Thursday, December 24, 2009

Christmastime

Well, it is that time of year again. Its Christmastime. I've done all my shopping, and I'm planning to drive to my dad's when I get off work at 7am. I was thinking tonight about the complexity of the blessings and challenges of Christmas. I have been told that Jesus was most likely born in springtime, and that December 25th is just a random day that we have picked to theoretically celebrate His birthday, and with all the commercialism, Santa Clause, and plain old greediness that accompany the holiday some would argue it would be better to not celebrate the holiday. I'm going to look at the reverse side of the coin for this post. When I think of Christmas my mind goes in many different directions from the beautiful Christmas lights, to the crowded stores, to spoiled children asking for overpriced, unnecessary gifts, to families who only dream of being able to have gifts, and to children who only dream of having a family. It is a time of year when some people go out of their way to be nice, while others fight and argue and wrestle to get the last hot gift item for the year. It seems to be the best and worst time of year all rolled into one. At no other time of year do the needs and pitfalls of mankind seem so obvious, and the hurt and pain in the world is so deeply felt. The homeless and heartbroken and the over-privileged and greedy all people need the Savior. They need Jesus. While this time of year seems to bring out the worst in most people, it is such an opportunity to show God's love, to smile in the checkout line, while everyone else is grumpy and rude, to take in someone you know who has no place else to go, to cry with those who are hurting, and best of all to share the story of Christ's birth and the reason He came to earth at this one time of year when the taboo on talking about God is slightly less. Its one of the few times of the year that some people go to church, the Christmas programs and songs that give people a little nugget of God's truth and His word, and create a starting point for explaining God's gift to man. I see Christmastime as evidence of man's need for God and of God's amazing ability to turn the sinfulness of man into an opportunity to witness and bring glory to His name. So to quote the most commonly known verse from most church Christmas programs "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace and goodwill to men."

Monday, December 7, 2009

Recap of Last Week

Well, last week was a fairly eventful week. Of course I worked more than enough hours. Outside of the basics of the week I had oportunity to get together with some friends throughout the week. Sunday, I went to church and after went out to eat at Hardees with a family from church and Connie R. Wednesday, after work, I watched Heroes at Sowers' house with Nikki and Dave. Thursday, after an unfortunate situation with a CLEP test, I enjoyed some good conversation mixed in with a meatloaf dinner, made by a new friend, and a few games of Boggle. Friday, I did some decorating. I worked on turning my upstairs rooms into a winter wonderland, a task which proved to be more difficult than I originally thought. I hope to post pictures of it if I ever finish :). I also made some homemade pizza! I had been craving it for about a week. I had Ben over and we ate pizza before going to a rather aweful play. After the play, we made up for the bad play by playing the wii and watching a movie. I love eventful weeks surrounded with friends! There you have my week in a nutshell. I hope your week was good as well.