It's a week before THANKGIVING!! I passed this home yesterday morning and had to look twice, twice at the Christmas lights aglow on the front porch AND (you can't see in this picture) there is a CHRISTMAS TREE lit up in the living room also. I guess I won't be the first to get my Christmas lights up this year! (Actually I usually get them up about the eve of Christmas Eve and take them down around mid April!)
Thanks Jamie for snapping this pic for me!

I love Christmas time! I love Christmas music and the holiday feeling, warm wishes and good cheer to all. - I'm always warm and caring towards others, but at Christmas others seem to return that feeling back to me more easily! - Most of all I like to celebrate the wonderful event that happened 2000 years ago, when part of the Godhead left heaven to begin the journey of salvation for man. I'm 46 years old(!) and I'm still in awe of the glorious happenings surrounding the birth of the Christ.

Just a verse to read: John1:14

John 1:14

The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

grace –noun

1.	elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.

2.	a pleasing or attractive quality or endowment.

3.	favor or good will.

4.	a manifestation of favor, esp. by a superior: It was only through the dean's grace that I wasn't expelled from school.

5.	mercy; clemency; pardon: an act of grace.

6.	favor shown in granting a delay or temporary immunity.

7.	Theology. a. the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God. b. the influence or spirit of God operating in humans to regenerate or strengthen them.

Friendship is acting out God's love for people in tangible ways. We were made to represent the love of God in each other's lives, so that each person we walk through life with has a more profound sense of God's love for them. Friendship is an opportunity to act on God's behalf in the lives of the people that we're close to, reminding each other who God is. When we do the hard, intimate work of friendship, we bring a little more of the divine into daily life. We get to remind one another about the bigger, more beautiful picture that we can't always see from where we are.
from everyday.
I get these inspirational messages everyday in my email and I really liked this one. I recently spent the weekend golfing with a bunch of good friends, guys who are brothers, guys through whom I can see the love of God.
Paul spoke often and very highly of many good friends he had made in his walk with Christ. Friends are an essential part of the Christian life, make good ones, cherish them and keep them!

I thank God for so many of the little things in life that speak to me. Like the new tobyMac CD which is really great:

Father God, I am clay in your hands
Help me to stay that way through all life's demands
'Cause they chip and they nag and they pull at me
And every little thing I make up my mind to be
Like I'm gonna be a daddy whose in the mix
And I'm gonna be a husband who stays legit
And I pray that I'm an artist who rises above the road that is wide and filled with self love
Everything that I see draws me
Though its only in You that I can truly see that its a feast for the eyes - a low blow to purpose
And I'm a little kid at a three ring circus

I don't want to gain the whole world and lose my soul
Don't wanna walk away let me hear the people say
I don't want to gain the whole world and lose my soul
Don't wanna walk away let me hear the people say

I love that line, "I'm a little kid at a three ring circus." It says so clearly how great and wonderful are the things the Father has in store for us, his people. This song reminds me to watch what I'm aiming for in life, I just might miss out on the really great stuff!

Faith

I was reading through the gospels last night, seeing Jesus wandering around healing people. This got me to thinking, how could he heal people and then just leave them? I mean, he did it over and over. I know he was always on his disciples for their lack of faith. Could it be that he had the faith to know that the healing in the name of God would be enough. Did he have the faith to believe that some time, some day, that healing would lead them to a relationship with God?
Now, I know some would say, "Well, Jesus only had a limited amount of time." No, he was God in the flesh. He could have spent another twenty or thirty years here with us if he thought it necessary. Obviously he did not think it necessary. Obviously he had the faith to know we would be alright with what he did.
So I guess I'm wondering about my faith. Do I have the faith to believe that if I do what little I can, will it be enough to make a difference in God's work? Or am I just spinning my wheels and wasting my time and money?
As we see in Nehemiah, Satan can try to distract God's people with doubt and ridicule. It takes a strong people with great commitment and lots of faith to think we can get the task done. If I were working on that wall, carring buckets of sand for the mortar mix, it would take a great deal of faith on my part to think we were ever going to get it done just relying on my efforts. I can't see everything going on around me if I stay focused on my task and get it done. It takes faith!

Romans 8:38-39

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.