Merry Christmas

Wishing you a very merry Christmas from our family to yours!

And, don’t forget the reason for the season…

Luke 2:11

For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.  And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger."  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying:

"Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

So it was, when the angels had gone away from them into heaven, that the shepherds said to one another, "Let us now go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has come to pass, which the Lord has made known to us."  And they came with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the Babe lying in a manger.  Now when they had seen Him, they made widely known the saying which was told them concerning this Child.  And all those who heard it marveled at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart.

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For you photo-bugs out there, here is the setup for the shot:

A Christmas Surprise

One of the few benefits of traveling for work is that I get to stay in some pretty nice hotels along the way.  This week I’m staying at the Gaylord Opryland in Nashville. 

I expected them to be “all dressed up” for Christmas, but was surprised when, instead of a larger-than-life Santa Clause and a bunch of rein deer on their very large front lawn, they had a full manger scene, the Bible open to the Christmas Story.

They also had the audible story being told by a low-Southern voice.  I still think that Charlie White told it best at COD that is played during our Living Nativity this coming weekend – if you’re in Southern California, you must come see!!!

The best part is that Gaylord Entertainment definitely didn’t have to do this – as I said before, they could have easily had Santa and his sleigh.  BUT, they chose to include the real reason for Christmas as part of their celebration.  FANTASTIC!

They also had everything in the hotel dressed up too – including the arboretum and a great tree made up of Poinsettias about 20’ tall!

 

The Greatest of all Events

A good friend of mine from COD wrote this.  It is a perspective from a fellow Believer and guy who has worked at JPL most of his life…  Through some of the great events that happened in JPL’s history.  Take a read – I hope you’ll be as encouraged as I am!:

 

Do you recall where you were when Neil Armstrong became the first man to set foot on the moon (that is if you were yet alive)?  The year was 1969 and I was a young Quality Assurance Mechanical Inspector working for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. I had just returned home after a four-month stay at the Cape in Florida as part of the team preparing the Mariner ’69 spacecraft for its launch to Mars. What an exciting time it was for me being a part of the early space program and working on something so significant. But the launch of Apollo 11 and the subsequent landing on the moon that same year was much bigger than anything I could ever imagine. I could safely say then that the first moonwalk was the greatest human achievement in the history of the world.

Now forty years later I can tell you that there was a greater voyage of space travel than even that of Apollo 11. God sent His Son from afar to come and visit our world. Even as I was a witness of that historic event the summer of 1969, I am witness to the majesty and power of the One who has come in the name of the Lord. Now that I have met Him personally I realize that Christ’s coming is infinitely more significant than anything that has ever happened.

Please consider the wonder of the greatest of all events:

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:1,14)

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us”

The everlasting God took on human flesh and stepped down from heaven to live with us here on earth

Just for a few moments be still and think of nothing else – God with us…

Do you believe that?

Do you really believe that on a real day in a real place God Himself came to earth?

Really?

That’s incredible

Do you really believe that?

Because there is no event that ever happened in human history that could compare to God coming and dwelling with us

If you were alive when the first man walked on the moon you will recall how great an event that was; people would talk about nothing else at the time of this awesome event

Yet man walking on the moon is nothing compared to God having walked on earth; you would think that we would be talking about this all the time

Well just as talking today about men walking on the moon, talking in awe about God walking on earth has all but disappeared

Oh yes, the fact that God has walked on earth is in our “religion” and in our churches but not necessarily in our thoughts and conversation

So think again, “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us”

God with us…do you believe that?

And yes, the entrance of God into our world is cause for celebration, in and out of season

And why?

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

Now with His redemptive work completed (John 19:30) this God-Man, Jesus the Christ is seated at the right hand of the Father making intercession for us (Romans 8:34)

But He has not left us alone as orphans, He has given us His Holy Spirit, and He will come again (John 14:15-18)

There is truly “GOOD TIDINGS OF GREAT JOY”

Be encouraged in Christ Jesus,

Bob

David Update: One Month Down

From Celia yesterday:1 month down! Working with machines to try and stand up and doing well in wheel chair. Had a brief visit with Zach yesterday and David graduated to a normal diet today! Still waiting for further tests on liver, thank you for your continued prayers.

Please continue to pray that God would completely heal David and quickly!

David’s Day One at Rehab

From Celia:

Day 1 of rehab done! David fully participated in 6+ hours of therapy and blew everyone away! He even got a round of applause from the elderly group watching! :) Liver enzymes are NORMAL, which means no biopsy! Praise God!! Clinging to the verse from our devotion today "...but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Praise! David on His Way to Acute Rehab!

From Celia:

Dear friends and family,

We have the word that we will be moving to acute rehab today! We don't know exactly when...but this is what we are planning. :) The acute rehab center is on site at the hospital. This is great because his doctor's can still follow him very closely. They are deciding on an appropriate nutrition plan and are running follow up tests to figure out his liver enzymes, which are still not normal.

Please pray for wisdom in decision making and for David to be encouraged as he transitions to this difficult rehab portion of his journey.

Thank you for your continued prayers.

Celia

David Out of ICU!!!

From Celia:

We have thankful hearts this morning. We moved to less intensive care last night...what a Thanksgiving gift! David is stable and continually showing improved strength in many areas. So much to be thankful for! Bottom line: thankful for a GOOD God. Happy Thanksgiving! Thank you for your continued prayers.