Dear Family and Friends,

I am counting down the days!  Yes, I am one of those people who absolutely loves everything about Christmas.  I begin playing Christmas carols in November.  The tree goes up before the turkey gets cold.  I am out on Black Friday with a smile a mile wide.  It is the best!

One of the songs that I love to sing along with is “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas everywhere I go.”  Come on and join me in the next line.  “Take a look at the five and ten glistening once again with candy canes and silver canes aglow.”  Yes, yes, yes!  I love the sights, sounds, and smiles of Christmas.  But wait – the song says it is beginning to look a lot LIKE Christmas.  Immediately I put on my thinking cap, tap my finger gently at the side of my mouth, a quizzical look on my face, as I ponder the possibility that Christmas could be faked!!  Heresy!!!! 

Now I have watched Pawn Stars as Rick calls in his expert handwriting analyst to see if a signature has been forged.  Rolex watches may not really be Rolex watches.  Civil War guns may be mere reproductions.  I know women who can spot a fake Coach purse from across a dimly lit crowded room.  Is there anything that cannot be faked, forged, falsified, or reproduced?  How can I make sure I am celebrating the genuine, one of a kind, real deal Christmas?  Could it be possible to get caught up in the APPEARANCE of Christmas and miss the APPEARING of Christmas????

Think about it.  How many people were anticipating the coming of Messiah?  How many prophesies given about what would usher in His appearing.   Didn't God send an angel to Zechariah preparing the way for Jesus to come?  Didn't an angel visit Mary and then Joseph.  Didn't a King send a decree that the entire world would be taxed sending Joseph to the appointed town of Bethlehem.  Do you think there was anyone singing “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas?”

Everyone knows that a great celebration is enhanced by the preparations.  What’s a birthday without a cake and presents?  What’s a baby shower without games and streamers?   What’s a wedding without toile and lace?  But all the preparations are wasted if the person being celebrated doesn't appear.

My tree is the one of the most beautiful trees I have ever had.  I have candles all through the house.  I have Christmas music playing.  I have made cookies, breads, and a ton of candy.  My presents are yet to be wrapped, but that comes right after these cards go out.  I am singing “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.”  All the preparations that I have made are only meant to make to be the backdrop for the real event – His appearing. 

  Isaiah 7:14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).

My prayer for you this Christmas is that you not settle for anything less than the real deal – God with us!  May your song “It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,”  climax in a glorious He has come and dwells among us.    

       Merry Christmas

               He Has Come

Him or Me?

I was just happily reading The Presence by Steve Korch.  Who knew I was about to run smack dab into a brick wall.  Taken from a fictional tale by Elisabeth Elliot with a Korch twist I read this -

"The story takes place on one of those days when Jesus was teaching some of those essential lessons of life to His core of twelve.  On this particular day, He stopped along the path and instructed the disciples to each pick up a stone and follow Him.  They all complied, selecting stones of various sizes.  Peter, not wanting to overdo things, chose one that would not be too much of a burden, more in the range of pebble than a stone.
They traveled to the top of a mountain, and there, Jesus turned the stones into bread.  Tired and very hungry, they each had food proportionate to what they had chosen to carry for the Master.  Peter would have had nothing more than a cracker for lunch that day, but John gave him some of his.
It was about a week later that Jesus repeated the stone-carrying instructions to His band of future leaders.  Now, Peter was not about to make the same mistake twice, so he heaved upon his shoulder the largest rock he could find.  He was planning to eat well that day.
Jesus led them down along shaded banks of the Jordan River, looking for just the right place to stop.  When He found it, He simply told them to throw their stones into the river.  As Peter's rock dropped from his shoulder, he stared at the Master in disbelief.  Jesus met his gaze, came close to the hungry disciple and whispered these words,

"For whom did you carry the stone?"

Why do I do the things I do for the Lord.  Is it for Him, or is it really for me?  Running into a spiritual brick wall is not always bad.  Unfortunately, sometimes it is the only way for the Lord to get my attention.  He has it today.

Make Today Your Someday

We (my hubby and I) have lived in the Carlinville area for almost ten years.  For ten years we  have driven Highway 4 to Springfield to shop.  Each time we drive we see a sign that says Sugar Creek Covered Bridge 4 miles.  Each time we pass the sign we say “Let’s do that someday” as we drive on down the road.  Saturday we drove the 4 miles to Sugar Creek Covered Bridge and I absolutely loved it! I took about fifteen pictures of this old bridge.  I love the curved boards that span from one side to the other over boards shaped like X's for strength.  

The floor is made with planks and has two sets of long boards on top for strength.  When you look up, you see those same X's in the pattern of the roof.  Someone took every precaution to make sure that anyone who passed over this bridge was safe.  The simple fact that it is covered was to help protect the bridge from rotting so it would last longer.  What I find fascinating is that along with the focus on strength and safety beauty is not overlooked.  It is for that reason I am drawn to old covered bridges, draw bridges that raise and lower so ships can pass through, and bridges over long expanses of water.  I have pictures of bridges along the California coastline, the Golden Gate Bridge, and bridges on the Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina.  I love the bridges in Florida that go on for miles over the ocean.  I even love the old country bridge that sits at the bottom of the hill from our house.     

So why did it take ten years to drive four miles down a gravel road to see something I love?  I am asking myself that same question.  What changed you ask.  My husband just said that this was the day we were going to take the time to drive the four miles and see the bridge.   Nothing earth shattering.  Nothing monumental.  Just a simple declaration – “today is the day!”

I know a lot of people who have a “bucket list” of things they want to do before they die.  Some things require time, opportunity, and money to make happen, but today I would bet that if you think about it there are some things like my Sugar Creek Covered Bridge that simply require doing.  Maybe someday you want to explore an area close to where you live.  I declare to you that today is your someday.  Maybe someday you want to have coffee with a friend.  Today is your someday.  Maybe someday you want to write a poem, make fancy cupcakes, just sit on your porch and read a book.  Today is your someday. 

What my husband did for me I now want to do for you and simply tell you to make today your someday.  Can't wait to hear what you do!

Chutes and Ladders meets A Christmas Story

Chutes and Ladders is one of those board games that has somehow managed to survive over the years.  Why?  I am really not sure why.  Maybe it is because it doesn't come with 10 pages of rules.  Maybe it is because it doesn't take three days to play one game.  Maybe it is because it does not require a lot of brain power. Whatever the reasons, it lives on.  

I have played my fair share of Chutes and Ladders.  I have held down the cardboard spinner and watched as the little plastic arrow struggles to move around the the circle even once and then stops on the number that determines how far up the board you can move your marker.  The race is on to see who can arrive at the top of the board first.  I can't imagine anyone who has never played this riveting game, but in case you are someone who has not had the joy, let me explain that as you move your marker toward the final destination and victory there are spaces marked with chutes and spaces marked with ladders.  

If you are lucky enough to land on a ladder, you are immediately allowed to move your marker up the board bypassing several spaces and putting yourself on the fast track to victory.  Then there are those spaces marked with the dreaded chutes.  Land on one of those and you immediately take a swift plunge down to a lower level and now are required to travel the very same path you just climbed. 

My life sometimes feels like an unending game of Chutes and Ladders.  Most days are spent just moving along on what appears to be a meandering trail to my final destination with the Lord.  Moving slowly upwards.  But then there are those days when out of nowhere a ladder appears.  Doors open, unexpected opportunities present themselves and I am fast tracked toward my final destination and victory.  I find myself singing "O Happy Day" as I bypass the mundane of the present and am moved further up the road to beautiful new sights.  Just when I am blissfully moving through this wonderful new area, out of nowhere, I am confronted with a chute.  

After you have traversed the path of life for a while, you hopefully develop little spidey sensors that shoot up when you are drawing near to a chute.  You have learned from past chute experiences that when the path you are on suddenly becomes dark, scary, and unfamiliar you need to immediately stop and ask Jesus to take your hand and shine His amazing light on your path so that you can pass safely over the chute.  These are the obvious "slow down dangerous chute ahead" moments.  I have grown pretty savvy about traversing  life's major chutes.  I know that there is no way I can maneuver this portion of the path on my own and have learned to just stop and wait for the Lord to help me.  What gets me more often than not are those little chutes.  

For me, those little chutes represent my own personal inner sabotaging moments.  I am moving merrily up my path when I begin to notice that everyone else seems to be climbing ladders on every spin.  They are moving faster than the speed of light upward.  They are experiencing new heights, discovering new joys, drawing ever closer to the Lord.  Every step seems to open a door and an opportunity presents itself.  Then there is little me slowly putzing my way up.  Nothing new, nothing exciting, nothing awesome.  Just little old me plodding along square by square. 

This is where I had my Chutes and Ladders meets A Christmas Story epiphany.  So leave the land of Chutes and Ladders and move with me to the iconic Christmas movie, A Christmas Story.  Now here again I cannot imagine anyone who has not watched this movie about a million times and will smile when they read these words,"You'll shoot your eye out!"   But for the sake of that one person who has somehow never spent a day with Ralphie, let me set up one scene from the movie.  

     [Ralphie is visiting Santa at the department store, only he can't remember what he wanted]

Santa Claus: How about a nice football?

Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] Football? Football? What's a football? With unconscious will my voice squeaked out 'football'.

Santa Claus: Okay, get him out of here.

Ralphie as Adult: [narrating] A football? Oh no, what was I doing? Wake up, Stupid! Wake up!

Ralphie: [Ralphie is shoved down the slide, but he stops himself and climbs back up] No! No! I want an Official Red Ryder Carbine-Action Two-Hundred-Shot Range Model Air Rifle!  http://www.tbs.com/stories/story

I too know what I want.  I know that my life verse is

Ps 27:4 The one thing I ask of the Lord—    the thing I seek most—is to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life,  delighting in the Lord’s perfections and meditating in his Temple.

That is my dream and the Lord is directing my steps accordingly.  When Ralphie momentarily forgets his heart's true desire, he is offered the dream of others.  For me, Satan lures me to the edge of a chute and I momentarily forget my heart's desire and he offers me the dreams of others.  If I am not careful, I let go of my dream and begin to lust after the dreams of others and I find myself being shoved down the chute.  

BUT NOT TODAY

Today as I see one of those little chutes in my path, I stop myself.  I press my hands and feet against the sides of the chute and slowly climb back up and make my voice heard - NO!  

Now I am safely past that dreaded chute and doing the happy dance as I proceed on up my path.  I hope that when you find yourself on the threshold of one of those little chutes, or one of those very long chutes, you will stop and take a moment to evaluate what lies before you and choose to say "YES" to the Lord and a very loud "NO" to the enemy.

Give Us Pure Hearts

    Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? 

                 He who has clean hands and a pure heart,Psalm 24:3–4  

I have read that Portland, Oregon is a destination for many ship captains.  It is 100 miles from the ocean and is not easy to reach, so why do experienced ship captains seek out this port?  Sea captains know that as they routinely go through oceans that a tiny water shellfish called a barnacle attaches itself to the hull of the ship and will stay there the rest of its life and surround itself with a rock like shell. These tiny little shellfish may at first glance appear to be beautiful.  However, as more and more barnacles attach themselves to the hull of a ship they will slow the ship down, diminish its progress, and decrease its efficiency. The removal of barnacles can take days in dry dock as the barnacles are scraped off, however, wise captains know that Portland is a fresh water harbor and that barnacles will die and fall off.  Barnacles are not able to live in sweet fresh water. 

As Christ followers we collect heart barnacles as we move through life on a daily basis.  Seemingly little hurts, little disappointments, little betrayals, wrong attitudes and many more seemingly tiny impurities attach to our hearts.  These “little sins" will slow us down, diminish our progress, and decrease our efficiency.

Jesus is our fresh water harbor.  When we enter His holiness and purity, we can ask Him to examine our hearts and reveal anything that has attacked itself to our hearts.  As we confess, our heart barnacles are removed leaving us once again with clean pure hearts.

Today I urge you to take this time to come away from the world and enter the presence of Jesus.  We cannot purify our own hearts – Jesus is the only one who can do that.  Let's enter 2013 renewed and refreshed and ready to serve free from all hindrances.  Let our prayer be give us pure hearts.