Then I Thought of Home

Amazing isn't it? Amazing that the God of the Universe, The King of Kings sent His son to be born of a virgin, in a stable and had Him put in a manager and then sent the angels to tell the lowly shepherds? Over and over again we see God work with the farmer. Remember His first creation was a garden and then the farmer. Then thousands of years later at the birth of Christ, God still worked with the farmer. We're not told his name but we're told of his barn. We're not told who the shepherds were but we're told of their flocks and fields. We're told of the care they were giving their sheep. What is it about the heart of a farmer that might make them God's choice to work with? Could it be that a farmer more than almost any other worker always has a real sense of his dependence?  A farmer or a shepherd spends a lot of time watching the sky. They know full well where their help, their crops and yes even their salvation ...

Is it just me or have you noticed there doesn't seem to be as much Christmas complaining going on? Maybe we're finally starting to listen to all the advice we've heard for years. Or maybe it's just that we've swung as far out one way as we could and there was nothing to do but swing back. Whatever the case,  I'm glad. Remember when to buy expensive cars, large homes and lots of stuff was thought to be the way to go? Now it's swinging back the other way, less is more, simplicity reigns. no debt is cool. I think that has all played a part of Christmas becoming less stressful. Perhaps we really get it now. Maybe we know that we don't have to spend a lot of money and people don't mind, in fact they are relieved someone finally stood up and said, wait a minute, lets pull back a bit. I think we know we don't have to go to every family, school, work and yes dare I say it, even church program that's offered during the holidays. We...

More than once I've been asked my thoughts on Santa. Should you or shouldn't you? Did you or didn't you? Oh for the days before we had so much time to think. They days when we could tell fact from fiction, real from pretend. Days when we expected our children to grow into men and women who would be able to tell the difference too. About the time our children came along is the time the idea that Santa was wrong came along. I being a young parent was confused. Was I teaching my children to lie by pretending Santa with them?  Was I taking away from Christ by talking about Santa? What was I to do?  I wanted to be a good parent. I wanted to bring my children up to trust me and to love God. Then one day I got the answer. Christmas is about Christ, my kids knew that. They knew we had the manger scene, they knew the Christmas carols, the star, the wisemen the shepherds and the angels. They knew Christ was the greatest gift. We also told them the gifts unde...