“For unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.”

These familiar words bear repeating, and are still marvelous to hear and to consider.
We are celebrating the incarnation together with our family—and with Christians all over the world. The Good News will never get old. May its ultimate fulfillment come quickly in the return of Christ for His bride the Church… And may she be found busy about her Master’s business.
Until that day, I wish you a very Merry Christmas!

If you would like, you may read our family Christmas letter (PDF), and see our Christmas card (PDF).

My old journal. Notice the price in the bottom right: 89¢.

I have been transcribing an old journal from 1976. It is amazing to see: a) how far I’ve come in my faith walk in the nearly four decades since; and b) how I still wrestle with some of the same issues I was dealing with at the beginning; and c) how God has not changed over the decades, and that the One I was first discovering then still holds my future and my hope.

The occasion of the journal review and transcription was my daughter’s recent return from a post-college “grand tour” of Europe. She asked if I had a journal from my college trip, and if so could she read it. I had to find it, dig it out, and read it myself, which was both a pleasant and a painful experience. It was also a reminder that my handwriting is much more like a private code than it is a medium for communication. So I determined that I would attempt to decipher and digitize my descriptions of the trip, so I could share them with her without confusion or eyestrain.

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For some reason, I’m particularly struck this year by the contrast between the “holiday” being celebrated around me, and the “holy day” of Christmas which lies somewhere behind—WAY behind—all the hype and hoopla. It’s a b-i-g g-a-p, and it’s a bit overwhelming and discouraging at times.

The Shepherds and the Angel, by Carl Heinrich Bloch (1879)

Perhaps it was reading about the first century shepherd-priests who would have recognized in the angel’s announcement that the baby born in Bethlehem, who was “wrapped in swaddling cloths” (just as were their newborn lambs—those intended for temple sacrifice were likewise wrapped to protect them from injury and blemish). He was destined for eternity-altering events, as evidenced even by His manner of birth (details in our ministry Christmas letter). This is real stuff and it happened in history. AMAZING! It has nothing, however, to do with shopping and extended hours and traffic congestion and lights and tinsel.

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