by

Our Daily Thread 12-25-12

Wake Up!

It’s CHRISTMAS!

🙂

Merry Christmas everyone!

Yesterday I posted the first part of the story from Luke 2.

Today, we celebrate the rest.

The arrival of THE greatest gift mankind could receive from a loving God.

A savior, Jesus Christ, and through Him, forgiveness. I’ve received no greater gift, and I’m thankful for it.

Luke 2:6-21

6 And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,

14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.

16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.

17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.

18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.

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

20 And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

21 And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

🙂

36 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-25-12”

  5. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” Isa. 9:2

    Like

    Reply

  7. Merry Christmas everyone’
    Everyone else here is still asleep.
    I must have been bad, Santa didn’t come here.
    I’m sure he came to the Muller’s house, that’s where the kids are.
    We’re going there for breakfst when everyone else wakes up.
    “All praise to Our Lord God and King” Amen
    All it takes to make me happy is to see all my family together.’
    I took all 13 out to dinner after church last night.
    It only happens once a year and it was worth it.
    😆

    I can’t get used to working on thislaptop. 😦

    Like

    Reply

  10. ¡Feliz Navidad! We went ahead and opened gifts last night, since we are leaving around 9 this morning. D2 is making us banana chocolate chip pancakes. She says it’s a tradition, but it is only something we recently started doing. Smells good! Almost everyone is up and most are in the kitchen. D1 and youngest grandchild are still in bed. Handel’s Messiah is playing and all are joyous.

    God is too good to us!

    Like

    Reply

  11. Merry Christmas, everyone! It’s already half over here and it has just been a quiet day for me. We had a Christmas Eve cookout and bonfire last night with all the missionaries.

    Like

    Reply

  13. Merry Christmas all. It was a wonderful Christmas Eve. Church was at 5. BG didn’t want to go and I didn’t want to argue. Mr. P had had to work part of the day, came home and took a nap. I had some family disappointment yesterday so I was going to sneak off to church by myself. Just as I turned in to the church parking lot Mr. P called. He had expected me to wak him up and he was on his way. There is no way for me to explain what that meant to me. He also took communion for the first time in “my” church last night. The priest has made it clear to him that all Baptized Christians are welcome at the Lord’s table. We take the wine from a common cup. Mr. P has explained to me numerous times what a cesspool of germs it is. I have explained that it is port wine and has a higher alcohol content to kill the germs. I haven’t pushed him, figuring that when and if he was ready to take communion he would. I believe communion in a very intense and personal thing; not to be taken lightly (and I mean that literally).
    I gave him an easy “out” if he had wanted to use the excuse of sleeping through church and he didn’t take it, then he took communion. It made my heart swell.

    After church we came home and recreated one of my favorite Christmas Eves. When I was going through all the infertility treatments to have Baby Girl I was at one of the lowest points in my life. I had always had HUGE Christmas Eve dinners with all the works. China, Silver, Crystal, a menu to die for…but that Christmas I just could not put on my happy face and march through it. I cancelled everything. Christmas Eve dinner that year was grilled cheese sandwiches, tomato soup, and It’s a Wonderful Life—fast forward 16 years and I have a new husband who is the Sweetest Man on Earth and this time around Baby Girl had a grilled ham and cheese sandwich and watched It’s a Wonderful Life with me. I told her why it was important to me. She didn’t want to watch the movie until Paul explained to her why the movie was a classic and that one day she would understand.

    I am happy to report that once again Clarence got his wings and the Savings and Loan was saved. All’s well that ended well in Bedford Falls.

    Life is Good in the Sunny (rainy) South

    Like

    Reply

  14. Merry Christmas to all!

    The girls are still asleep, but the gifts are wrapped and the stockings hung for the girls, I have blueberry muffins in the oven, my hubby is washing dishes, and he’ll wake the girls soon. Last night was dinner at my in-laws (I took some sugar cookies) and tonight is lunch there (I’ll take broccoli).

    Like

    Reply

  19. The Muller kids got too much stuff.
    But I said that about Chuck’s childern too, and they turned out OK.
    All good kids.
    We’re going to the Smiths (Jennifer) to open presents and have dinner this afternoon. .

    Like

    Reply

  20. Merry Christmas Everyone. Here is my favorite Christmas Scripture:

    Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,
    Gal 4:5 so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
    Gal 4:6 Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

    Like

    Reply

  21. Christmas Blessings, all!

    We met 2nd Arrow’s guy last night. Nice fellow. He certainly does love kids, like our daughter says he does. 6th Arrow crawled into 2nd Arrow’s lap at church last night and fell asleep. You should have seen how tenderly 2nd Arrow’s guy looked down at that little sleeping girl next to him! It was so sweet.

    He’s coming over later today, and after some visiting here, 2nd Arrow will go to meet his family.

    Have a great Christmas, celebrating our Savior’s birth!

    Like

    Reply

  23. It’s a quiet Christmas morning around here – we all got up at random times. The turkey is now in the oven and I need to start thinking of when all the other foods need to be prepped and started cooking.

    Last night we drove an hour each way to our church service – beautiful! Yesterday Chas (I think ) mentioned that Christmas Eve services usually end with Silent Night. Ours started with it (which sort of threw me) and ended with Joy to the World! It was lovely.

    I’m enjoying reading about everyone’s Christmas traditions. We opened presents after church last night, pigged out on junk food and had fun. We have also played several board games – Settlers of Cataan and Risk are becoming a big tradition in our house. I wonder what we’ll play today while waiting for the turkey to be served 🙂

    Like

    Reply

  24. Kare2012, that’s interesting — our Christmas Eve service last night also started with Silent Night and ended with Joy to the World. 🙂

    I hadn’t thought of how Silent Night typically is the final song of Christmas Eve services until I saw the comments here.

    But I think Joy to the World is my favorite carol at Christmastime (or at any time! we’ve actually sung it at different times of the year at church).

    Like

    Reply

  25. Last evening, Silent Night was the last song. and we exetid singing it, We doused our candles and visited outside after the service. I always enjoy those services.
    We had them in virginia too, Not as well attended as here.
    I’ve never been at one at FBCH, They have two services.

    Like

    Reply

  26. Our church is quite interesting to me. Sunday attendance is between 300 and 400 but there are only about 60 actual members. Last night’s service packed the place – so many who only come at Christmas & Easter, I guess. It’s hard to visit when there are so many people you don’t know there. Did say hi and greeted those around us but… hopefully we’ll see them again.

    I’m used to a smaller church – around 100-120 (many of them children) with most of the adults being members. Quite different here.

    Like

    Reply

  28. I’ve always enjoyed the candle-light services in the past. Most do end with the worshippers standing (sometimes in a circle) as they sing Silent Night and then filing out in a procession. Always very moving. And I miss the late-night Christmas Eve services, which seem to be less common now than they once were even 20 years ago.

    Our service is at 5 p.m. but I understand the rationale behind that — we have many large and young families in our church and that allows them to get home for their family celebrations.

    We had a good crowd at church last night, seemed like most of the regulars were there along with a fair number of visitors/family members, etc.

    The sermon made note of the culture into which Jesus was born — filled with contention, violence, tragedy, hard hearts and unbelief.

    Like

    Reply

  30. Rest in Peace Jack Klugman and Charles Durning, not only a couple of fine actors but two of our quickly disappearing WWII veterans. Thank you for your service.

    Like

    Reply

  31. Oh Donna @29….that brings tears of joy….thanks for sharing that video….
    I recall getting Fly on my birthday as a surprise from Paul….nothing like it…just nothing like it! 🙂 Merry Christmas you all….the snow is beautiful here….sun is shining, the plow has been through and we are relaxing on this most joyous day….

    Like

    Reply

  32. When I was in college, I had several opportunities to perform as part of the ensemble in Handel’s The Messiah. Being a violist (and because viola players are virtually always in short supply), I played viola in the performances, rather than sing in the vocal ensemble, even though I was also a voice major (in addition to piano and viola).

    Finally, my last year of school, I convinced my string instructor (who also directed the symphony) to let me sing in the choir for the Messiah performance, rather than play in the viola section that year, as I had never sung any part of the oratorio before.

    This is one of my favorite chorus parts to sing: The Amen Chorus.

    Like

    Reply

  33. Beautiful, 6 Arrows.

    I’m off to dinner shortly at a cousin’s house — spent much of the day so far having a Mexican lunch on the waterfront, taking an older friend from church on a driving “tour” of the town before stopping off at my house briefly & then taking her home.

    I’m still full from lunch, don’t know how I’ll manage another meal!

    It’s cool, gray and dreary out here today. Looks like it could rain (and I think there is some rain forecast for later tonight).

    Like

    Reply

  35. Merry Christmas! We are home from my brother’s where we enjoyed a meal, opened presents, played Upwords and had a lot of laughs. It was a very pleasant day. This evening it is raining, and I have started hearing thunder. The television is beeping in the background like they may be doing an alert but there is no crawler at the bottom of the screen. Not sure what that means. I was thinking about you, Kim, when I heard that Mobile had a tornado. Hope you are okay! Crawler is now saying some counties in Georgia are under a tornado watch.

    My husband gave me a lap desk which has a light attached to it, and he also gave me some CDs and books. I was very pleased with his thoughtful gifts. I am really enjoying using the Paperwhite Kindle since it has the high contrast and also adjustable print size. That is helpful for relief from some vision hindrance due to cataracts..

    I hope everyone here had a wonderful day with good relationships with all family members. I pray you all felt God’s peace and joy today!

    Like

    Reply

Leave a reply to ajisuun Cancel reply