Christmas eve, eve
Hello my friends! I hope this finds you well this Christmas Eve, eve. I'm reaching out to thank you for your loving support in our…
Immanuel
My favorite name for God. Matthew 1:23 says, “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which…
No room?
We have four children. When our older children were born, we were living in Dallas just minutes from the hospital. With our younger kids, we…
Nativity dragon
There's a dragon in the Nativity Story. We don't put one in the cozy little Nativity sets that we display during Advent--because we don't want…
Belligerent bells
One of my favorite Christmas songs is "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day." It's based on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's poem, "Christmas Bells." I love…
Christmastime
One of my favorite words is Christmastime. Not only because of the warm feeling it evokes when I think about it--but because of the way…
Hope
Sunday we lit the first candle of Advent--the Hope Candle. There's an ancient saying: "Hope deferred makes the heart sick." When our longings are not…
Festival of Lights
I'm really enjoying Timothy Keller's Hidden Christmas for my Advent reading. He points out that Christmas is a festival of lights. Why do we decorate…
On grief
Nicholas Wolterstorff's twenty-four year old son died in a climbing accident. He writes: "The worst days now are holidays: Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, birthdays, weddings,…
Advent
Advent begins tomorrow. This is the period of time that the Christian Church prepares for Christmas. It begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, and…