A Christmas Gift

I have tried different ways to tell the Christmas story but nothing has worked until I received a Christmas gift from my boss. This picture tells it all.

It may be hard to see but it is Joseph and Mary holding baby Jesus. These figures are crafted on a porcine cross. This is what Christmas is all about. Jesus born to be crucified.

John 3:16 (NLT)
"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. "

Merry Christmas

Thinking Back

For many days now I was trying to think what to write. I want to do the Christmas story but haven't been sure how I want to do it. Yes, there are many ways to do the Christmas story. I could just type out all the verses the way they are written in the Bible. That is always a good plan. I could just review the Christmas story and that is alright too. A lot of times there is a certain theme that I hear from different speakers that spark an idea. So far I haven't heard one.

I have two ideas and I am going to do one for today and if the other ones works out I will start the other one in the next post.

Idea One

Old Self

I did not grow up in a Christian home so the things that took place when I was small and up to about twelve happened this way:

I was an only child and I was born in 1946 so I am a baby-boomer child. My mother especially loved Christmas time and she enjoyed buying me a lot of things-especially dolls of all kinds and sizes. One Christmas I even got a crib to go with the doll that year. I remember the crib but don't remember the doll.

You see I never liked playing with dolls except for one. That one had a baby bottle with it and also you could feed it. So what I would do is feed it a flower and water mixture. It worked good until the doll began to smell and had to throw it away. I was very sad.

Another year I got a beautiful sled for Christmas, but I cried and cried and my mother asked me what was the matter. I told her that I didn't want it because it didn't fly like Santa did. 

Most of the time I enjoyed playing with the boxes that the gifts came in. 

New Self

When I turned nineteen I met a very fine young man and he went to a church which preached the Gospel and I learned about what the real meaning of Christmas was and other truths in the Bible. I learned it was the birth of Jesus. His Father sent Him down to earth so that when He became older (around 33) He would die on a cross for my sins and that I could be united with God and be adopted into His family.  So on February 18, 1966 I accepted I was a sinner and I needed to accept Christ as my Savior. I did so that day.

I must say 50 years later still learning and hopefully growing in my Christian life. When I hear some of the older songs like Silver Bells, White Christmas, etc. it brings back some of the memories of Christmas's past but the best part of Christmas now is thinking about what gift I am going to give to Jesus for His birthday and all year round. It is a word from the Bible and I look up all the verses with that word and then think on those verses the whole year. 

Question?

Do you give a gift to Jesus each year for His birthday? If not think about choosing a word for the theme of the year.                                                     

Two Dogs In A Car

It seems like this week I have seen some unusual things pertaining to dogs. The other day I posted about a dog barking from a half open window of an eighteen wheeler truck.

Today, as my husband and I were headed to my clinic so I could get some blood work done, we had to stop at a traffic light. The car next to us had two dogs in it. One dog was laying very content in it's owner's lap just looking us. The other dog, however, would first bark at us from the back seat of the car, then it would jump into the front seat. Next thing we saw was it jumping back into the back seat and just barking as loud as he could. He did this about three times before the light changed. I was sure glad that I was safe in my car as the dog didn't seem to be to friendly.

I was thinking how much we, who have pets, enjoy them so much and I am so glad that God made animals that can be pets and how much enjoyment they give to us.

How about you? Do you have a pet?

Being A Grandparent

My husband and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day and into the weekend. What made our time so good is that we got to see our oldest son Jeremy and his year-and-half daughter Chaise, which is our youngest grandchild. Our ten grandchildren go from the age one-and-half up to age of twenty-two. Three of our precious one are in heaven. Three live with there mother and step-father, and our daughter has three who still live at home. One is going to college one is thirthteen and soon to be fourteen and one just turned twelve years old.

I can enjoy my grandchildren more than I could my own children as I can sit and play with them and just have fun with them. Spoil them and then send them home. If you are a parent yourself and a grandparent you know what I mean. With our children we are busy doing parent things: getting up in the middle of the night, disciplining, ,training, teaching and other things. We don't have time to sit down to enjoy.

One of the things I would change is to have half the energy as my grandchildren have. How about you?

Prayer

Father, thank You for letting us be grandparents and help us to be good examples so that one day our grandchild will grow up and know You and Your Son in a personal way. In Jesus Name I pray this. 

A Strange Event

Happy Thanksgiving Day

The other day I was looking for a new pair of boots. So my husband and I stopped at our local shoe store. Before we went in I heared barking. There was no way that I should have heared a dog barking as there were no houses nearby, just business.

I looked toward the road and coming toward us was a eighteen wheeler truck with the passenger's window part-way down and this small terrier dog was half-way out the window just barking as loud as he/she could. It was such a strange sight and sound and funny looking. Huge truck, small dog.

I enjoy little things like this as it is something different and my day is never the same. God makes life very interesting and very different.

The World

Question
A very simple question for today and that is what is the world?

Answer

A place in which God does not live.

Darkness Then Light

Around 2:00 a.m. I needed to use the bathroom. When the light is on it shines into our bedroom as bathroom is near the bedroom. So,  I didn't turn on the light in the bathroom. Most of the time no trouble when I do this. This morning ,however, I went to reach for the toilet paper, which has its place when it is to big for the toilet holder. It wasn't there! I felt all around put could not find it. I finally had to turn on the light and there it was almost right in front of me.

Now you might be saying to yourself, "What an odd subject to be posting about." But this reminded me about another object that sometimes is not in the right place and that is my Bible. Then I need to look for it so I can use it.

When I don't read or use my Bible daily it is like I am in the dark. When I do find my Bible the Light is there and then I can see where I am walking spiritually and in the house.

I find it strange and wonderful at the same time when the Lord gives us object lessons to help us along in our walk with Him.