2023

December

• Christmas 2023 - I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

  As 2023 comes to a close, I want to take a slightly different approach to my Christmas greetings. I’d like to share with you a Christmas carol, and the story behind it.

  The poem, written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, explores the contrasting despair in his heart against the hope of Christmas. Having lost his wife to a fire, and having his son critically wounded in the Civil War, Longfellow struggled with his faith which spoke of "peace on earth, goodwill to man" while he watched the injustice and violence in the country at war around him. At the end of the poem, written on Christmas day in 1863, he concludes with the confession that, while things seem bleak,“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The Wrong shall fail,The Right prevail, With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

  With wars and violence all over the globe, that statement is still true today. One day two thousand years ago, Jesus became a human, in the form of a tiny infant, as the final step in righting wrongs and prevailing over evil finally and fully. Christmas, then, points to Easter, and should serve as a reminder that, while evil does seem prevalent now, the day is coming when God finally says "Enough!" and declares judgment. My prayer, as it is every Christmas season (and, indeed, every day) is that this year will be the year you see Christmas as more than a chance for time off and getting and receiving gifts, but as the offering of the greatest gift of all: salvation through Jesus Christ.

  Merry Christmas!

2021

December

• Merry Christmas, 2021

  To all my readers, I’d like to wish a merry Christmas, and a happy new year. In a world seeking hope, my prayer is that each of you would find real, lasting hope, in the birth the baby we celebrate today, Jesus Christ, Emmanuel, God with us.

  

  (Image source. Thanks, Dr. Mounce :)

2020

December

• Merry Christmas, 2020

  Merry Christmas! After what has been a tough year, my prayer is that this Christmas season will be relaxing and refreshing for us all. To help celebrate the season — I hope — I’ve embedded my church’s Christmas program, Christmas Under the Arches. My prayer is that it encourages you all and helps you focus on the Reason we celebrate. :)

2019

December

• Merry Christmas, 2019

  Merry Christmas!

  For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. -- John 3:16

2018

December

• Merry Christmas, 2018

  I hope you all have a merry Christmas. More importantly, I hope you take the time to think about the birth of the child that gives Christmas its meaning.

  "The birth of Christ is the timeless event that leads us to believe that the cries of a broken world have actually been heard. A Savior has been born. The vault of Heaven truly has been opened" -- Author Unknown

  Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!

2016

December

• Merry Christmas, 2016
  

  In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

  "Glory to God in the highest,
          And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased."

  -- Luke 2:8-14

2015

December

• Merry Christmas, 2015

  At the end of another busy year, full of stress and grief, it’s my hope and prayer that the true message of Christmas, not "getting along with family", but the birth of the Savior of the world, would settle your hearts, and that True Peace would be yours.

  Merry Christmas!

  

2014

December

• Merry Christmas

  To all of my readers, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. My hope, as always, is that even in the busyness and the hustle of the Christmas season, you will find the peace and joy of God brought to us so many years ago in the birth of the Christ child.

2013

December

• Merry Christmas

  As is my custom, I want to thank all of my readers, especially those who have joined the discussion, and wish you all a merry Christmas. In all the hustle of the season, it is my hope and prayer that the joy and peace brought to us in the person of Jesus Christ will be an ever-present blessing in your lives.

  "

2012

December

• Merry Christmas

  Merry Christmas!

  “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.” — Luke 2:1-20

2011

December

• Merry Christmas

  I hope everyone who happens to find this site this Christmas season has a very special and blessed time with friends and family. On this geek blog, I think it appropriate to leave you all with a retelling of the Christmas story…​through Facebook. God bless!

2009

December

• Merry Christmas!

  As 2009 winds down to a close, it is my hope that you and your family have a very merry Christmas. It is my prayer that in the hustle and bustle of the season, the real meaning — the birth of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ — is not lost:

  Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ[a] the Lord. — Luke 2:10-11

April

• Happy Easter

  In Christ Alone:

  There in the ground His body lay Light of the world by darkness slain Then, bursting forth in glorious day Up from the grave He rose again And as He stands in victory Sin’s curse has lost it’s grip on me For I am His and He us mine Bought with the precious blood of Christ No guilt in life, no fear in death This is power of Christ in me From life’s first cry to final breath Jesus commands my destiny No pow’r of hell, no scheme of man Can ever pluck me from His hand 'Til He returns or calls me home Here in the pow’r of Christ I’ll stand