Can you imagine what this earth would be like if Christ had not come? What would it be like to live never having a Savior be born to die for our sins?

• We would have no hope in death.
• We would have no purpose for today.
• We would have nothing that could give lasting peace.
• There would be no solution to our problems.
• The world would be filled only with sin, sadness, and suffering.
• There would be no validity in the Bible.
• There would be no reason to live.

Oh, but 2 Corinthians 9:15 Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift. He did come down! I heard this statement recently, “Almighty God did not stay in heaven to say, ‘I love you’ from a distance, but He came to earth to draw near to us so He could be touchable and knowable, and put His arms around us and not just say ‘I love you’ in words, but in deed and in action .” How thankful I am for His touch in my life! How wonderful to know Him through His Word, telling us what Jesus did for us!

Do you know Him personally, Friend? If you don’t, I urge you to receive Him as your Savior. He came for you! If you are His child, let me ask you this – do you live daily in the reality of the fact that He did indeed come? Or do you live your life in such a way that you ignore His presence in your life?

I have a friend that at one time lived for God; she worked for a couple of different Christian ministries. She had an unsaved brother that began to tell her she could make far more in the secular world and she listened. Soon she was working for a corporation in Australia. She did indeed make more money, but she also began drifting from the Lord, not acknowledging the fact that He was the Giver of all that she was enjoying. I’m not suggesting that you have to work for a Christian ministry to live for God, but I am saying that we have to each find out what God wants us to do and then get after it and stay after it! In a recent Christmas card I received from this friend I read of her trip to spend two weeks this year in Paris to attend a photography class. While there’s nothing sinful in attending a class like this in Europe, there was again the absence of anything to do with the Lord in her letter. She went here, did this and that, she has moved again, changed jobs again and traveled again…on her own. Her life is void of fulfillment – I don’t care how many numbers are in her salary. Proverbs 11:4 says “Riches profit not…” Proverbs 15:16 “Better is little with the fear of the LORD than great treasure and trouble therewith.”

A life without Christ in every part of it is living as though He never came. Is your life acknowledging the preciousness of God’s gift of Christ to us? Christmas is a needed reminder that Jesus came to give us life…a life worth living 365 days a year!

East Tennessee experienced a snowfall this weekend – deeper than any we’ve seen in the nine years we’ve lived here – about 6-7 inches. The snow came on Friday evening, right around 5:00, when workers were leaving their jobs. The highways were tangled up with traffic like Christmas lights in a box. We prayed for the safety of those trying to make their way home in the winter storm. For those of us that were already home when the snow came, it was beautiful.

We ended up with no power for most of Friday evening. We played games by candlelight at the kitchen table, sang our favorite Christmas carols accompanied by Allison’s guitar, and just had a restful evening together. We had the privilege of hosting a stranded traveler – the mom of a friend of our daughter’s who couldn’t make it to her house. It was a privilege to be a blessing to one who had been out in the cold and snow for four hours.

Because of the snowy roads we were unable to have church services yesterday. The church parking lot was not plowed and difficult to navigate, and many of our church members were still without power. The time here at home was a sweet time. Allison made a delicious breakfast for us consisting of blueberry pancakes and bacon. We seldom ever eat breakfast together on Sunday morning, so this was a special treat, followed by a time together in God’s Word.

For lunch I served a comforting Baked Potato Soup. ** It’s a Cooking Light recipe, but you’d never know it! It’s rich and creamy and tastes quite indulgent. We also enjoyed a cheese ball, given to us as a Christmas gift by a neighbor. It was presented on a darling little Santa plate accompanied by a “gift box” spreader. What a thoughtful (and delicious) gift!

Dessert was an assortment of Christmas goodies…Raspberry shortbreads, Oreo Truffles, Mint Cookies, White Bark, Aurey Nut Balls and Soda Cracker Candy. No shortage of sugar in us!

What was your weekend weather like and what special times did it afford you and your family?

Oh, Happy Winter – it’s official today!

**Reduce the amount of flour added to the soup to 1/3 Cup.

1. I have a lovely treadmill in my basement that was a gift to our family. It has the capability to go fast, slow or in-between. You can walk at a steep incline or on a flat surface. I love it, because while I enjoy getting exercise the weather is often a factor. It’s really a blessing to have this machine. However, did you know that:
   

   If you don’t have a treadmill, you can’t walk on one.

If you don’t discipline yourself to walk on it it will only collect dust.

If you’re going to walk on the treadmill you’ll have to say “no” to sleep, being a couch potato, or going to the kitchen for a snack!

This month in our ladies’ Bible study we’re studying about the disciplines of the Christian life. Day three talks about walking with Jesus. The question is asked at the beginning of the lesson: “What does the phrase “walking with Jesus suggest to you?” As I thought about that, I made the correlation to walking on my treadmill. Then in the margin of my book I wrote:

1. Walking with Jesus requires a relationship – if He doesn’t own you, you can’t walk with Him.
2. Walking with Jesus requires a discipline or resolve to go with Him.
3. Walking with Jesus will mean saying “no’ to other people and things such as sleep.

Sometimes, though we know the treadmill is what we need to do, it’s hard to get up and do it! Walking with the Lord is hard for many because of varied distractions. What things make it difficult for you to maintain a daily walk with the Lord? What do you do to make sure you keep walking with Him each day?

I received an early Christmas gift from the ladies of our church in late November. It has to be the the most thoughtful gift I’ve ever received. If you belong to a church other than Boones Creek and you’re wondering what to give your pastor’s wife, please read on!

Sunday night as we were singing our Christmas cantata, I sang with our choir the words, “Fear thou not, fear thou not.” Those were the words spoken to both Mary and the group of shepherds by the angel (Luke 1 and 2). As I sang those words I thought, “How many times has the Lord comforted my heart with those very same words…’Fear not’?” Over and over again. Who but the Lord could calm my fears?

I was reminded recently in a message that the opposite of fear is not courage, it is love. God could tell Mary, the shepherds and you and me not to fear because He demonstrated His love for us by sending His Son to die for our sins. His sacrifice, death and resurrection makes everything right. We don’t have to be afraid of sickness, death, financial woes, or other trials because His love for us is constant and life-changing. His love makes me not be afraid because I know that His love causes Him to do what’s best for me; I can trust my God with my life.

If there were no Christmas there would only be fear, but because Jesus came to demonstrate His great love for us, we can “Fear not!”