Merry Christmas!

 
364 days and we get to do it again! What a rush this year! The music, services, smiles, weather, and most of all the love. Love seemed to abound in every direction for my wife and I. Someone described last night as a set of pictures from a Norman Rockwell presentation. We ended the Eve of this year's celebration of my Savior's birth singing caroles around a fire in the woods. That began around 11:30 and wound to a conclusion around 1 in the am. A choir of voices(nearly a dozen at times)sang as we smiled at one another. Guitars strummed gently and we tuned our voices to the "prum" of the "Little Drummer Boy" to conclude the evening. Many tears were shared along with more laughter than we deserve. Some of us took time to give thanks, proclaiming loudly God's handiwork in all of creation. Others slipped away to make calls to distant friends and family to greet them and let them know what they had missed. I am worn, a bit overtired and overfed, and a little weary, but I would not have missed a single moment of this Christmas for any reason that comes to mind. During the course of this Christmas there were a few youngsters that learned that there really is no Santa Claus other than the one which we provide for one another. I'm sure that was at first disheartening. Greater truths were revealed, though. The ones of which knowledge and understanding become keys by which the hearts of all can be turned in the direction of Bethlehem and the greatest revelation to ever become part of mankind's history. This year I didn't tell the story as I have in years past, I listened. Sometimes it is good to listen to how others tell the story. How simple it is, and yet how totally, and absolutely overpowering. The plan by which you and I, everyone, has the opportunity to receive Christ into their heart and gain forever the greatest gift of all, salvation. I bear witness to that salvation tonight as viewed through the eyes of persons from 2 years of age to 100 plus years and counting. This was a "perfect" Christmas. And to all a good night. In Christ's Love, Preacher.