faithrunner

On Christmas Eve after our worship service at Legacy, we traveled across town to Kim's mother's home in Lake Highlands. While we were opening our gifts, her 16-year-old television went dead . Nothing we did got it going again. So, she'll get a new television for Christmas this year! In order to make room for the new TV, we had to clean out the space where her "stereo system" and current "big screen" TV sat . We started by cleaning out the VHS tapes and cassette tapes from the stereo cabinet. Summer, our 22-year-old became fascinated with the turntable and black, vinyl disks that we found there . For the rest of the day we played "records," and "LPs" of Glenn Miller, John Denver, The Association, and the Sound of Music. The scratching sound in the speakers added to the nostalgia of it all. Summer was amazed her grandmother knew all the words to such old songs like Chattanooga Choo Choo, Stardust, and Moonlight Serenade. In the middle o...

I have a love-hate relationship with Christmas . I love that gift-giving, for example, exemplifies God's giving heart and gift of the Christ. I hate that gift-giving is an obligation this time of year. I love that giving makes you think of others and how you can honor them by what you give them. I hate that I am forced to think of what to give others by retailers who make 50% of their income from Thanksgiving to December. I love that people want to "keep Christ in Christmas," but it drives me nuts that some think playing "A Holly, Jolly Christmas" on the radio somehow does that. Enough of my griping . I do love this time of year with all of its commercialism and my participation in it. Under all the noise and lights--just as at the first Christ-mass--there is still the reality of the birth of a child in whom God became a person so we all could have hope and eternal life. My prayer for this Christmas is: Giver of gifts , may my heart be as yours: whether expec...