Category: Advent 2016

  This simple poem has a powerful message for me. I hope that it will encourage your heart, that it will help you to understand the depths of the love and grace and goodness that our Savior has for you. “Let the Stable Still Astonish”  Let the stable still astonish: Straw-dirt floor, dull eyes, Dusty…

It’s easy to get the wrong impression about all this Christmas stuff. Watching round-the-clock sappy Hallmark Christmas movies, being mesmerized by inspirational Christmas stuff, lulled by the crackle of the fire, the smell of peppermint and other spices, the sweet sound of jingling bells…. None of those things is what Christmas is about.

There are lots of questions about Christmas. The whole thing seems to be clouded in mystery.

Tuesday, December 20 (Suggested Reading I John 3:1) Every year around Christmas time, one of my favorite things to do is to make homemade marshmallows. They are fun to make, relatively easy, they taste really good, and many people find them to be a fun treat.  On the downside, they are pretty messy, and they…

Monday, December 19 (Suggested Reading: Matthew 2:3-8) One year a local church gave out cross-shaped signs for members to place in their yards. The signs gave the date and times of the church’s Easter services that year- a great evangelism tool, right? Maybe not!

Sunday, December 18 (Suggested Reading Luke 2:11-12, 16; Deuteronomy 4:29-31) Having been given the word that the Messiah was born, having been sent by the angel to find Him- the baby lying in a manger- how did the shepherds know where to look?

Saturday, December 17 (Suggested Reading: Luke 2:19) In Barbara Robinson’s book The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, the year that the Herdmans decided to participate in the church’s Christmas program they turned the church upside down but also brought a deeper sense of meaning to the age-old nativity story.

Friday, December 16 (Suggested reading: Matthew 2:1-12; Isaiah 55:1-13) Whenever scientists need to explain why something is the way it is, they turn to the process they know best-the process of research. They carefully plan, conduct, measure, and document experiments in the hopes of finding the answers they are looking for. Sometimes the answers are there,…

Thursday, December 15 (Suggested Reading: Galatians 4:4-5) When I was growing up, my sister and I used to beg my parents every evening during the Christmas season to let us open “just one” gift.  Watching the pile of festively wrapped packages growing under the tree was just too much for our curious little minds. But…