Good To Be Together

We had a great time today. I’ve enjoyed the holiday so much this year with all of our family being able to share it together. We went to the Chandler Mall today and did alot of shopping. This evening we went to Chili’s and had a great meal and just being with one another. Tomorrow we’re going to hang out at home and just relax. We’ll probably watch the Suns basketball game in the evening.

Thank you, Lord, for such a wonderful day!

Merry Christmas!

Hello everyone! Mary Lou and I are in Arizona visiting our oldest son, Jon, and his wife, Michelle. We have had a wonderful Christmas and give great praise to our Savior, Jesus Christ. Yesterday we spent the day at Michelle’s parent’s home where we enjoyed a Christmas breakfast and lunch with them. We had a really nice time. This evening we are going to a Phoenix Suns basketball game. Our youngest son, Matt, is also with us on this trip and we are enjoying being with all of our family. God is so good!

The weather outside is 70 degrees and mostly sunny. It is supposed to be a beautiful day today. We have enjoyed relaxing, playing games, reading good books, and just enjoying one another’s company.
We are so blessed. Hope each of you had a really nice Christmas celebration.

Keep Jesus first in all you do….

Holiday Cheer

Hello everyone!  This morning Mary Lou and I met Richie and Lorinda Mull, and their daughter Makenna, at Cracker Barrel for our annual Staff Christmas breakfast.  It was a really great time to be together!  This afternoon we have done some last minute running and shopping. 

This evening we will have dinner with Grandpa and Grandma and exchange gifts with them.  It has really been a meaningful month of December for our family.  We have tried to enjoy every bit of it, and I believe we have succeeded!  Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and we are looking forward to a great worship time with our church family.

In the evening we fly out to Arizona to be with our son, Jon, and his wife Michelle.  We are excited!  Matt, our youngest son, will be flying out with us.  To God be the glory great things He has done!

Merry Christmas to all our friends….

Log Inn

Tonight is our annual Christmas dinner at the Log Inn.  The Log Inn is famous for having been a stagecoach stop in the 1800s and a place where Abraham Lincoln used to eat.  It is one of the oldest restaurants in Indiana.  I always look forward to these times with our friends!  The Log Inn is very nostalgic and serve GREAT food!  Need I say anything more.  Gotta run…my tastebuds are going into overdrive!!!

Thanks, Lord, for blessings in life like these….

The Manger

Lessons I have learned from the manger…

         It tells me that God humbled Himself to become a man…

                It tells me of God’s love for the poor and destitute of our world….

                       It tells me that God is accessible to all men….

                              It tells me that God keeps His promises…

                                     It represents God’s invitation to me…

to believe and receive His wonderful salvation in Jesus Christ, His Son!

Through Children’s Eyes

The Children’s Christmas program is this evening for our Child Development Center.  I have been working up in the sound booth helping the teachers out and getting to watch the children rehearse.  I love to watch the expressions of joy and wonder on the children’s faces as they sing and perform.  We can learn so much about the holidays from children.  For me personally, they bring a freshness and an excitement to the Christmas season.  I have been praying all month long that I will enjoy every day this month, as I celebrate the love and grace of God that came to us in the birth of Jesus Christ.

When I look into the children’s faces I remember the joys and delights of my own heart when I was a child at Christmastime.  I’m looking forward to the program this evening….and I know a lot of Dads, Moms, and Grandparents are looking forward to it also.  I hope that you will take time to let your heart meditate on the wonder, and awe, and mystery, and joy of Christmas this year!  Take time to let it’s profound truths touch and minister to your spirit.  I believe our own hearts will leap for joy once again when we look at the Christmas holiday through the eyes of a child!   Jesus is the reason for the season!

"Lord, thank you for the wonder of children…."

Do you really ’see’?

My wife picked up a box of Golden Grahams the other day at the grocery.  On the back of the box is a  picture of gobs and gobs of golden grahams.  There’s a note that tells you that there is a 3-D picture hidden ‘within’ the picture that you’re looking at.  It tells you to hold the box up close to your face and stare at the picture for 30 seconds, then slowly pull the picture away from your face.  And presto!  Right before your very eyes is a 3-D picture that springs to life in front of you!   Amazing!   [NOTE: For those of you who do not have a box of Golden Grahams the picture is a skateboarder running his board down a rail.] 

Some people will look forever trying to see the 3-D picture and will never see it.  I’m not sure why that is, but I know that some people just don’t ’see’ it!   It has something to do with how well you can focus on the picture in front of you.  Anyway, this 3-D image reminds me that many times in life we see things all around us, yet, we really don’t ’see’!  Life can pass us by in a blurr and everything around us simply gets caught in the landscape of things and we really don’t ’see’ life, and ’see’ people, as God wants us to.   

I don’t know about you, but I think I need to do a better job of focusing on the really important things in life, so that I can ’see’ God’s bigger picture.  I wonder how many really great, and neat, and important things in life I miss because I’m not focusing on caring about the things my Savior cares about.  I don’t want to be like people who pick up the cereal box and say, "Oh, there’s nothing there.  That’s silly."   And they just throw away the box and forget about it.  I know it’s only a picture I’m talking about, but I think it teaches us an important truth about realizing there is another dimension to life!   I believe we will truly live life to the fullest when we can focus in on this other dimension [which is spiritual] and let it bring wonder, and awe, and amazement to our lives!  There’s no telling what you will ’see’ when your life becomes focused on mission! 

I hope that this week you’ll truly ’see’ things in a new way….

Golf Balls

I was reading today about the history of golf balls.  Did you know that years ago golf balls were completely smooth?  That’s the way they were made.  One gentleman who loved golf did not have a lot of extra money to go out and buy new golf balls everytime he played, so he would pick up the ‘old duffers’ with "nicks", "smiles", and "dings" on them.  To everyone’s surprise, this man would golf better and outdrive all the others on the course.  He came to realize that golf balls that had "dimples" in them outperformed all the other balls and were much more accurate than the smoother balls.

So….the golf ball as we know it was born….dimples and all!  When you pick up a golf ball you don’t realize how important those dimples are on the ball.  Most of us, when we think of our own personal lives, would much rather have things go smoothly in life than to have a lot of "dings", "bangs", and "bruises".   Yet, like the golf ball, it is those rough spots and "bumps and bruises" that actually work to help us perform better and grow to maturity.  The next time you have a golf ball in your hands thank the man who realized that "dimples" actually help the ball perform more accurately and more effeciently than all the others!  And why not breathe a short prayer thanking God for those rough spots in your life that He allows so that you might live more fully for His glory!

Fore….

Just a postcard?

I had a blast this morning!  I went to two different housing communities, close to where I live, and handed out some beautiful Christmas postcards inviting our neighbors to church.  As I stopped by each home and gave a postcard, I was praying that God’s Spirit would help me place the cards in the hand of  ‘that person’, or ‘that home’, that needed some Good News!  I was excited knowing that in some small way I was helping to bring the message of Jesus’ birth to many homes this year.

I know it’s only a postcard!  It’s just a piece of paper.  But contained on that piece of paper is information that could change a person’s life FOREVER!  Wow!  That’s an amazing thing isn’t it?  I am speechless to think that my simple genture of love this morning will be used of God to bring some good news, cheer, and hope to people’s lives.  I know it’s just a postcard…and I know that some will just throw them away…BUT I also believe that some man, or woman, boy or girl, will see the card….read it…be touched by it…and will come to hear the GREATEST NEWS human ears can hear…A SAVIOR has come!!!!   I’m excited to think about lives being transformed by the grace of God this Christmas all because of a postcard!  Unbelievable!

Thank you, God, for the little things we can do to tell others about Your amazing love.

Staff Christmas Open House

Mary Lou and I are scurrying around the house this morning cooking, cleaning, and getting everything ready for our annual Staff Christmas Open House.  We have been doing this for 30 years!  We just love it.  It is such a nice way to say, "Merry Christmas", to our church family and friends.  Richie, Lorinda, and Makenna Mull, our Youth and College pastors, will be sharing in this beautiful evening with us.  It’s a sunny day here in Indiana with the temperature in the 20s.  Just right for December!

Tonight we’ll have all of the lights turned down low, candles burning, Christmas music playing, all kinds of food and goodies spread on our dining room table, and a fire going in the fireplace.  Friends, it just doesn’t get any better than this! 

Gotta run….and get those ‘buckeyes’ finished for tonight!

"Behold, I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."     Luke 2:10