Christmas, how goes it

Fred and Mabel, age 90 and both hard of hearing, were sitting in their family room looking at the Christmas tree in quietness when Fred says to Mabel, I sure am proud of you. Mable says--what? Fred said again--I'm sure proud of you Mable.  After a little while, Mable said to Fred--I'm tired of you toooo!

John Adams said—"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.” Now we just need to determine the facts and evidence.

Christmas is a time we think about family; our spiritual family hopefully and our physical family hopefully. Those family feelings are all different to each of us, no question. And that is for a lot of reasons.  Our physical families grow old and die, some move to different places, some we disconnect with, and some family dynamics change for all kinds of reasons.  BUT many thoughts are for sure the same about family at Christmas.  I hope your thoughts are good, happy and joyful even though in some cases they are difficult.   

Christmas greetings have been sent to friends and families forever.  Greetings of hope and excitement of family and especially of the memory of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ are shared by many methods.  Walmart or Amazon just can’t replace that joy and excitement of the real story of Christmas (i.e. no matter how much you put on your credit card).  Saturday question—What story are you going to tell by your words and actions this Christmas?  Do you love to tell the story, The Story of Jesus Christ? I have said many times that I don’t like phonies. Well, I sure seem to see a lot of phoniness at Christmas (i.e. at least that is my opinion). I wonder if that is a reason why some folks are glad when it’s over.

I went to the park’s library the other day looking for a certain book. There was a gal their working on the jig saw puzzle.  We started talking and she helped me look for the book.  We couldn’t find it.  She told me about another book that she really liked in a series. She only had the second and third books here in AZ. Sooo I got an eBook from the Mesa Library and read it.  I liked it soooo went to their place to thank her and maybe get the second one in the series.  Her and her husband talked with me for an hour or more about their lives and shared their faith (i.e. great life stories--we had such a great time). That was a nice Christmas present. Very nice folks—real folks with good hearts; my kind of folks I told them.  Happenstance, na I don’t think soooooo as my friend JimTheWizard taught me. 

Jesus was deemed unrighteous by the religious leaders of the day. Their concept of righteousness had become twisted over the centuries. Righteousness became all about rules and regulations, about avoiding outsiders and sinners and the undesirable (i.e. sounds like most of us). Yet Jesus was a magnet to attract precisely those kinds of people. Righteousness in God’s sight is all about grace and forgiveness and an embrace of those considered too far lost to bother with. Even back then folks were confused and divided about the real meaning of Christmas much as we are now divided about Jesus.  BUT not all folks are/where of the Holy Huddle (i.e. the Pharisees) who thought they were the chosen few! BUT there might still be some of those folks around! Could be!

When I was at the lecture/discussion of Victor Franko’s book, Man’s Search for Meaning, we talked to the professor’s wife who encouraged us to read the book, The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom.  She thinks it’s a continuation of Mr. Franko’s book.  Soooo when I got here in AZ, I went online to try to get it from the Mesa Library.  They had, I think 7 books of different styles, but all checked out and a large waiting list soooo I went to the Maricopa County Library web site and found the same result.  Wow! This non-fiction book was written about hope, determination, love, endurance, and forgiveness by the Ten Boom family in Holland and in the concentration camps during WW II. I found a used copy in a used bookstore down the street.  It was the 35^th edition of the book (i.e. the original was written in 1971).  After all these years the demand is still huge and massive.  Folks want to hear about Hope; this Hope is about Jesus Christ and how important it is in folks’ lives.

Think about this this Christmas—There are 300+ messianic prophesies in the Old Testament that were written maybe 300-700 years before the birth of Jesus about His birth.  You got to get the number folks, 300+! They were all fulfilled perfectly.  Now that is incredible. The odds are almost non existing for that to happen.  The timing had to be perfect.  There had to be a perfect time for Christ Jesus to be born. Perfect! What do you think of that? C’mon folks; you are smart folks! Saturday question—Scripture tells us that Jesus will return to rule the world.  When? Probably when the timing is perfect. For some folks that might be scary and for others, what a day of rejoicing that will be. Checkmate!

I was hiking Wednesday up 'er in 'em mountains and met a guy who looked about 23.  He had his shirt off and was very well muscled and had a short haircut. He said--how's it going--great; how about you--as well, great.  He looked to me to be a Marine who was home on leave after being deployed in arms way but he might have been a Mesa school teacher or a mechanic at the local Chev garage.  He had a large cross tattooed on his chest.  I went about 50 yards and hollered back to him--hey, you a Christian--yes sir. I gave him the thumbs up.  He hollered back--thank you sir!  Sooooo if I asked you if you were a Christian, what would you say? JoeBlow, who has a lot of smoke but no guy, says--I would have to say--I give presents at Christmas and occasionally go to a Christmas Eve service. JoeBlow, you didn't answer the question! It's a yes or no answer.

Merry Christmas to all of you my friends and family.  Peace and prosperity to you and your family. May you experience God’s love in a special way this Christmas. 

Sooo erv, Christmas, how goes it?  Noel (i.e. the French definition is—all is well).  Sing Gloria!

Have a FUN day my friends unless you have other plans. (-:

erv

MyFriendJean said—For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. I think John (i.e. anybody can be a John) quoted Jesus in the book of John saying this tooooo! John 3:17