Introducing, "So, You've Been Given the Pulpit . . ."

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving and that thankfulness is still filling your heart as the days after Thanksgiving unfold. It is amazing, when we consider that the Word says that every good and perfect gift comes from God, how many things we have to be thankful for when we start to count EVERYTHING good in our life . . . from every breath, to every meal, to every smile we give, to every smile we get, to every bit of love we show, to every bit of love we are shown, to every piece of clothing we wear, to every night in a warm bed, to the Cross of Christ, to the Word of life, to . . .

We had a wonderful day after Thanksgiving going to a local Christmas tree farm to cut a tree for our home. An anonymous person gave our family a certificate for one free tree and we went to the farm to find hot chocolate and a tractor pulling a trailer with a hay bale on it to sit on waiting for customers. The girls had a great time running through the trees, playing with the owner's dogs, and even sitting on the back of the owner's horses. We tied our tree to the roof of the van, drove home under a cloudy sky, and got out some of our Christmas stuff. Before we brought the tree in or decorated anything we sat in front of the fire and read the Christmas story from Luke and Matthew (chapters 2 in both) and then we set up our nativity scene (complete with the glowing star I made out of a plastic can lid mounted on an old night light, and a poster board back drop with stickers of stars and a cut out moon on it—see picture). It has been a wonderful few days as a family, and I am grateful to God for the time.

Christmas is always a time in which I seek (and sometimes struggle) to grow deeper and closer to the heart and message of the Savior come to earth. Each year it seems that a different part of the story comes alive for me. Last year it was the concept Immanuel (God with us). It became the "theme" of Christmas for me and, to this day, if I'm heading in to something hard, Bethany will still whisper to me, "Immanuel" as a reminder that He is with me. I don't know what it will be this year, but I do have to say that as we read the Christmas story Luke 2:9 leapt in my heart, as I wondered what it meant, and what it looked like, and what it was like to have the glory of the Lord shine around them. (Luke 2:9 And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with fear.)

So, this leads me to the title. I am going to post another post in a minute with an invitation to you. If this works out then maybe we'll do this more often. My heart has always been that this page would be about more than me, and here's a chance for you to bless me and the body of readers. So, read the next post, "So, You've Been Given the Pulpit . . . Christmas."