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Our Daily Thread 12-25-13

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! 🙂

dec 24th 025

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.

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Quote of the Day

6 Jesus saith unto him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

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From George Fox University

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QoD

Did you get anything good this year?

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39 thoughts on “Our Daily Thread 12-25-13”

  3. I did get something good — a certain book entitled A Log Cabin Christmas. 🙂 And other nice things, too, which I’ll tell you about tomorrow. Time for bed. Have a restful night, and a great day tomorrow!

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  5. Fourth!

    Went to a wonderful Christmas Eve service tonight at a Lutheran church, then out for dinner — tomorrow it’s out to breakfast with church friends and then dinner in the afternoon at a friend’s down the street.

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  6. Oh, I apparently can’t count. I was “Fifth!”

    And now sixth, of course. 😉 It’s not even 10 p.m. out here on the west coast — just got the dogs walked, it’s very quiet in the neighborhood (although I saw a couple guys lurking a few blocks away, we’ve been having lots of car break-ins and that’s what it looked like they were maybe up to; but who knows).

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  7. http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2013/12/a-christmas-eve-message-to-the-troops-1943.php

    “My friend Ray Hartwell describes his father’s experiences fighting the Germans in Italy as part of Company H of the 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division during the latter part of 1943. … On Christmas Eve of 1943, 70 years ago today, Colonel William H. Martin wrote a Christmas message to the ‘officers and men of the 143rd Infantry Regiment,’ which he commanded. …”

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  8. Lovely Christmas eve service and one child who never comes, came for me. I took a picture of my family as we were all singing ‘Silent Night’ with the candles lit. Such a special time.

    After dinner tonight as I was sitting in a comfy chair, all the grandkids gathered round and handed me a card. My daughter said that this card is your gift and we wanted to give it to you tonight so you would know why we have no gifts for you tomorrow and because we can’t keep it secret any longer. The outside said, ‘You can’t wrap Perfect Love’ and then I opened it and there was a picture of a manger and I saw that everyone had signed it. Finally I noticed a note written on the top. It says that we are all going to stay in a cabin at the beach together this weekend. My son is flying down from Portland with his family. Wow, to have everyone togerher. A dream of mine for several years, but not something that I had mentioned this year at all. And I had also wanted to be on a beach and just listen to the soothing sound of waves.

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  12. After the Christmas Eve service last night, we went to an Italian restaurant.
    We witnessed a proposal. Not the actual proposal, we were dining, and heard some clapping across the room. About 20 feet away, a couple stood, hugged and kissed. Then she started crying. And we knew then that everything was going to be OK. I said a little prayer that the Lord would bless the marriage in Him and protect them from the Evil that hates good things.

    Collie Belle is two and a half, cutest little girl around. She still wants to be in somebody’s lap; any lap will do. So all the women held Collie Bell. Caden is the Big Brother, and loves the part. He’s eight. Addison is five and a half. She is now her own person and speaks with authority when she says something. You can tell that when she tells you something, that’s the way it is.

    You reckon this is a proud grandpa, don’t you

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  13. TheCBD order never came. We were going to use two books as stocking stuffers. One was Daily Devotions for Die Hard Gamecock Fans</i) ,Others for Virginia, Clemson and Florida.
    Our pastor is a Clemson man and I was going to give one to him. We already have a Kentucky Wildcat book.
    We have a great time during football season. the Kentucky guy is getting us back now.
    But I think they lost to the Tar Heels.

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  14. Merry Christmas everyone. I am sharing this because over the past year this young mother has been an inspiration to me and many others.

    Dear Ann Reese,

    Happy first birthday in heaven!! I’ve questioned and prayed a lot about why you went to heaven on my birthday, and God finally gave me peace and an answer. I now realize you left this earth on my birthday, because we were destined to share a birthday. Your heavenly birthday will always be on my earthly birthday, December 24th. So, happy heavenly birthday my beautiful girl! I’m honored to share this birthday with you. How beautiful that on this day one year ago you got to enter eternity.

    Mommy, Daddy, and all of our family and friends miss you dearly, but we celebrated you all day. We gathered together, talked about you, let go of lanterns, and visited your resting place. Your presence was felt throughout the day, but especially when a shooting star blazed across the sky right before we let go of the lanterns. Thank you for showing up today in a grand way to let us know you were here.

    I hope your first birthday in heaven was a magnificent one. My birthday will never be the same without you, but your love and memory will always thrive within me on this day and always.

    I love you, Ann Reese! I miss you. And I can’t wait to see your sweet face again!

    Psalm 18:1
    I love you, O LORD, my strength.

    Love, Mommy

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  15. Merry Christmas. The in-laws were here last night and between that and Santa, we made a mess. I’m trying to resist the urge to clean too much. As usual the Kid’s best gift was an outdoors gift and were waiting for it to warm up enough to go out and play with it.

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  16. Well! That was a surprise! Nobody slept in after all. Sixteen year old (S), made crepes for breakfast. Mine was with raspberries from the backyard, though most recently they were from the freezer. Delicious. He is also making the dinner. He does pretty well with a broken arm.

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  17. Oooh, what’s the gift, kBells? Outdoor gifts are the best. I love seeing all the kids in our neighborhood out on their new bikes and skateboards Christmas day. 🙂

    Chas, that’s too bad about the books not arriving — I’ve ordered from them before, too, and they are a bit slow (though I think they offer faster shipping but for an extra shipping charge of course). I find that Amazon has just about everything and is extremely reliable for getting things to your doorstep usually in 2 days (unless it’s from a 3rd party, but even then it’s pretty fast).

    My former (now retired) pastor got married on Christmas Eve — which also is his wife’s birthday (if I’m remember that correctly).

    Merry Christmas everyone — I’m off shortly for breakfast out, looks like we’ll get another sunny 80ish degree day out here. I’ll have to try to spend a little time at the ocean.

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  18. I got several good things this year–especially the family gathered around as family to open gifts and enjoy spending time together.

    And this family has a lot of full seasons of favorite TV shows (“Hogan’s Heroes” and “Sherlock Holmes” and a couple of others for my husband; “Psych” and a couple others for the girls), so I asked for the first season of the BBC “Father Brown”–I haven’t seen it, and it really had mixed reviews, so I didn’t want more than a season–and also a season or two of “The Andy Griffith Show.” Well, I got the season of “Father Brown” but the complete “Andy Griffith Show.” I enjoy the show, but there are a lot of episodes I’ve never seen, and I don’t know whether I’ve seen any from the first season (or the last season, for that matter). For my husband I mostly bought theology books, and many of them look really good.

    For my in-laws (particularly my mother-in-law) I made a book of photos of butterflies, birds, and flowers, and also gave them a second copy of a book I made for my husband (hikes in Indiana), and both books got passed around last night and admired by everyone.

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  20. I asked for Amazon gift cards, but instead got a beautiful painting of a desert scene, with a saguaro in bloom as the focal point. It’s a 2’x3′ painting, so it is not small.

    We are at my D3’s house. They got the other grandparents on Skype while we let the three grandchildren open their gifts. Then we had an egg and sausage casserole for breakfast made by D2 and Mexican style hot chocolate made by yours truly. yum! It has a hint of cinnamon and less sugar than American style. Much more flavorful, in my opinion.

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  23. The Kid made me very proud twice this week. Sunday, just as we were about to settle in for Sunday school, the fire alarm went off and we were asked to evacuate the building. The kid’s first concern was where’s his Memaw. He helped me find her and then we went the wrong way and ended up having to get her up two flights of stairs. She is 81. It turned out to be a false alarm. I’ve been teasing him that the saved his grandmother from a fiery inferno, or he would have if there had actually been a fiery inferno.
    Second; after the school Christmas party he gathered up all his goodie bag candy seemed to have hidden it in his room. I also noticed that his bank was empty. This morning Hubby and I found all his candy and a twenty each in our stockings.

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  25. Merry Christmas! Joyeux Noel Feliz Navidad! Juddute Yeesu besu tey ji! (that’s as close as I can get in Wolof)

    I got the gift I wanted this Christmas – I’m surrounded by my family. Oh, they gave me some useful presents, as my wardrobe is depleted after spending a year in the harsh African climate; but the best gift is being here with them all. They haven’t opened my presents to them yet, because we are waiting for youngest sibling, her husband and baby to show up. Apparently, they slept in. I got them all traditional clothes, the dresses were sewn by one of the village tailors and they are beautiful. I can hardly wait to see them open them.

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  27. What a sweet, thoughtful, Kid. That warms my heart.
    Well, around here it’s all over but the shoutin’
    Christmas 2013 is all cleaned up. Dinner was hame, fresh green beans almondine, potatoes au gratin, salad. Turtle cheese cake and brownies.
    I will be one of the cleanest people you know. Mr. P gave me 3 bars of goat milk soap. Some is Dead See Salt, some is lavender, some is lemongrass. Middle Son gave me bath salts (his dad had some influence). BG gave me a framed photo of herself. I also got a red and a green glass “lanterns” that I had admired in a shop in town. It is nice to have a husband who pays attention. Now, if you don’t hear from me for a while, I am in mmy bathtub enjoying my bath salts.

    Mr. P got the fishing cart he wanted and a wooden football a local artist makes. He also got an Alabama pottery chip and dip plate and some sort of autographed Alabama football player something or other. Turns out he went to high school with Middle Son and he called the high school football coach and got him to get it for him.

    Baby Girl? Well she got everything that was on her list. She is happy.
    Amos and Lulabell got puppy dog treats and toys in their stockings. Lulabelle wasn’t sure what was going on, but Amos just about crawled all over me until he got to the bottom of his stocking where the treats were. He is on to the Christmas thing.

    Merrry Christmas to All and to All a good night.

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  30. We had a lovely Christmas! Forrest’s delight in his presents is a delight to us as well. We gave him a little wooden tool set with wooden screws, nails, nuts, & bolts (all much larger than the real things, of course) & parts to hammer or screw them into. He loves it! We also gave him some simple foam airplanes to put together (like the balsam wood ones from when we were younger) because he loves paper airplanes, & these will be even better. Also, we gave him a 71-piece box of duplos (the toddler-size legos), & a couple books.

    For the rest of us, we went pretty sparse this Christmas, just one present for each of the girls due to financial constraints. (But also because we know that when they move upstairs we will be buying them some stuff they might need.) From the girls, Lee got homemade brownies with nuts, & a box of Whoppers (the candy, not the burgers), & I got a box of Earl Grey tea & a large bar of dark chocolate. Lee bought a couple large mugs from Cabela’s (he loves that place!) for us to give to each other. His has a squirrel on it & the words “This place is a nuthouse!” (Pretty appropriate for us right now.) Mine has a lovely old-fashioned winter town scene.

    Mostly, we were happy to be together, & happy to bless our little Forrest with some fun, old-fashioned toys & books. (Emily bought him a wonderful set of wooden building blocks.) I keep thanking Jesus for the blessing of our girls & our little guy, not to mention for His indescribable gift of forgiveness & salvation!

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  31. kBells @ 12:49 pm: The Mexican style hot chocolate sounds good. Can we get the recipe?

    Nestle makes it. We bought it at Wal*Mart in the Hispanic foods section.

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  34. Merry Christmas everyone…it has been a very relaxing and sweet day….I got an IPad…trying to learn to use this thing….I guess that was a good gift…the jury is still out…. 🙂

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  35. Peter, that sounds like an easy recipe. 😉

    mmacmurray, thanks, too, for the story link.

    After breakfast with friends this morning I had an afternoon ‘break,’ read over some of the Christmas cards and letters I got, opened a couple gifts & then took Cowboy to the dog park for a short romp. After that I walked over to a friend’s down the street who made a pork roast Christmas dinner with homemade ginger bread as dessert. We took a plate over to the woman next door who had lost her husband this past year.

    A good friend is coming over Saturday for our belated gift exchange and a day out doing something, haven’t decided what yet.

    Meanwhile, it’s back to work for me tomorrow.

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  39. I’m not that anonymous and it’s nearly midnight in CA. A long. Lovely two days! Someone tell 6 Arrows to contact me through my website and I’ll send her an autographed bookplate. Who knows when I’ll get up tomorrow?! 🙂 Michelle

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