and delivering them to the EOC (emergency operations center). City and airport officials then distributed more than 5,000 sandwiches to passengers who were stranded due to the power outage.”

But it wasn’t just airport officials who were delivering food. As seen in a tweet posted by the Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, Chick-fil-A CEO Dan Cathy arrived at the airport to pass out chicken sandwiches alongside airport and city officials.

Sandwiches were also provided to those who fled to the convention center.

WSB television printed the entire statement by Chick-fil-A, including this: "It has been a very difficult day for thousands of travelers, and while Chick-fil-A is always closed on Sunday, our restaurants open occasionally to serve communities in need. We do not make a profit, but do what we can to offer comfort to people experiencing hardship."

Here is a tangible example of light in the darkness - the hashtag floating around was #ChristmasMiracle.  Thousands of airline passengers stranded in a world without power or knowledge of circumstances; cell phone service limited; darkness in the building.  A host of people responded - providing direction, water, Dunkin' Donuts providing donuts, and Chick-fil-A providing thousands of chicken sandwiches.

But the ultimate Christmas miracle took place over 2,000 years ago - the world had been plunged into darkness by sin, but the light came in the form of a child, God's Son, sent into the world to bring light, to bring salvation through His sacrifice.

And, because we have been saved, we are called to sacrifice for others.  When we see darkness in our world today, we can realize that we have been entrusted with the light of Christ.  When we respond in that way, people's hearts can be touched by His love flowing through us.

That really describes the viewpoint of the founder of Chick-fil-A, Truett Cathy, his son, Dan, and others in the family that are carrying on his legacy of quality food and excellent service.  And, a further note: notice the restaurant chain did not say, "oh, well, we're closed on Sunday so we can't do anything."  They were flexible and responsive and saw that serving others was important at that time, in this unique case, than their act of closing on Sunday, which is likewise born out of spiritual convictions.  God, by His Spirit, will call us to step out and minister, and we have to be sensitive to His call, in accordance with what Christ has done in our lives.  We have been saved; Jesus has shone in our hearts, and He calls us to shine in the world.