Merry Christmas

Yesterday it was the first day of winter and here where I live in Texas, it hit 85 degrees. OK, so we are off to a warm start to this winter season, but it has already  dropped down to a high of about 60 today, so we are heading in the right direction. My Christmas morning scene will not look like this.

Not exactly a White Christmas this year, but this season has never been about the weather, it has been about Christ.


I am looking forward to a quiet and long Christmas weekend, starting tomorrow, with my wife. We will send a lot of time together alone (I like that a lot) and a lot of time with our Lord (I like that a lot as well). We will not be visiting family this year, I like to have a Christmas once in a while in my own home, not on the road visiting. Christmas to me is a state of mind not a physical location (unless that location was to be in the eternal physical presence of God. Which it will one day, but not yet it seems), so I am cool with a quiet Christmas in which I can really seek out the Lord and thank Him for what this season means.


I pray that wherever you are, and whatever you are doing this Christmas, your thoughts turn often to Christ, the true reason for the season.


Merry Christmas to all.

A Colossians 1:18b Christmas

I just finished the Fall 2009 semester at seminary. Christmas is straight ahead with school in the rear view mirror for a month. A time to reflect on what the season means, a time to reflect on my Lord. And here turns out to be a great place to start:

and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.
Colossians 1:18b (NASB)

This is the Bible reference one of my professors for this term, Dwight Pentecost, put with his signature in a couple of his books (Things To Come and The Words and Works of Jesus Christ. Great stuff) I asked him to sign yesterday. Did not get to ask him why, I did not see them until I got home and school is done so it will have to wait. But it means something to him, enough to write it with his signature twice. And the class I took was a study of Hebrews, but no quote out of there (Another great book, Faith That Endures. I love reading him). Something about patient endurance or about let us go on, two phrases he used to summarize Hebrews yesterday. Or maybe this one:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Hebrews 13:8 (NASB)

I wrote my notes right in my copy of Faith, I have a bible study of Hebrews all lined out just by following what he taught us this semester. It was an incredible privilege to study it under him.

Getting back to Colossians, I will think about this verse, what it means to me, what it might mean to him. And his meaning will go way deeper than mine. after all, he has been teaching over 50 years, and ministering over 70. With a love of the bible that is awesome to see in a man in his 90's. I hope I remember to ask him next time I see him, which might take a while since I will not be on campus next semester as I am taking an online course.

Jesus is my hope and my assurance, my comfort and my strength. He has become the great constant in my life in a world that is ever-changing and more rapidly so as time goes past. Yes, it is the season of His birth, I need to meditate on it, and I have been pointed in a specific direction by a professor I admire deeply and have come to both respect and love. Thanks, Dr. P!

Let me know what you think of the verse and maybe I will come up with something pithy by the time I have to respond in the comments box.



Technorati Tags: Dwight Pentecost, Hebrews, Colossians, DTS, Dallas Theologicial Seminary, Christmas, seminary

Dare To Dream

Family pressures can be tough, especially around the Christmas holiday season. Stay true to your dreams!

Closed For Christmas

I put this post up yesterday to run today. I am taking Christmas off from blogging or blog reading.

Have a blessed and holy Christmas Day.

Getting Back More Than I Could Ever Give

I have talked about the 12DoCC and how it has impacted me. I have written about all the Bibles in my life as well. And how has the Lord given me some blessings this Christmas season?

He sent me another Bible.

And this one will have a special place in my heart. It is from my friends at the Kanakuk Institute. Even has that embossed on the burgundy leather front cover. I have had the privilege of meeting the staff and students at the Institute over the past few years and a more impressive bunch of young men and women you would be hard pressed to find. Don't bother, you will not, you just can't.

This Bible is a New Inductive Study Bible - New American Standard Bible. Yes, a NISB NASB. What makes this one dear to my heart is that the students penned thank you notes for our support and they are inserted on notecards all over the Bible. often the students included a verse reference and that is where you will find that particular note sticking between the pages. I read them quickly so I could see them all the first time. I will have to go back and read more slowly again in the very near future.

I have it placed on my Franklin library stand in my office. I'll see it every time I go in there, which is more than I can count daily.

I will treasure the thought that went into each note, the thought that made them send it to me and what it represents: a new generation of men and women eager to share the Gospel.

With people like this, I do not expect the following to happen too easily:

All that generation also were gathered to their fathers; and there arose another generation after them who did not know the LORD, nor yet the work which He had done for Israel. Judges 2:10 (NASB)

Star of Bethlehem

If you are in the Grapevine, TX area, think about coming by 121 Community Church for Sunday service tomorrow. The service will be a presentation considering the Star of Bethlehem, recreating the skies over the Middle East at the time of the birth of Jesus.

If you do, stop by the resource center and ask for AndyC, I'll be milling around before and after the first service and before the second.

12DoCC Status

I have to admit that it took me some time to get into the 12 Days of Christmas Challenge, but I feel good about participating, even in my limited extent.

Yesterday my wife and I did some Christmas shopping for a refugee family from Myanmar that our small group at our church adopted for the Christmas holidays. Today, I hope a bunch of us will be able to go visit with them, to drop off the presents, and spend a little time getting to know them better.

It felt good looking for Christmas gifts like this with my wife, I enjoyed the opportunity to do some ministry for others with her as my partner. Looking back on the past year, I do not think I seized enough opportunities to minister as a couple as we should, for we are partners in life, and partners for life.

It has bothered me greatly for years the emphasis placed on gifts during Christmas, for I felt it was always more about what you get than what you give. This group of gifts is about what we are going to get, but this time it will feel right. Because we are going to get love and appreciation back from this family, not material presents. Although they may get some immediate needs met by our gifts, what they will give us will be truly lasting, the type of treasure one can store up in heaven. And as a result, I pray we give them back some of that treasure as well in addition to some nicely wrapped presents.

God has given me much knowledge over the years, He has also given me Jesus as Savior. What I pray for now is that He gives me even just a smattering of wisdom so I may cherish the other gifts He has lavishly bestowed on me in love. And today His love for my wife and I has given us the privilege of sharing that love with a family we would not even know existed if He did not put them squarely in our path.

It Is Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

School's out, shopping is done. The joys of retiree Christmas shopping, going early on a Friday afternoon before the crowds start to build. Not sure how the shopping season has been going as this is my first, and last, foray of the season this year. Now to concentrate on the meaning of Christmas, the joy of celebrating the birth of our Savior.

And it is only in the low 70's in the Dallas area. Not quite beach warm so we will not see any Santas running on the beach. And since there is no ocean in the Dallas area, that is a very good thing.

Jack Frost nipping at someone's nose, and tasting sunblock. Not quite that bad, but it is Christmas time in the Big D.

Getting Away From It All

It will be nice to relax over the Christmas holiday, do some visiting, do some festive celebrating, and do some reading that is not on someone's syllabus with a required date to finish.

It will be nice to get away from the routine of life and enjoy an extended period of I-really-do-not-have-to-be-anyplace-special-right-now-so-I-think-I-will-just-do-whatever-comes-into-my-mind-to-do.

Like this. I have a wireless mouse for my laptop. It has two buttons on the side that I thought were used to navigate between web pages. I am not sure, as I never use them. So, I pressed them today, throwing caution to the wind. This is what happens:

♠ This the symbol is what I get when I press what I thought was the forward button.

♦ That is the symbol I get when I press what I thought was the back button.

Nothing else seems to happen. Now, these symbols popping up in a blog post seems well, pointless. I must be missing something here. Unless I am going to try to incorporate some form of video Blackjack into my blog, what am I going to do with ♠♦ anyway?

I probably need this break more than I realize.

Nothing Left To Do

This is what I have left to do for the fall semester before I go on break until the spring semester starts in January. I can plan on having a nice Christmas holiday.

Actually, the cartoon is misleading. It shows the crossing off of nothing, meaning there is something left to do. It should show the writing down of nothing to be accurate as a state of affairs.

There is nothing left, unless checking out grades in a bit is a something. But it is all over but the shouting at this point. I mean, the grades will get posted whether I look or not. (I'll look) While I am not looking for the grade to be the accomplishment, all my training in finance drives me to see a measurable result.

A sense of accomplishment, yes. A sense of relief, yes. A sense that I can get around to getting ready for Christmas, yes. And the best part of it is that the break will be long enough for the hunger to build up again that I am ravenous to start classes again in mid-January.

It is a nice feeling to have.

Technorati

Here's a Challenge for You!

Peter P at Rediscovering the Church has a Christmas season challenge for you at The 12 Days of Christmas Challenge. I just started reading his blog but I love his heart. Check him out!

Remember the Reason for Christmas

This is a poem that my wife got years ago, from whom we cannot remember. The references are dated, the sentiment is not. I thought about changing some of the names, but decided not to toy with someone's original work.

Twas the month before Christmas
When all through our land,
Not a Christian was praying
Nor taking a stand.
See the PC Police had taken away,
The reason for Christmas - no one could say.
The children were told by their schools not to sing,
About Shepherds and Wise Men and Angels and things.
It might hurt people's feelings, the teachers would say
December 25th is just a "Holiday".
Yet the shoppers were ready with cash, checks and credit
Pushing folks down to the floor just to get it!
CDs from Madonna, an X BOX, an I-pod
Something was changing, something quite odd!
Retailers promoted Ramadan and Kwanzaa
In hopes to sell books by Franken & Fonda.
As Targets were hanging their trees upside down
At Lowe's the word Christmas - was no where to be found.
At K-Mart and Staples and Penny's and Sears
You won't hear the word Christmas; it won't touch your ears.
Inclusive, sensitive, Di-ver-si-ty
Are words that were used to intimidate me.
Now Daschle, Now Darden, Now Sharpton, Wolf Blitzen
On Boxer, on Rather, on Kerry, on Clinton!
At the top of the Senate, there arose such a clatter
To eliminate Jesus, in all public matter.
And we spoke not a word, as they took away our faith
Forbidden to speak of salvation and grace.
The true Gift of Christmas was exchanged and discarded
The reason for the season, stopped before it started.
So as you celebrate "Winter Break" under your "Dream Tree"
Sipping your Starbucks, listen to me.
Choose your words carefully, choose what you say
Shout MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holiday

You may not agree with the sentiment, but I think we can quickly forget the meaning behind Christmas. Jesus is the reason for the season.

Jesus is the reason for all seasons.

Home For the Holidays

I like travel, but I hate traveling.I am very content to stay close to home and enjoy a quiet life at home, with my wife, seeing family and friends on familiar turf. Although the visiting of new places is fun, there is no place like home.

Like the shepherd in my profile picture, as I age I like staying on my own territory. It is comfortable with me, I am familiar with it.

We are planning to spend the Christmas holidays close to home, having made our family visits back East this Thanksgiving. I enjoyed family, but this old dog likes being home, in his favorite bed, eating his favorite kibble.

What I realize is my home has a physical address, it is in Texas. My home has a emotional address, it is the love of wife, family and friends. My home has a spiritual address, it is Jesus. My Lord, my Savior, My God. It is the third that fuels the second, the it is the third that is the foundation of the first.

I am home for the holidays, spiritually, emotionally and physically. And I know what makes it so.

Faith and Reason

This semester at seminary is winding down, one week of classes to go, then finals. And a quiet and Merry Christmas to be enjoyed by all (or at least by me).


Doing some final reading and listening to the last few lectures and one theme has been rolling around in my head, faith and reason. I am reading Fides Et Ratio - On the Relationship between Faith and Reason, an Encyclical Letter written by John Paul II. In class we are reviewing Christianity and the Nature of Science by J P Moreland.


Both hold similar theses. Faith and reason are not incompatible nor contradictory. In fact you use your reasoning to understand your faith. Similar to the saying by Anselm that I bloggd on earlier, "Credo Ut Intellegam".

In discussing Moreland we are even getting into how science relies on faith, just faith in different things than a faith in God. (I will not get into things like making an enumerative induction argument to prove a natural law, which requires some element of faith since the certainty of your argument is not absolute)

I like the fact that everything requires a level of faith even before we use our reasoning, as Jesus taught faith in Him is the right approach, then I can use my reasoning to understand what my faith has already come to know.

It just seems to be the right order of things.

Christmas is Around the Corner

Wall Street and Washington need to get whatever ever economic fix done soon. It is the end of September, which means the Christmas season is right around the corner.

Which means if we are in a state of financial and economic turmoil, people might actually turn towards more spiritual matters, seeking answers in the divine that are beyond the grasp of mere humanity.

People might actually turn to the true meaning of the Christmas season and stop saying things like "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" and start saying "Merry Christmas" and actually know what it means and mean it.

Or the powers that be in the two "W's" might rise to the occasion and right the teetering ship of state and state of business. Get people back to a secure mode of living and investing and spending.

And return Christmas to the commercialized mess it has become. And all this in an election year.