Merry Christmas!

It is with great joy that I come to say to you and yours, Merry Christmas! This is a time of celebration as we think and ponder upon the greatness of our God's design and plan. A child, a son, an innocent participant in an eternal plan was granted to us as God's demonstration of love, compassion, and desired restoration. He, Who did not sin, was willing to send One, His Son, the spotless and perfect One, to become sin for us.

Christmas is such a beautiful time of the year. We behold the ornaments, the lights, the sounds, and the smells of this season. For those of us in the north country (and for some even in our southern states) snow falls and conditions become cold, but the beauty of the pristine brightness and the even the crispness of the cold air stimulates us to look up and behold the grand design of our God.

As carols play, cantatas are sung, and the nativity scenes come alive all around us, let us not forget the beauty of God's perfect plan to redeem us and make us His prized possession. May our hearts be warmed and our lives be stirred to reflect the beauty of the Christ that came in such humility. May our lives be challenged to grow into His image even as He grew to become a sacrifice of willing obedience, even to face the death that we deserved.

God bless each and every one of you! Merry Christmas and may the year to come be one of hope and joy as we anticipate the next major event on our God's calendar, the coming or our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ!

Giving "Thoughts"

It all starts with us just giving a thought. Thinking. Thanks is just a thought away, but how often do we truly stop and think about how blessed and how rich we truly are?

(1 Thessalonians 5:18) In everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.

(Psalms 147:1) Praise the LORD! For it is good to sing praises to our God; For it is pleasant and praise is becoming.


May the days ahead bring moments of pause. May we realize the time is right for us to give thanks and to offer praise unto our God. I am grateful for the family that God has so richly blessed me with, and the opportunities I have to see life with them daily. I am thankful for the friends that God brings into my life to challenge me, build me, and encourage me. I am so blessed to have a purpose in my life and to be in this vocation to which God has called me. I am thankful for those in my church that I get the great opportunity to share my worship with and God's precious Word. I am a blessed man!

My prayer is that we might not be that generation that is thankless and ungrateful. I pray that we would truly give a thought to our thanks. Think about what you have to be thankful for and praise the One from whom all blessings flow.

(Ephesians 3:20, 21) Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

He does more than we can even imagine. He is more than we can imagine. So, in those things of life that we actually do observe let us then not be remiss to thank Him, and as well, for the things beyond our comprehension. Give thanks! Think about it. Give thought to a thankful heart and a thankful word.