How Blessed We Are!

We had a most wonderful Christmas day! My wife and I had plenty to do to put the final touches on our special preparation for our time together with our boys, their wives, and children. We missed our Tiffany over in London but she had called in and reported they were busily touring the sites there and having a good time. As we worked to get the finger foods ready and I prepared the grill for cooking we had the DVD of the musical 'Scrooge' going on the TV in the family room. Later, we put on 'It's A Wonderful Life', and as we would pass through we couldn't help but stop even though we had seen every scene dozens of times. Some call it too 'all American pie' but the underlying theme is that God does have a purpose for life and we can accomplish something when we seek to serve Him and the purpose He has given to us.

In our celebrity crazed world it would seem that even in religious circles we have become obsessed with the largest ministries, the most famous preachers, or the ones who have the biggest television outreach. In the movie George Bailey was a little guy who gave his life to serving others, quietly, and without much notice or recognition. The Bible says much about those who give of themselves but only God knows what they have done. They will be the ones recognized on that day when the rewards are handed out. They are the ones who get up in the middle of the night to pray for someone in need. They are the ones who sacrifice a need of their own in order that someone else can be helped and they do it without even being named. They are the ones who meet the test of feeding, clothing, and tending to the needs of our Savior. Remember what Jesus said when they asked Him how they had done this for Him. He told them when they had done it for one of the least among them they had in truth done it for Him.

We did all our preparation ahead of time which I am a nut about. I always believe in having it all together. When you do, things always go better. Around 3 p.m. everyone was ready and we began by having one of our twins, Amanda, read the birth narrative from Luke's Gospel. What a thrill it is to hear our little ones read the story of Christmas because it is not only history but more importantly it is HIS-story. After that, let the presents begin! For the next 90 minutes it was wild and crazy and fun and exciting. Everyone had a great time and then we got ready for our Christmas traditional meal.

I cooked the steaks, chicken, and sausage and when it came time for us to begin we had our Christmas prayer. This year instead of me praying we did the children's 'God is good, God is great' prayer as all around the room we together recited this special tribute to the goodness and greatness of God. As I looked around the room all our grandchildren and their parents had their hands clasped together in the way they were taught to pray as little children. What a fitting way to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas! Then the food consumption began. We discovered that our little Bray-Bray does love grilled beef sausage. We again were able to witness our eldest eat another one of those huge rare steaks. This year we added another teenager granddaughter who said she wanted to eat her own steak. She had always had chicken before. Our Lil Jimmy wanted steak also. This is not good news for the cows!

Okay, there you have it, we had a most wonderful day. My wife and I used to sing a song together which had this line in it, "If it keeps getter better and better oh Lord, I don't know what I'm going to do!" That's how we felt at the end of the day. Tired, you better believe it! A sense that God had been good to us, even more so. Now, on to the next challenge ahead and that is to prepare for a GREAT 2008! ....More later.