Intentional Encouragement

     I've been a little dry at the blog well recently, but it's given me an opportunity to go back and look at some posts I published in the last couple of years.  My wife and I will be out of town for the weekend, interviewing and observing at a church in another city (another state, actually).  Our minds have been consumed with Christmas and with this weekend for some time now.  I guess that's my attempt at an explanation.  Since we are thinking about the future again and the possibility of a new life in a new place and a new church, I thought I'd reproduce this post that helps me think about the most important part of anticipation for the future...the next day's effort at honoring God.      I remember a commercial for a high end car a few years ago that had a unique headlight system. The fixtures that held the lamps sensed when the wheels were turning and would pan a little bit in that direction. The great attraction, so it seemed, was that you could see a

     It's Christmas Day.  I've enjoyed having all of our kids back at our house today.  We are treasuring these times because we know that this coming year holds some significant changes for our family.  At least one move will be coming this year; a wedding for our oldest son and (of course) all those other changes that happen without announcing themselves through each year.        We opened our gifts this morning and enjoyed sharing God's generosity with each other.  We did the same with my parents a couple of days ago and will with our future daughter in law this evening.  I love the opportunity to share with those I love.  It brings great joy to me as I give gifts.      The following words were penned a couple of years ago and they are brief, but I hope the idea of gift giving that is still fresh in your mind will allow you to spend a couple of moments reflecting on the amazing gift that God gave to us so many years ago in the person of Jesus.      Gift giving is fun

    Tuesday is the day we celebrate the birth of Jesus.  As you head into this week, let these thoughts about the amazing journey that Jesus took from Heaven to earth enlarge your gratitude for the reality of Christmas.      Here's how the ESV translates Paul’s description in Philippians 2:5-8 of what happened that first Christmas: “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”      We call this the incarnation. Jesus took on humanity; he became flesh; became one of us.       I am astonished at the extent to which Christ went to bring the message of God’s truth into the world. Jesus is eternally God and the essence of who he was didn’t change whe

     I realize that I've been out of touch for over a month, and I probably won't get back to writing until after the first of the year, but I thought I'd re-publish several posts in the next week or so that I've posted before.  They'll all focus on the celebration of Christmas.  I hope they will be an encouragement to you as you reflect on this wonderful time of year.       There was a lot about Mary's situation that would have been hard to take in. She was pregnant but unmarried. Further, she hadn’t done anything wrong to get into that situation. Even more, who would believe that?       While every young Jewish girl held the faint hope in her heart that she might be privileged to become the mother of the Messiah, they didn’t plan their lives around it. Mary wouldn’t have either. She had plans, but they likely didn’t include this. Not this way; n ot now; not before she and Joseph were married.       It came unexp