How the World stole Christmas

Christmas reruns abound no matter what media you use. An often overlooked theme in all these many "holiday" movies is the real meaning of Christmas. Perhaps we need to learn the lesson that Dr. Seuss writes about in the Christmas classic, "The Grinch Who Stole Christmas."

And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow,
Stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so?
It came without ribbons! It came without tags!
"It came without packages, boxes or bags!"
And he puzzled three hours, `till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!
"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
"Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"
                
There is more to Christmas than even Dr. Seuss relates in this movie. Christ is what Christmas is about. We are so busy that we ourselves often take Christ out of Christmas. The more we recognize Christ and His gift of eternal life the more Christmas will mean to us. Though I love the tinsel and decorations, the family and friends gatherings, the opportunity to show my love to my loved ones by giving a small token gift, and the small traditions that make this such a blessed time of year, I fully realize that Christmas in it's true significance, can be experienced without any of those things. Christmas is about Emmanuel, God with us. So really everyday ought to be Christmas in the believer's heart. May you have a great Christmas season, and may you have the joy of having Christ within you all the days of this new year!!

Feeling Blessed

Feeling Blessed

I am reposting a Thanksgiving post from a few years ago because it is even more real today:

My generation are now the seniors in our family. We now are forced to respond to titles like; uncle, aunt, grandma, grandpa, and senior citizen (only tolerable when it saves us money on food), instead of the much more acceptable though dated terms, dude, bro, kid, babe, guy, or gal. At the same time we feel much more likely to use terms for others that we hated years ago; squirts (cute young kids), whippersnappers (smart-alack cute young kids), or antiques (referring to our keepsakes and yearbook friends).

We now measure our health, count our calories, and do our best to read our medicine bottles. Doctors are no longer a career path that we might choose; now we know several by their first name and wonder how those young kids got a degree. Many of us may know more about our physical therapists family than our brother's or sister's. Joints are no longer places we like to hang out but are body pivot points that are scheduled for new parts one by one. We have found aching muscles in locations that were totally ignored before (my feet hurt?). Our moms and dads used to have trouble getting us up, now we feel it is a great accomplishment to go to sleep (and stay asleep).

We have quit climbing the ladder (physically and metaphorically) and are hoping they don't change the retirement age to quickly. The question of how long we should keep working is exasperated by someones rude reminder that we might not have long to live. Our plans for the future have now become a "bucket list" of things to accomplish before we die.

All this sounds kinda grim until you get to the really good part. We did wake up this morning. We have another day to enjoy the many blessings we have and to appreciate the people in our lives. We have lived enough life to not take for granted our family and friends. Thank you for being one of those special people in my life. I pray that our relationship will be a long one and because of Jesus that we will one day be done with the problems associated with long life and be enjoying an eternity with each other in a perfect heaven. Make sure your bucket list includes a decision to accept God's invitation to an eternity with Him. I will see you there.

   “Because he has loved Me, therefore I will deliver him; I will set him securely on high, because he has known My name. “He will call upon Me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. “With a long life I will satisfy him And let him see My salvation.” (Psalm 91:14–16, NASB95)

Pastor Albert