A Son's Post

Haggi wrote this after reading my post about his not coming home this year. Posted with his permission. In case you were wondering he gets his spelling abilities from his dad.

It snowed in the desert yesterday. This, of course, sent my brain
hurtling back across a country, to my family and my home. Snow was
rare enough in NC to be treasured as a child. Snow meant school
closures, quick romps in the powder before beating a hasty retreat to
a good book and a warm blanket. The occasional day spent sliding on
whatever makeshift sleds we could find down hills at the local golf
course. Snow meant slowing down for a few days, long enough to go out
and make some pretty amazing memories.

In this strange new world I now call home, snow has different
connotations. Snow means unseasonably cool weather for southern
California, which according to panicky news reporters means that the
orange trees are going to die, starting a catastrophic chain of events
that will undoubtedly end in the apocalypse. On a more personal level,
snow means flash flooding through my little desert community, washing
out already poor dirt roads and causing power outages. Snow is not the
friend I remembered it to be.

But as I stood outside watching snowfall, I had to smile. I won't be
heading home for Christmas this year, a decision I made that gets
stupider with each passing day. To have a moment, even an inconvenient
moment, where I could feel like I was home is a valuable thing.
Something I tried to remember today as I forded rivers in my 2-wheel
drive 94' Taurus.

The Babe in the Manger Grew Up

As many of us are are starting to think about putting our Christmas decorations away, packing up the manger scene for another year, it is time for the rest of the story.

The baby Jesus grew up.

Not in itself very remarkable, many Jewish boys in the first century grew up. Jesus was different in that He claimed to be God; He performed miracles as testimony to that claim. Even more remarkable He forgave sins, spoke with authority about the Sabbath (claimed to be Lord of the Sabbath) and stated publicly “Before Abraham was, I Am" His audience understood He was claiming deity and picked up stones to kill Him.

He claimed to come to die as a perfect sacrifice for sin, yours and mine, all those before us and all those to come. To those who would accept this sacrifice for their sin, He offered eternal life.

So much easier to pack the babe away, than consider the claims of the adult Jesus. Before you pack, please consider His claims of deity, your need for a Savior from your sin and His offer of forgiveness and eternal life. 

Before you pack away Christmas, please consider the greatest gift ever given:

14The 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. John 1

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade—kept in heaven for you, 5who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, 9for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1

MERRY CHRISTMAS

He was born in an obscure village.
He worked in a carpenter shop until he was about thirty.
He then became an itinerant preacher.
He never held an office.
He never had a family or owned a house.
He didn't go to college.
He had no credentials but Himself.

After preaching three years, the public turned against Him.
His friends ran away.
He was turned over to His enemies and went through the mockery of a trial.
He was nailed to a cross between two thieves.
While He was dying, His executioners gambled for His clothing, the only property He had on earth.
He was laid in a borrowed grave.

Nineteen centuries have come and gone,
and today He is the central figure of the human race.
All the armies that ever marched,
all the navies that ever sailed,
all the parliaments that ever sat, and
all the kings that ever reigned
have not affected the life of man on the earth as much as that ONE SOLITARY LIFE.

Author Unknown

referenced from yesuskristus

Author unknown.

The Great Christmas Divide

He loves It's A Wonderful Life.

         I love A Christmas Story. I just can't watch his favorite one more time.

Bless him, the teens all perfer to watch A Christmas Story with me. They will watch It's A Wonderful Life with their dad on the off chance there really is a Santa and they need the good kid points.

Thank goodness we both perfer colored lights on the tree and roast beef for Christmas dinner or it would get tense around here.

Which do you perfer, It's A Wonderful Life or A Christmas Story? Something else?

Aging with Grace: 4, Now 3 Perhaps 2, Then 1, Then What?

My oldest is not coming home for Christmas this year. This is the first time all the kids will not be at our home for the holiday but most likely, it is not the last.

Even though I had all year to prepare, I am just not ready. Haggai started his youth pastor position last year. His boss was a little surprised Haggai was hoping to fly to visit family just four short months after getting started. It turns out that from Christmas to New Years is a busy time for many pastors...who knew?

His boss knows me and he knew I was not ready for a Christmas without my 20-year-old baby. (Of course they are no longer babies, but all four of them will always be my babies). Haggi came home for Christmas and I bless his boss’ kindness to this day.

However he is not coming home this year. It is not as if we are out of touch. Cell phones are a blessing to moms with far-flung kids. I still remember what he looks like so all is good.

It’s just he won’t be here. My daughter works in a restaurant. I anxiously asked if the restaurant was open on Thanksgiving or on Christmas. Fortunately it is closed both days. I just could not face having two kids missing from the holiday dinner this year. One is hard enough.

However that day will come…one is gone, then some day two, perhaps three, than one day all four. It is too sad to even think about.

I already told my husband, the first Christmas all the kids are gone, I am flying to Europe for the holiday and he is welcome to come with me.

In the mean time, I just know I will boohoo every time I hear “I’ll Be Home for Christmas”.

I better put some tissues with the Ben-Gay and lipstick in my purse.

How did you cope the first time a child didn’t come home for the holidays? When did you stop feeling so sad?