Time once again for our Christmas blog vacation!

Lots of activity around the old homestead today.  Baking...cleaning...organizing.  The whole family will be here this afternoon to eat, maybe open one Christmas present and later head to church for Christmas eve services.

Why don't you join us - 7 or 9 pm.  It's always a special time when the lights go down, the candles are lit and the congregation sings "Silent Night."

This is the last blog entry for the year.  Thanks to you all for checking in.  We had more readers than in previous years.  Close to a hundred of you every day took time to read Cross Thoughts.  I hope you've been encouraged and helped and, on occasion, even had a chuckle or two.  If so, then I'll feel that it's mission accomplished!

I'll return on January 8.  Until then, God bless you this Christmas season.  And have a blessed new year!

You're too small!

Kids hate to hear those words, right? We adults don't like those words either. Hearing that we're too small, not smart enough, not gifted enough, not influential enough really hurts, doesn't it? God has a remedy for our "small-ness!" I'll be preaching this weekend at Life in Christ - today at 5 pm and tomorrow at 8, 9:30 and 11 am.  Join us for worship as we continue to prepare for a birthday celebration - that of the Christ child!

Have a blessed weekend!

What to do during Advent

This Advent season it's time to kneel a little closer to Jesus' crib and beneath His cross...there (we'll) hear the best news ever of how God sent Jesus to bring double payment for my sins.

Richard E. Lauersdorf, "Together with Jesus," December 3 devotion

What Christmas is all about

Linus gets it.  Join us at Life in Christ on Monday evening - 7 and 9 pm - to hear the story that Linus was so willing to proclaim.  Join us as we learn about the gift God gives just "for you."

But you knew this already, right?

      Santa lives at the North Pole.
      JESUS is everywhere.
      
      Santa rides in a sleigh
      JESUS rides on the wind and walks on the water.
      
      Santa comes but once a year
      JESUS is an ever present help.
      
      Santa fills your stockings with goodies
      JESUS supplies all your needs.
      
      You have to stand in line to see Santa
      JESUS is as close as the mention of His name.
      
      Santa lets you sit on his lap
      JESUS lets you rest in His arms.
      
      Santa doesn't know your name, all he can say is "Hi little boy or girl, What's your name?"
      JESUS knew our name before we did.Not only does He know our name, He knows our address too.He knows our history and future and He even knows how many hairs are on our heads.
      
      Santa has a belly like a bowl full of jelly
      JESUS has a heart full of love.
      
      All Santa can offer is HO HO HO
      JESUS offers health, help and hope.
      
      Santa says "You better not cry"
      JESUS says "Cast all your cares on me for I care for you.
      
      Santa's little helpers make toys
      JESUS makes new life, mends wounded hearts, repairs broken homes and builds mansions.
      
      Santa may make you chuckle but
      JESUS gives you joy that is your strength.
      
      While Santa puts gifts under your tree
      JESUS became our gift and died on the tree.
      
      It's obvious there is really no comparison.
      
      We need to remember WHO Christmas is all about.
      
      Jesus is still the reason for the season.
      
      Yes, Jesus is better, he is even better than Santa Claus!

Jesus lives up to His name

Matthew 1:21

She will give birth to a son,

And you will give Him the name Jesus,

Because He will save His people from their sins.

            How were you named?  After a parent or grandparent?  In honor of a family friend or close acquaintance?  Were your parents looking for a unique or one-of-a-kind name?  Was it because of the special meaning behind your name?

            When it came to their first born, Mary and Joseph did not have any input into the choice of the name.  God the Father already had a name chosen.  The angel informs Joseph that the baby conceived in Mary will be named Jesus, “because He will save His people from their sins.”

            The name Jesus means “the Lord saves.”  Our Savior God lives up to His name.  The apostle Peter said as much when he proclaimed: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”  Salvation was the mission of the tiny baby whose birth we will soon celebrate.  Like the Samaritans we, too, exclaim: “We know that this man really is the Savior of the world.”  That’s what makes the name Jesus special to us.  The Lord saves you!

A matter of faith

The issue of faith is not so much whether we believe in God, but whether we believe in the God we believe in.

RC Sproul