A week ago yesterday

http://www.legacy.com/DothanEagle/DeathNotices.asp?Page=LifeStory&PersonID=99877335

Steve Brown - church R us

Years ago I used to enjoy catching Steve Brown on radio. He was brief and pithy ... and what a voice! Either my schedule changed when I moved ... or something. I don't hear him any more. Go to http://www.blog.worship.com/ and read ... follow the link to the mp3 at the bottom to hear STeve preach the whole thing.

"By this shall all men know that you are my disicples ..." Anyone who belongs to Jesus belongs to anyone who belongs to Jesus. It ain't pretty. It ain't neat. Sometimes it's just downright unpresentable ... but it's true.

http://www.perimeterfamily.com/sound_resources/2007/112507/0747.mp3

Hope. Peace. (Joy and Love to come ... it's advent!)

The Gifts We Give

I tried not to do it ... honest I did. I really tried hard. Not to do what? Several times over the past few years my contribution to the church's Advent devotion guide has included words written not by me, but by my friend Kyle Matthews. It’s not really plagiarism. The problem is that when I try to think deeply, the things that come to my mind sound better using Kyle’s words.

The past few months have been anything but a spiritual high-point in my life. I’ve been wrestling with some stuff I don’t even have names for … and people have noticed. At times it has put a strain on many relationships in my life … primarily the relationships with people I care most about: my blood family and my church family.

I’m praying for the tough time to be over … and sometimes I see signs of great hope that I’m closer to the other side of it than I am to where it began. Meanwhile, I have had to pay more careful attention to how I interact with others (because when I’m edgy I can be abrasive), and I have had to mend some relationships with apologies.

In those times of apology and fence-mending, I have come to appreciate more deeply what the Psalmist meant when he wrote: Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven … (Ps. 32:1). As I contemplated that verse, the love I’ve been shown by my church family, and the huge gift of forgiveness, Kyle’s words just came to me:

I used to be that little boy who prayed for gifts at Christmastime;
But these days I find more joy in seeing things made right.
And I’ve wrapped a gift or two but today I cannot say
Just how long my presents lasted, or what difference they have made.

So may the gifts we give this Christmas meet the needs that go unmet,
May they heal the hurt between us, may they say what’s gone unsaid.
May we find at last in Jesus the gift we’ve always sought;
And may the love we show each other be the gift we give to God.

Must be some ghost of Christmas past is opening my eyes
To all the chances I have had to bless somebody’s life,
Just like Ebenezer Scrooge on the night old Marley called
And said the welfare of the world should be the business of us all.

Oh what a Christmas this would be, if for once we’d put aside
The selfishness that causes so much pain.
And isn’t Christmas after all about the gift that God sent us:
The Child who has led the way?

So may the gifts we give this Christmas meet the needs that go unmet,
May they heal the hurt between us, may they say what’s gone unsaid.
May we find at last in Jesus the gift we’ve always sought;
And may the love we show each other be the gift we give to God.

~Kyle Matthews

That’s enough to think about for now …