MERRY CHRISTMAS! Lost in the wonder of it all, I believe a little child upon my knee would whisper simple words of advice up close to my ear. Let’s slow down. The special joy of Christmas is spending extra hours with folks you love. That takes time. Rather than talking about how much we’d like to make it happen, why not slow down and do it?
Read MoreCategory Archives: Christmas
The First Christmas Eve
IN 1818, a roving band of actors was performing in towns throughout the Austrian Alps. Their performance on a starry December night in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria, impacted local pastor Joseph Mohr as the words of the Christ story remained in his heart. On his walk home, Mohr traveled up a longer path home, which took him up a hill overlooking the village.
Read MoreI Brake for Christmas
A FEW DECEMBERS AGO, I saw something that I won’t soon forget. The bumper sticker on the back of the car in front of me caught my eye. It made me think. And it even aroused some guilt. I was on the freeway as the car was pulling off. Like many December days, my day so far had been full, and it was far from over. Stuffed in my pocket was a shopping list, most of the items not yet purchased.
Read MoreDangers at Christmas
IN THIS SEASON OF EXTREME BUSYNESS, we Christians need to stay alert to any potential dangers. I’ll mention only four of them . . . along with some strategies that will allow us to combat each risk. First is the doctrinal danger of substituting the temporal for the eternal. Paul explains: Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. ROMANS 12:2
Read MoreIncarnation
EVERY YEAR, as Christmas draws nearer, I remember a story Paul Harvey told on one of his radio broadcasts. It’s a tale that never grows old. One raw winter night the man heard an irregular thumping sound against the kitchen storm door. He went to a window and watched as tiny, shivering sparrows, attracted to the evident warmth inside, beat in vain against the glass.
Read MoreThe Gift That Keeps on Giving
ALTHOUGH IT MAY BE a little ahead of schedule, it’s not too early to give some things away this Christmas. Not just on Christmas Day, but during the days leading up to December 25. We could call these daily gifts “our Christmas projects.” Maybe one per day from now ’til then. Mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion. Hug someone tightly and whisper, “I love you.”
Read MoreThe Fullness of Time
ANY SIGNIFICANT BIRTHS IN the year 1809? Here’s a list of a few: William Gladstone was born in Liverpool. Alfred Tennyson took his first breath in Lincolnshire. Oliver Wendell Holmes cooed in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Edgar Allan Poe began his brief but tragic life in Boston. A physician named Darwin named his firstborn son Charles.
Read MoreA Week after Christmas
EVER WONDERED WHAT happened shortly after Jesus was born? That’s an interesting question. We all feel that sense of uncertainty and even confusion after the crowds leave. When the house is still and quiet. The beautifully wrapped Christmas paper lies in piles, amid open boxes, stray ribbons, and bows. The once-hidden Christmas surprises sit silent and unattended under the tree now revealed.
Read MoreA Simple Season
THE WONDER OF AMAZON just continues to spread. Tens of thousands of employees and hundreds of thousands of square feet of operations all work with amazing precision to coordinate the receiving, packaging, and shipping of millions of products all around the world. Now then—if one man can come up with an organizational plan as complex as all that, think of how much more efficient God’s arrangement was almost two thousand years ago.
Read MoreAn Unexpected Gift
CHRISTMAS DAY NEVER arrived so slowly, but finally it dawned. While no one was looking, I had shaken the box enough to know that it had to contain what I had been wanting so badly—right size, right weight, everything. When my turn came I tore at the wrapping and ribbon, pulled open the top, and to my disbelieving eyes there it was, a world globe the exact size, shape, and weight of a basketball!
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