The following is a letter written by my very good, old friend, Simon Potter. He has written this to all of you who are here today at Mud Creek Baptist Church for the Christmas Pageant rehearsal.
Dear Choir, Orchestra, and other personnel who are working together for the Christmas Pageant:
My good friend, Kenny, asked me to write a few words to encourage you about your presentation this year. I am getting old now and my days are really numbered so I am grateful for one more opportunity to be able to encourage someone. At my age, I never know when it will be my last opportunity to encourage someone.
In just a few short weeks, you will be given a priceless opportunity to make a difference in the kingdom of God. This opportunity is what you call your “Christmas Pageant”.
This opportunity is unique and there is no other church that I know of that does a Christmas Pageant like the one you do.
But, I want you to understand something that you may not have thought of and it is this: You may never have this opportunity again the rest of your life. Why? Life is never static and stays in a constant state of change.
At this time next year, your life will probably not be the same. At this time next year, your circumstances probably will not be the same.
At this time next year, for whatever reason, you may not be able to join others in this endeavor again. I hope and pray that you will be able to do this again next year, but one never knows.
We don’t know what the future holds for any of us. That is why this opportunity is so special. And, that is why this moment is so unique.
In a few weeks, during your Christmas Pageant, you will see many people in the audience with smiles upon their faces because you will bring great joy to all of those who will attend. But, some of those smiles will only be masks that will be hiding the broken hearts and broken lives they cover up.
There will be some people at your Christmas Pageant who have lost their way in life, who have lost their hope in themselves and lost their hope in their fellowman. Some of those who will attend will be at the point of giving up on life.
And, then, there will be some in the audience who have lost their hope in God and they will be thinking that He doesn’t really care about them anymore.
This is why this assignment is critical. This is your moment and lives will be hanging in the balance in just a few short weeks.
Of those who will be in attendance at your Christmas Pageant, most of them you will never see again. And, you won’t even know their names.
But, this is it. This is the time. It is the moment for you to step up to the plate.
There must be no backing down, no quitting, and no giving up. There are people who will be at your church who need the Lord.
People who will be looking at you to see if they see God.
People who will be listening to you in order to hear God.
And, people who will be depending on you to show them how they can meet God.
This is a divine appointment that is awaiting each one of you in your choir and your orchestra.
You have a divine mission to present the gospel of Jesus Christ through the special gift of music called “The Christmas Pageant” and no one can do it quite like you.
You have been uniquely created by God for this moment and He has been working behind the scenes in your lives to get you to this point in time and in eternity to touch many lives.
The Kingdom of God is before you and you will present to others an opportunity to enter into that Kingdom forever through the message you present about The Messiah, Jesus Christ.
In closing, I want you all to know a little secret that is very near and dear to me. And, this little secret is about heaven.
In heaven, there is always a lot of hand shaking, high-fiving, back-slapping and hugging going on. And, certainly, there are a whole lot of “thank you’s” being said.
There are many of the citizens in heaven who are saying to each other “I’m so glad to see you and I’m glad you made it!” Others are saying, “Whew! I’m glad I made it!”
One day, you will make your triumphant entrance into heaven throug gates of pearl. You will take your glorious walk on the streets of gold around that beautiful crystal lake after you have met your glorious and majestic Savior.
As you walk along those streets of gold, there will be many children of God who will be applauding and shouting as you walk by them on your tour to get acquainted with your celestial surroundings. And why will they be applauding? Because they will want to let you know how eternally grateful they are that you sang in the Mud Creek Baptist Church Christmas Pageant in the year 2009.
Now, my special friends, old Simon Potter here wants to tell you something. You may not even believe what I am about to tell you. But, whether you believe it or not, I am going to tell you anyway.
Recently, I was given some highly classified information about a conversation that was overheard the other day in heaven between two saints of God. And, the conversation went something like this.
“My dear friend, let me tell you something. One night during your Christmas Pageant at your church, because of your love of God and your love for me, you told me about Jesus and I am here in heaven because of you.
Oh, you didn’t speak to me and you never even met me that night. You probably couldn’t even see me because I was sitting in the balcony. You didn’t know it, but that night, I was ready to give up on life and I was ready to give up on God.
It was a funny thing about that night. I had never been to your church before. In fact, I had never been in your town before. My mother had moved to your there the year before but, because of my busy life, I had not taken the time and opportunity to visit her. Then, one day, your local hospital contacted me and said my mother had been diagnosed with a fast-spreading type of cancer. My mother's doctor had to immediately place her into a nursing home and I was told that she would be dead in a matter of weeks.
I hurriedly drove from my home in another state to come to your town to see my dying mother. Because of my haste in leaving home, I needed a few things for my stay and was given directions to your local Wal-Mart on the other side of town. As I was began driving that night in December, I approached your church and I was amazed when I saw so many cars in the parking lots.
I noticed that there were a lot of men outside wearing orange vests and holding flashlights. And, I guess they thought I was coming to your Christmas Pageant because they motioned me to drive on in to one of the parking lots.
Now, remember, I wasn’t planning on going to your church and I certainly didn’t know what was going on there.
To be honest with you, I hadn't been to any church in a long, long time. But, I had a strange feeling that I needed to go ahead and pull into the parking lot.
I rolled down my window and told the nice gentleman that I wasn’t planning on coming to the church, that I had ended up in the parking lot by mistake, and asked him just to show me how to get out of the parking lot because I needed to go to Wal-Mart.
But, this nice man explained to me about the Christmas Pageant going on and said that if I would like to come in and listen for a little while that he would be sure that someone would find me a seat.
I knew my mother was in good hands at the nursing home so I said to myself, “Why not? I need a break tonight. All I have been thinking about is my mother dying very soon and I could sure use something to take my mind off of her impending death.”
That night! I can’t really explain it. I walked into the sanctuary and it was like I had walked into another world. Christmas trees with lights and two very large staircases. “Was I really in a church?” I asked myself.
I was a few minutes late and the orchestra had already begun to play. As the choir entered the sanctuary in their costumes, I was transported back in time to another place of Christmases past in many, many years gone by. And the music and the singing! They were like nothing I had ever heard before.
When I arrived here in heaven I heard the angels singing and playing their instruments around the throne of God. I smiled, because the angels’ voices and the angels’ instruments that I heard for the first time around the throne of God sounded just like those I heard that night at your church.
That night I will never forget!
As your choir and orchestra presented your Christmas Pageant, the message became crystal clear to me. I finally understood about the precious gift of Jesus; about His birth, His life, His crucifixion, His death, and His resurrection. It became so clear to me how much He really did love me and it puzzled me as to why I had never understood it before.
And so, I couldn’t put it off any longer. I knew I needed the precious gift of salvation. I knew that what was being offered to me that night was a better life on planet earth and a new life was awaiting me here in heaven when I died. The only thing I could do was accept the free gift of salvation that was offered to me during your Christmas Pageant that night.
Now, here is where it gets even stranger. That night, after I left your church, I still needed to drive to Wal-Mart. Someone at the nursing home had told me of a shortcut on a back road that would get me there quicker so I decided to follow the directions I had been given.
It was so dark that night in December. As I drove along that deserted back road, a pair of headlights approached me. As I slowed down, the last thing that I can remember was a loud crash and a terrific smash as my car was hit head on by another vehicle much larger than my little car.
There was no way I was going to survive this accident. All of sudden, next to me I noticed there was someone in the car seat. He seemed to be smiling and he had a radiant glow about him that almost blinded my sight. Yet, I could see him clearly. Now, I don’t want to put much stock in the next bit of information I am going to tell you but it looked like he was wearing a name tag with the name “Clarence” on it.
And, so, as my life came rushing to an end, I closed my eyes, took a final breath, and suddenly I was looking into the most wonderful face I had ever seen. It was the face of Jesus. I could see in His eyes the deepest love I had ever known. And, then, I knew I was in heaven and He assured me that my mother would meet me there very soon.
That night! Your Christmas Pageant! Do you understand how critical it was for me that night? I wasn't going to live until the next day. I was going to die that night! I wasn’t going to have another opportunity to accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. That was the last time I heard the gospel. And, now, I thank you from the depths of my heart for giving to me the best Christmas present ever!”
_____________________________________
And so, dear friends, old Simon Potter here, just wanted to relay that bit of information to you today in this letter.
I will close by sharing with you what one of my good friends, from a long, long time ago wrote. Her name is Agatha Christie and in a short story of hers, called “The Mysterious Mr. Quinn”, she wrote:
"You say your life is your own, but can you dare to ignore the chance that you are taking part in a gigantic drama under the orders of a divine Producer? Your cue may not come till the end of the play - it may seem to be totally unimportant, a mere walking-on part, but upon it may hang the whole issue of the play. If you do not give your cue to another player the whole edifice of the play may crumble. You, as you, may not think that you matter to anyone in the world, but you as a person in a particular place may matter unimaginably." (Agatha Christie, “The Mysterious Mr. Quinn”)
Sincerely,
Your very old friend,
Simon Potter
P.S. A lot of people have mistaken me for someone else; a man named Clarence Odbody but I am not him. We just look a lot like each other. Clarence became a famous movie star and I decided to do my special work behind the scenes in other people’s lives.
(From Kenny: I wrote all of this and the story about the person in the car wreck is fiction.)
