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  document.writeln("<span class=\"body\"><b><span class=\"headings2\"><span class=\"actsititle\">Never Left Out</span></span></b><br>");
  document.writeln("<span class=\"actsilinks\"><a href=\"#\" onclick=\"window.print()\">Print this page</a></span>");document.writeln("<br><div id='actsartcl1'>");document.writeln("<p class=\"myparagraph\" align=\"left\"><span class=\"style5\">A</span><span class=\"body\"> few weeks ago Joy, my wife, went with a group of nine ladies  from our church on a two-week mission trip to Malawi in Africa working in  conjunction with World Vision to help bring a measure of help and hope to a  very impoverished people in an area ravaged by AIDS.</span>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">Joy and I together support a girl in Malawi so she can be given an  education and help get a better start in life. This girl, Matilda (name  changed), lives in the village where the team was going so Joy was planning on  visiting her and taking gifts for her, her two brothers, two sisters, and her  mother and father. However, it was explained to the team before leaving for  Malawi that when giving gifts to a sponsored child and his/her family, many of  the village non-sponsored children&#8212;as many as 64&#8212;gather&nbsp; around and look on in wonderment and envy as gifts  are being given to the sponsored child and his or her family. But these  children receive nothing. </p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">When Joy told me about this, I wept. It reminded me of the time when  I was a child how my parents took me to a church Christmas gift program for  children where every child in the church received a Christmas gift&#8212;except me. At  the time I felt devastated and can still feel that childhood pain almost as if  it happened just a short while ago. </p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">With tears in my eyes I said to Joy, &#8220;Let&#8217;s do a little something  for these forgotten children. Let&#8217;s get a simple gift for them too, as it hurts  me to think that so many would feel left out.&#8221; Then we both cried. It was just  a simple idea but with the help of two of our grandchildren Joy took 64 small plastic  baggies, folded two sheets of blank paper, and put them with two colored  crayons in each baggie.</p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\" align=\"center\"><img src=\"http://www.actsweb.org/Images/quote-left.gif\" height=\"19\" width=\"20\"><span class=\"headings2\">The deepest principle in human ");
document.writeln("                  nature<br>");
document.writeln("                  is the craving to be appreciated.</span><img src=\"http://www.actsweb.org/Images/quote-right.gif\" height=\"19\" width=\"20\"></p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">It&#8217;s very difficult for those of us in well-to-do countries to  understand how such a tiny gift could be so meaningful to these poverty  stricken children in ragged clothes&#8212;so many of whom are orphans because their  parents have died from AIDS. Joy told me that when each child was given their  simple gift, they literally held it with both hands to their chest and clutched  it as a treasured gift. Joy said it was one of the most moving experiences of  her trip&#8212;just seeing the children&#8217;s eyes light up as they held their simple gift to their chest. It  wasn&#8217;t the value of the gift that mattered but the fact that these precious  children were included and didn&#8217;t feel left out. As psychologist William James  said: &#8220;The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated,&#8221;  to which we could add, and to be accepted and not left out.  </p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">Feeling left out is a terrible feeling&#8212;not only for children but  also for adults no matter what age we are&#8212;even if we have learned to hide our  feelings of hurt.</p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">Soon it will be Christmas time again&#8212;a time when we think of  family and friends and give gifts to those we love the most. Sadly, though,  Christmas time for millions of people&#8212;not only in third-world countries but  right here at home where so many homes have been torn apart by divorce or loss  caused by the death of a loved one<strong>&#8212;</strong>is  not a happy time. Plus there are many elderly and single adults who have no  family to go home to. Then we have service men and women fighting a war against  dastardly terrorism&#8212;a war that you can&#8217;t quite get your hands on. And whether  we agree with the war or not, our service personnel are risking their lives in  order to protect our incredible freedoms that all too often we take for granted.  For so many of these people Christmas is not a time of &#8220;Joy to the world,&#8221; but  a time of sadness, homesickness, and even depression. Many of these people, like  the forgotten children in Malawi,  not only feel left out, they are left out.</p>");
document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">So let every one of us who can this Christmas season open our hearts to others in need&#8212;others who are less fortunate than we&#8212;and do what we can in some thoughtful way to help brighten their Christmas as an expression of gratitude for all that we have been given and for all of our innumerable blessings. </p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">Most of all let us do this as an expression of our");
document.writeln("gratitude to God for his great love gift to the world in the giving of his Son, Jesus, who laid aside his external robes of deity and, clothing himself in a garment of human flesh, stepped out of the &#8220;ivory palaces of heaven&#8221; to come to earth as a babe born in a humble manger in Bethlehem. He did this to identify with lost mankind and die on an insufferably cruel Roman cross in your place and mine to pay the penalty for all our sins so we could be freely forgiven and receive God&#8217;s gift of eternal life so we could live with him in heaven forever. There is no greater Christmas gift to you and me than God&#8217;s loving Christmas gift of his Son, Jesus, to the world.</p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">The fact is, whether we realize it or not, God loves every one of us with an everlasting love and doesn&#8217;t want any one of us to feel left out of his Kingdom of Heaven. This is why God gave his Son Jesus to die for us to save us from our sins and its consequence which is separation from God and all loving life for all eternity. </p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">As God said to the ancient children of Israel and says to you and me  today, &#8220;I have loved you with an everlasting love.&#8221;<sup>1</sup> And again, &#8220;The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.&#8221;<sup>2</sup> In other words, God doesn&#8217;t want you and me to be left out of his great plan for mankind. </p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\" align=\"center\"><img src=\"http://www.actsweb.org/Images/quote-left.gif\" height=\"19\" width=\"20\"><span class=\"headings2\">Just as certain as Christ&#8217;s first ");
document.writeln("                  coming<br> ");
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document.writeln("                  so will be his second coming.</span><img src=\"http://www.actsweb.org/Images/quote-right.gif\" height=\"19\" width=\"20\"></p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">God&#8217;s Word, the Bible, also promises that Jesus Christ will return to earth and when he does, he will be coming for his true followers to take them to be with him in heaven forever. His Word says, &#8220;But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be  burned.&#8221;<sup>3</sup> Just as certain as Christ&#8217;s first coming");
document.writeln("was at Christmas 2000 years ago, so will be his second coming. The");
document.writeln("critical issue is that we are ready for that time because God doesn&#8217;t want you or me to be left out. What if Jesus would come this Christmas, would you be ready or would you be left out and left behind?</p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">Dear reader, if you have never accepted God&#8217;s gift of forgiveness for your sins and his gift of eternal life, accepting these could be life&#8217;s greatest Christmas gift you could ever receive. Whatever you do, make sure you are ready for Jesus&#8217; return and that you are prepared for life after death by accepting Jesus as your Savior today. </p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">You don&#8217;t have to be left out. God&#8217;s gift is there for the taking. In a simple prayer confess your sinfulness to God right now, tell him that you believe Jesus is the Son of God and that he died for your sins, ask for his forgiveness and invite Jesus Christ to come into your heart and life to be your personal Lord and Savior. </p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"body\">For  a simple prayer to help you to do this, click on the <span class=\"headings4\">God\'s Invitation</span> link below, or for further help click on the <span class=\"headings4\">Know God</span> link below. </p>");
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document.writeln("<p class=\"small\">1. Jeremiah 31:3 (<em>NIV</em>)<br>");
document.writeln("                    2. 2 Peter 3:9 (<em>NKJV</em>).<br>");
document.writeln("                    3. 2 Peter 3:10 (<em>NKJV</em>).</p>");
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  document.writeln("<p style=\"font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;font-size: 10pt;\">This and other articles by Richard (Dick) Innes <a href=\"http://www.actsweb.org/articles/\" target=\"_blank\">can be read online</a>.<br><br>Copyright &copy; 1990 - 2024<br /><a href=\"http://www.actsweb.org/\" target=\"_blank\">ACTS International</a></p>");
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