Volume 20: "Christmases Past"

I really miss Christmas-evening-visiting-time from my childhood days. Yes, when I was a boy, after our family Christmas meal, we would ride in the Pontiac around the island, looking at Christmas lights, and spontaneously visiting a few homes of family and friends.

I remember how relaxing and carefree the final hours of Christmas Day were. Finally, after plenty of laughter and various desserts from home-to-home, Christmas Day came to a slow and wonder-filled close. Shortly after sunset, the holiday rush always gave way to the holy day hush. With only a few hours left to celebrate Christmas, we would settle back into our own home and just sit in the living room enjoying the presence of one another as the decorations and lights continued to inspire our souls.

As I write these words, it is the end of Christmas Day 2013. We're all sort of laying around in our living room. The dog has taken over my comfy chair, the lights and decorations seem to be embracing our hearts, and we know we are blessed beyond measure.

As my day comes to a close, and December 26 will soon arrive, I pray a special prayer for you as you have taken valuable time to read my simple words. Having celebrated the Birthday of the most Wonderful Baby this world has ever known or will ever know, Jesus Christ, I now ask our Awesome King Jesus to be your Hope. As this Holy Day comes to an end, may you be encouraged in realizing that while Jesus is the Season, you are truly the reason He came to Bethlehem some 2,000 years ago. 

O yeah, and I know He wants me to tell you something very important: "He's not mad at you. He's mad about you."

Grateful

Cause Hope to Arise Within Me

"What can death do to me? I've already died. You cannot defeat defeat. You cannot break brokenness."  

-- E. Stanley Jones

 

Pray with me;

"Lord, take fear far from me. 

You have defeated my greatest and my last enemy, the devil and death itself. 

Cause Hope to arise within me. Resurrected Hope has a Name -- 'King Jesus'.

Occupy the Throne of my Soul. Be my Indwelling Inspiration always and forever and today. 

Amen and Amen."

You are Faithful and I am...

Grateful 

Words About Freedom

Freedom is never more than one generation away from distinction.
-- President Ronald Reagan's words about a National Freedom

So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.
-- King Jesus' Words about Spiritual Freedom in John 8:36 (NLT)

Lord, thank You for giving to us freedom from sin.
Grateful

A Palm Sunday Proclamation: "I Will Go!"

Today is Palm Sunday 2011. Some 2,000 years ago, King Jesus rode a donkey into Jerusalem to announce in His own humble way that His Holy Kingdom was underway. On that day, He was also declaring A Palm Sunday Proclamation that all of Heaven understood totally. Yes, as Jesus humbled Himself on Palm Sunday, He was proclaiming that "He would go to the Cross on Good Friday."

Now, it's our turn. Will you say, will I say, "I Will Go?" This Crystal Lewis song will help make such a proclamation more understandable:

Click here: YouTube - Crystal Lewis - I Will Go (ppt)

Count it all joy.
Grateful

You Gotta Serve Somebody

Sooner or later our wills must yield allegiance to some force greater than their own, either God or the devil.
-- Oswald Chambers

(14) "So honor the LORD and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped... Serve the LORD alone. (15) But if you are unwilling to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served...? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD."
-- Joshua 24:14-15 (NLT)

Who we gonna serve? Bob Dylan wrote and sung "Gotta Serve Somebody." The raw lyrics are very convicting. Here is Nicole Nordeman's remake of that classic and soul-searching tune:
Click > http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcUpYKpNpE4

The Lord’s Suffering Servant: (13) See, My Servant will prosper; He will be highly exalted. (14) Many were amazed when they saw Him—beaten and bloodied, so disfigured one would scarcely know He was a person. (15) And He will again startle many nations. Kings will stand speechless in His presence. For they will see what they had not previously been told about; they will understand what they had not heard about. -- Isaiah 52:13--15 (NLT)

Let us serve the Suffering Servant, King Jesus, The Nazarene.
Grateful