The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.

Will you take a demotion in 2001?

by Dessa Rodeffer
Quill Editor and Publisher

27 December 2000

How many of you would take a demotion in 2001?

I mean, go from being Pope to being candle boy, or from Presidency to Page.

I am sure you have watched the classic movie the Prince and the Pauper where two boys who looked alike switched places.

This Christmas, as I was attending yet another Christmas service I was wondering how the minister was going to preach the Christmas story in a way that hadn't been told before.

But the minister at West Des Moines' Point Of Grace, amazed me with yet another fresh idea that stopped me in my tracks.

This time he explained about a starving 11 year old boy in Russia (the same age of his son) whom he saw on a mission trip. The doctor said he would be dead in 6 months from malnutrition.

That night the minister said he ate plenty at the hotel, and upon returning to the United States he ate and enjoyed all the food and blessings he had taken so for granted in the United States.

He said, if someone would ask him to crawl into that little boy and trade places with him, he couldn't do it.

He detailed the story and showed a clip of the mission trip and the faces of the children and the conditions they faced.

Then he explained the Christmas story. He said Christ gave up a seat on the throne with God and crawled into a human body like ours and was born to suffer what we suffer. He gave up majesty to live through all the worse conditions this earth has to offer. Then he died the worse possible death - that as a thief. He gave himself a demotion to serve. There isn't a depth he won't go, a pain he won't endure, a sacrifice he wonÔt make, a gift he won't give, a burden he won't carry to show His love for each of us.

In 2001, the challenge for us is to let go of some of our "stuff" and be willing to be demoted so we can serve our families and our fellowmen.

For it is only in the death of the seed that we have an abundant harvest tomorrow.