Archive for • Seasonal Messages
• Resolved: No Resolutions!
Resolved: No Resolutions! It seems our society places some emphasis on New Year’s resolutions! However, in my experience, most these idle plans are not well thought through and do not really last long into the New Year. I think of resolutions as temporary, not fixed, so we loose them when we get busy. I would […]
• Thirteen Effects of Christmas
Thirteen Effects of Christmas (If You Understand My Meaning) It has been my pleasure to work with you all. Sharon and I have seen many Christmases in our 44 years of marriage (An attraction, if you understand my meaning). However, we both agree that having eight grand children takes the holiday to another level. (An […]
• Celestine’s Gift
Celestine’s Christmas Gift At the Indonesian Church Thanksgiving Retreat we had the joy of ministering to a small group of 14-20 children ranging in age from 4 to 13. These are basically the leaders kids, the core group from the church. Our team brought a thirteen-hour program that included lessons on the Beatitudes, a serial […]
• Candy-Cane Story
The Candy-Cane Object Lesson Have you considered telling the story of the Candy Cane? Well, I have done that in years past. I was inspired by David and Helen Haidle’s book The Candymaker’s Gift which is the legend of the Candy Cane. So when I needed a Christmas presentation for Preschoolers, I chose to act […]
• Reason for the Season
Focus on the Reason for Season We are all too aware of how commercial Christmas has become and how every year, it creeps earlier on the calendar, even before Halloween and Thanksgiving are barely in view. It is way too easy for us to loose our way with this season. If it is easy for […]
• Indescribable Gift
Christmas Object Lesson This object lesson is a red decorated gift box that is 10 inches square. It is made of Coroplast or cardboard. (You can get Coroplast from a sign or banner-making store, it is used for yard signs.) Obviously, the square box has six sides all the same size. However, they are hinged […]
• The Turkey Custom
Our annual Thanksgiving Habit is go to the mountains with family and friends for a few days together. We have continued this get-away tradition for many years. It has become one of our most significant family customs, probably more important to the family than Christmas. That having been said, I think it is because we […]
• Cut for Production
Cut for Production I have often questioned what good could come from some great disappointment in my life and/or ministry. I have known fruitful times of ministry to followed by some calamity that just seemed to bring it all to an abrupt halt, followed be another season of productive work. These apparent surges and setbacks […]
• One “More” Year?
Maybe it is just another new year to you, but not to me! I get very reflective during this time. I find myself reviewing my year and thinking about what was missing and what could have made a difference. I then begin formulating thoughts about what my future year might look like if I […]
• When the Angels Came…
With all the trauma in Tijuana these days with drug related killings, not as many came South from the U.S. for Christmas this year. The migrant farmer workers from Oaxaca thought no one would come this year. The laborers hazard a make-shift life, while working in the fields South of Ensenada in the farm camps […]
