My Dear Mother

I have been thinking about my recent visit with my mother in Texas. She has changed since I was with her for her 90^th birthday last spring. It is a very noticeable change and not for the better. Many mini strokes over the years had already robbed her of the ability to make new memories but she always knew who I was and was with the moment.

This past year she broke her hip and spent time in the hospital and has been in decline ever since. She looks very frail and is no longer in the moment or knows who I am. We just go with the flow of her conversation of what ever moment she is in and enjoy being with her. I am so thankful for the care my sister Jeannie gives her.

My mother was always a rock of faith and love for me and my siblings. Because of her I am the man I am today able to live and be at peace with God. I know that her great faith is still with her and even though she is nearing the last of her days with us that she will be in the arms of God forever. I am at peace with that and honor her life as a woman of Proverbs 31.

I love you mom.

Epiphany

Today Sunday January 6th is EPIPHANY! This is the day in the Western Church when we celebrate the arrival of the "Wise Men" and end the Christmas season.

Today is also Christmas in the Eastern Church, actually it was at one time Christmas in the whole church but Rome changed it to December 25th to coincide with the Winter solstice celebrations in Rome. They could not get rid of the pagan celebration so they changed the meaning of the day and changed January 6th to Epiphany and the coming of the wise men to see Jesus.

So Happy Epiphany to my western friends and Merry Christmas to my eastern friends.

RACK

Lately I have noticed a rash of strange and wonderful things happening around the church that I call RACK.  You are wondering, “What on earth is he talking about?”  

RACK stand for Random Acts of Christian Kindness. 

It is simply church members going around doing nice things for each other anonymously.

It is fun and easy to do a RACK.  Slip an unsigned note of appreciation under a door or mail it. You can do a small gift the same way. The great thing is that you can be inventive and have a lot of fun watching the results as the person gifted tries to figure out who did this. We must be careful though, as RACK’s are contagious. The person who gets RACKed will start doing it and you may wind up being RACKed yourself. As you know what goes around comes around and that works for good things too

As you might guess, I want to encourage this rash of Random Acts of Christian Kindness. It is fun and easy and best of all it does not have to cost very much money. Your greatest cost is found in the time that it takes to plan your RACK.    Make 2013 your year of committing RACK!

Happy New Year

Happy New Year and may God Bless you in every way in 2013

Generations

I visited my mom in the nursing home today and noticed the decline in her health after recovering from a broken hip. I had expected it but actually seeing it got to me. Humanity lives from one generation to the next so I will soon find myself the oldest generation of my family. That gives me a new perspective on the subject.

How does each generation collect the best of the previous generation and pass it on to the next? The challenge is for me to take all that my mother gave me and make sure my darling daughters grasp the importance of it for their own lives?

I span two generations and am the key between them. God help me!

My Christmas Baby

My youngest daughter Larua Lea was born sixty seconds before mid-night on December 24^th. She was so very close to being a Christmas baby and what a joy she was to behold.

I use to worry that she felt cheated by the fact that many times she received combination birthday/Christmas gifts. So we planned every summer a halfway party for her to correct that supposed problem. Later the adult Laura told me that she grew up thinking it was so wonderful that the whole world threw a party on her birthday. My Christmas baby has always had an interesting way of looking at the world.

Laura Lea was my best Christmas present

Christmas Words

                           

We can all see the sights and sounds of Christmas all around us. We can also speak the words of Christmas, words that carry power and feeling. Most of us are most comfortable with the Familiar words like family, friends, fellowship, feasting, trees, lights, surprise and memories.

There are also Bible words like love one another, love our neighbor, love the stranger, love our enemies, and love the Lord with all your heart. These all come from the love God shared with us on that first Christmas.

Then there are the Season's words like peace, service, sharing, gifts, fairness, honesty, greetings, and have a happy. These are words that flow like a gentle stream from Thanksgiving through New Years.

At last there is the Supreme word: Christ, without whom there would be no Christmas. Preachers always want to remind us to keep the Christ in Christmas and I am no different. When ever you are speaking the words of Christmas remember that one supreme word that gives us all the rest.