Christ in the Clouds

(Some of my favorite pics from our church holiday tea) I can think of a few of  my favorite childhood memories of Christmas. My first memory is having all the aunt, uncles, cousins, and grandparents get together for a Christmas day meal, followed  by opening of presents. Sometimes Santa would even show up at our house!(My grandfather dressed up in a Santa suit, which we all knew, but it was still pretty awesome!) Then after the present opening time, we would have white elephant bingo. My grandfather always was the number caller. To my knowledge he never played the game, himself. All the families brought small gifts wrapped up, so nobody knew what they won if they got a bingo! I also remember as a small child hanging one of our socks on the end of our beds on Christmas Eve. We always tried to find the biggest, longest socks to hang out, so that we would hopefully get more stuff in them. On Christmas morning we would wake up and the socks were filled up with goodies. No matte...

  (our church bulletin) I’ve always loved the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Usually sometime before Christmas every year I get my dvd out and watch it, with Kleenex in hand. This year, I didn’t even have a chance to get my dvd out. First, it was shown on TV this past Saturday, followed by a sermon series on Sunday, aptly named “It’s a Wonderful Life.” The stage in our church sanctuary was even set up to look surrealistically like we had walked onto the movie set itself. There’s even a sign that says “You Are Now In Bedford Falls”.   ( Source of all photos here) I wasn’t sure where our pastor was planning on taking this theme in his sermon. There are lots of good lessons to be learned in the movie, from appreciating what we have in life, to realizing how much we affect those in our lives.  It didn’t take long to put together the lesson we were to learn.  It was a difficult pill for me to swallow. (Ever feel like a sermon is given specifically for you? This was ...

I am neither a Greek, nor Hebrew language scholar, but I've seen the symbols many times throughout my life. Sororities and fraternities use them. Products and businesses are named after them. Today, I am reminded that this is how God described Himself in the Bible I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.  Revelation 1:8 The first symbol is the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet, Aleph, and the second is the last letter of the Greek alphabet, Omega.  Not only does this symbolize the One who has come and will come again, it also emphasizes the continuity of God's work in history throughout both the Old and New Testaments. I've been listening to a lot of Christmas music the past few weeks. My all-time favorite musician/recording artist is Chris Tomlin. He is so talented and such a humble, yet godly person!! I recently got his Christmas album called "Gl...