25 Days Of Christmas_Day 25
Today I simply wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and thank you from the bottom of my heart for all of your support and passion and passion to serve Jesus, Fellowship Church and me this year. It has been an honor and we are looking forward to an incredible 2010.
Take a moment to stop with your family and read through the Christmas story in Luke 2.
25 Days Of Christmas_Day 24
One of the all time great sketches from Saturday Night Live. John Malkovich does the reading of The Night Before Christmas.
The Poem in its entirety:
Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds, When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter, The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow With a little old driver, so lively and quick, “Now Dasher! now, Dancer! now, Prancer and Vixen! As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot, His eyes-how they twinkled! his dimples how merry! The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth, He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf, He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.
And mamma in her ‘kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled our brains for a long winter’s nap.
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below.
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tinny reindeer.
I knew in a moment it must be St Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name!
On, Comet! On, Cupid! on, on Donner and Blitzen!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! Dash away! Dash away all!”
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky.
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of Toys, and St Nicholas too.
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my head, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St Nicholas came with a bound.
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot.
A bundle of Toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler, just opening his pack.
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow.
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook when he laughed, like a bowlful of jelly!
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself!
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread.
And filled all the stockings, then turned with a jerk.
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose!
He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ‘ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!”
You can find the history of the poem HERE.
25 Days Of Christmas_Day 23
I just have to be honest, I have never eaten or smelled fruitcake before and I never ever have any intentions what-so-ever of trying it. The look is nasty and the texture looks like something my kids made out of Play-doh. However I love history and am a big history buff so I thought it would be fun to pass on the history of fruitcake to you.
“Fruitcake is for many families the giving and receiving of a favorite, though often ridiculed, traditional food. Fruitcake is considered to be a part of many families’ Christmas traditions just as important as having a Christmas tree.
Like many Christmas traditions, the idea of giving fruitcakes as gifts is thought to have originated in ancient times. No one ever recorded who took the first cake and added fruit, honey, nuts, and alcohol to make an edible gift for their family, but records indicate that this tradition was occurring in Rome prior to the birth of Jesus (B.C.).
One of the main reasons fruitcakes were given as gifts in early times is that the ingredients combined in such a way as to greatly reduce the spoiling of this food. This was a huge advantage when the average family had very little control over their food supply, and allowed people to travel longer distances since they could carry a food supply with them that would not spoil.
The fruitcake as we know it today evolved from plum cake recipes in England. It became a natural food to have for holiday celebrations, since it could be made in advance (sometimes many months in advance) and then families could be prepared to give their visitors a treat.
After trying to eat a piece of fruitcake, I have joined the list of people who believe that fruitcakes are never consumed, just created and given as gifts to others. One day, our planet will be overwhelmed with fruitcakes and they will all need to be dumped into an ocean, possibly creating the new continent of ‘fruitcakia’. Or, maybe they will just be used as bricks in the building of skyscrapers.”
Taken from Merry Christmas.com
Have you ever eaten fruitcake? Worse, have you ever given fruitcake as a gift?
25 Days Of Christmas_Day 22
Christmas is coming. With that said there is a fun count down website to the official “arrival” of Santa. The official NORAD Santa Tracker. Has a fun interactive site and video to go along with it.
25 Days Of Christmas_Day 21
There is a guy who is a phenomenal blogger named Jon Acuff who runs a blog called Stuff Christians Like. He has the incredible ability to take everyday “Christian” stuff and make it humorous. This is a re-post directly from Saying Merry Christmas that I thought was hilarious and insightful. Check out what he writes in bold.
I wasn’t going to write about this one. The Christmas season was going to come and go and I wasn’t even going to touch it. Like every fraternity at Samford University’s view of Freshman Jon Acuff, I was going to reject this.
Until I saw the billboard.
Sunday night, driving home from vacation with my family outside of Atlanta, GA, I saw a new billboard.
On a background of festive red, with big white letters I read a simple message:
I miss you saying “Merry Christmas.” – Jesus
And that’s when, much like the mafia, just when I thought I was out, they dragged me back into the conversation.
I don’t have a problem with that billboard, but there are three things it calls to mind:
1. We invented the phrase “Merry Christmas.”
I’ve only read the Bible from front to back one time. I read it a lot, but from a “read through it straight in 2 years point of view” I’ve only taken one spin. But when I did, I swear I couldn’t find the phrase, “Merry Christmas” anywhere. That billboard kind of makes it seem like Paul said that while he was making tents before he went on his wild missions. “Making tents on Christmas Eve. That is completely bogus. No one even said ‘Merry Christmas’ to me. All these heathen tent makers all say, ‘Happy Holidays.’ So whack.”
2. How do we know Jesus misses that?
Maybe he does. Maybe he doesn’t. I honestly don’t know. Maybe Jesus would say things like “I miss hearing you say, ‘Let’s play some Frisbee golf’” or “I miss hearing you say that you pre-ordered the ‘Stuff Christians Like
3. We would be upset if someone else quoted Jesus for their cause.
If some other group made a billboard that quoted Jesus and that quote was not solidly based in the Bible, we would go spider monkey crazy. (You might rock out squirrel monkey style, but that’s really a personal preference thing.) If someone, even just for emphasis, quoted Jesus as supporting their cause and it wasn’t straight up Bible, we would be straight up upset.
I will see that billboard everyday during my commute, but I’m at peace with it. And there’s a pretty simple reason – It’s not belligerent. I always get a little weirded out when people aggressively make the distinction between “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays.” I completely understand the frustration with a culture that is actively and deliberately removing Christ at every given opportunity, but when we angrily say, “It’s ‘Merry Christmas, not happy holidays!’” we might as well say, “It’s ‘Merry Christmas,’ not happy holidays you jerk!” And that makes people want to celebrate winter solstice instead of whatever those grumpy, fight you on a vernacular level Christians are down with.
I promise.
25 Days Of Christmas_Day 20
I love the clip from the Elf where Buddy starts shouting Santa, I know him. Made me think with church be canceled today there is a lot of anticipation for Wednesday and Thursday as Eric takes the reign as lead pastor of Fellowship Church. Can’t help but think when I hear that clip, that instead of Santa, I know him, it’s Eric is coming, I know him. Looking forward to Christmas as I hope you are. Who have you invited who needs to hear about Jesus?
25 Days Of Christmas_Day 19
It is fitting that today’s post is about snow considering it is snowing outside. I love the snow and especially any snow related activities. I remember growing up and just getting pounded with snow each year and having no school.
So I am curious, what are some of your snow memories? Do you like the snow? Any snow related accidents? What is the most fun thing you have done in the snow?
25 Days Of Christmas_Day 18
I was thinking about how everybody followed the star of Bethlehem to see Jesus and how weird it must have been to be directed that way. After all it’s not a common practice to follow stars to your location, I tried to follow one to the Outback the other night only to realize the star I was following was actually a glare on my windshield from my iphone…so no luck there. The star led them to place they needed to be, to be a part of something extraordinary.
That is sort of like the staff of Fellowship. Although I am not attempting to compare our journey together as the weight of the Savior of the world being born…however think about this for a second and how God has orchestrated His plan.
- Gus was from the Delaware Valley.
- Kristi by default was from the Delaware Valley.
- Ben was from either Georgia or Florida. I think it was both if that is possible.
- Jeff is from Iowa.
- Dan is from Boston.
- Shari is from Alaska.
- Nancy is from Illinois.
- Eric is from Illinois.
- I am from California/Washington State
And yet God orchestrated His plan to bring all of us together to redefine church in the Delaware Valley. Each of us has different gifts and talents that we bring to the table. We each come from a different perspective. We each have baggage and we are all imperfect and yet God uses us to shape His Kingdom. If God can use this bunch, He can use you.
Are you ready to be used by God? What is the story that is God is writing through you? During the Holiday season, has God called you to do something extraordinary? Are you exactly where God wants you?
25 Days Of Christmas_Day 17
This is the most pointless Christmas commercial I have ever seen. It is a spoof on a Calvin Klein commercial. It made me laugh and so I am passing it on to you. I especially loved Santa running down the street with the milk bottles. I am warning you this commercial carries no value with it.
25 Days Of Christmas_Day 16
Tree Toppers. I had no idea the emotional attachement that people had with their tree toppers. I had no clue that some people feel that their tree toppers identify them as an individual. For our house we have a simple little gold star which brings back painful memories of elementary school and the “red” star I would get when all the other kids got gold stars. That is for another day and another post, my counselor says I’m not ready to talk about it.
Here are some tree toppers that I found that apparently “identify” people and who they are.
So I ask you the question, what do you put on your tree?
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