Christian writer Max Lucado put the importance of Christmas in perspective when he wrote the following words….

When it comes to goodies and candy, rosy cheeks and red noses, go to the North Pole. But when it comes to ETERNITY…FORGIVENESS…PURPOSE…AND TRUTH…go to the manger, kneel with the shepherds and worship the God who dared to do what man dared not dream. Heaven opened itself and placed its most precious one in a human womb….GOD BECAME MAN…THE CREATOR OF LIFE WAS CREATED.

God Bless You and Merry Christmas.

Author N.T. Wright says the following, “God’s new world of justice and joy, of hope for the whole earth, was launched when Jesus came out of the tomb on Easter Morning, and I know that He calls His followers to live in him and by the power of the Spirit and so to be new-creation people here and now…”

So what does all of the above mean? Well obviously things changed for us as part of God’s Creation. We, as sinners, have been redeemed by Jesus’s death on the cross and offered eternal life thru His Resurrection. Many of us shy away from this because we don’t believe it is possible or real. Basically we just don’t believe in God. 

Well the good news is that IF God created the universe (and He did) then everything is possible. Amen and God Bless You.

James Bryan Smith

Jesus loves me with all my imperfections. He loves me just as I am, not as I should be. I know there is a lot of things that I do (sin) that are wrong. There are things in my life that I need to change. There are things I don’t like about myself. Jesus is teaching me to re-think my life, look forward, and let him help me stay on the road to redemptio;n. I know that he is not finished with me yet. I know that I am loved. The road is broken, But I thank Jesus for the broken road that leads me to him.

Philippians 1:6 – being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus

I have always been a fan of the KISS Theory. KISS stands for “Keep It Simple Stupid”. So I will attempt to keep the following words as simple as possible. I believe in God and I believe Jesus is God. I believe He loves us unconditionally and gives us amazing grace and forgiveness throughout our lives…..no strings attached. He basically says “here it is, I am the Way and the Truth”. Now we have a choice to make. Do we believe him or not. So if this seems confusing, try to follow this idea. If you have a instruction manual for your washing machine it would not provide information on how your car works and vice versa. If I am trying to figure out why my car won’t run then I need to go to my car instruction manual. Well, guess what. Jesus provides us with an instruction manual on how to mange our lives. How to point our lives in the direction of purpose and meaning. Its called the Holy Bible. It contains all the answers on how to manage our lives. Lots and lots of answers to problems and otherwise that plague us throughout our lives. The washing machine manual and car manual and all the self help books in the world will not provide the answers to our questions about life like the Bible will. You turn to Bible and start re-thinking your life and its pretty much a guarantee that you will like what you hear and learn. Its up to you and nobody else.

What is God’s instruction? God gave us a path of righteousness to live by, and He showed us the right path to live and gave us the instructions to pass down to our children and the society that we live in . The instructions that God gave teaches mankind how to live right, treat others, how to love, forgive and what to do and not to do.

Following I will paraphrase a reading by author James Bryan Smith on acceptance. God’s acceptance of us is not based on any qualities that we have. Its a promise and therefore received by faith. We need to trust God’s promise that he accepts us not based on performance but just as we are…..no conditions attached. We are urged to make peace with our brokenness and flawed existence. Furthermore, may we have courage not to run when the voice of our condemning heart would tear us away from God. God’s acceptance of us as we are allows us to accept ourselves just as we are. I believe this and trusting God will help me to ‘accept that acceptance”.

Romans 8:34 – Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died— more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.

The problems we face in America today with social justice is not about our country or flag. It is about us. America and our flag stand for “liberty and justice for all”. Our American Constitution was written for “liberty and justice for all”. The problem is that we the people are not living up to these ideals. America is “one nation under God, indivisible….” We need to quit burning the flag that stands for the ideals that we want. We have dropped the ball. We need to embrace our country’s values instead of hating them or wanting to change them. We need to mend the divide. We need to quit hating. We need to fly the flag like we mean it and turn our eyes toward God. We need renewal. We want “liberty and justice for all” and so does the flag, God, and country. For heaven’s sake its all there in the American Constitution. We have the answer to injustice and always have. We need to recommit ourselves. And it would not hurt to pray to the one and only God that this country was founded under. Pray to him to heal our land…..AMEN! And God Bless America.

2Cronicles 7:14 – If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear heaven and forgive their sin and heal their land.

Science and philosophers have tried to figure out life for thousands of years. When it comes to just the human body one must admit that it is a miracle. The more we try to fathom the workings of the human body the more fathomless it is revealed to be. It is beyond our understanding. Take the human eye for example. The eye might be the most amazing organ of all the amazing organs in the human body. Charles Darwin, the Father of Evolution, said, ” To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection(Evolution) seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest degree.” Amen to that. Then there is the ear, heart, liver, stomach, etc. etc. And finally the granddaddy of them all–the human brain. Lets be serious, this is all above our understanding. Praise be to God and His Son Jesus Christ and Praise be to everything we don’t understand.

John 1:1 – In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

;Musing is defined as a period of reflection or thought . Today, like a lot of days I am thinking and reflecting about Jesus Christ. I am wondering how a person of such incredible value to our lives can be ignored. Not only can one reflect on his life but also on the history he left behind that is found in the Holy Bible and thousands of other books. Why do people try to erase his history? What is happing to us. He is everything that a person should aspire to be. He is the one person that loves us unconditionally and gives us a grace that is unfathomable. He is the King of Kings, the Alpha and Omega. The great I Am. Yet so many of the people on this plant earth treat him like he never existed, that he is a myth. There has never been another person that comes close to the greatness and awesomeness of Jesus. Its perplexing. However, the good news is that many people, me included, believe in Jesus. We believe every word written in the Bible about him. He is The Way and The Truth in our lives. I just hope that more people can wake up to the Gift of Jesus Christ that was given to us by the Almighty God. God Bless and have a great week.

Psalm 145:1 – Every day I will praise you and extol your name forever and ever. Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; His greatness no one can fathom. One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.

In the world of false information put forth by various media outlets and outright lies, we wonder where we can find the truth. The print media and social media along with various news sites on the internet bombard us with these lies and false information daily. We scratch our heads and wonder who to listen to. Jesus claims He is the Way and the Truth. I believe this. I find peace and comfort in knowing that there is one source of universal truth–Jesus. He will never lie or be deceitful. Through the Bible He communicates the Truth to us….always. We can have no doubt that Jesus will always and has always been the truth. He is the Living God—-Amen.

John 14:6 – I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

Romans 1:25 – They exchanged the Truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator Who is forever praised…..Amen