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Just three days before the big Christmas holiday, it seems as though most of the people around me are at the climax of the preparation frenzy. Shopping, baking, wrapping gifts, preparing food for the incoming relatives, last minute decorating. It'll all get done, and I won't worry about it if it doesn't. Earlier this week I received the wonderful gift of laughter, generated by a little video someone had shared on Facebook. Perhaps you, too, have seen it. Surely it has gone viral by now. It was a clip of a children's Christmas program, specifically a nativity scene. All the participants were roughly between the ages of two to six, so I have no doubt the director had her hands full getting

As I wrote in my last post, Christmas and road trips seem to go together. "After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, 'Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.'" (Matthew 2:1-2) These magi (traditionally called wise men) traveled a long way, and I'm willing to bet it wasn't an easy journey. Because, well, because of camels. Camels are gloriously weird creations of our awesome God. For many desert travelers, camels are the transportation mode of choice. They are wondrously designed to maximize all water intake. Even camels' nostrils particip

"Ever since the magi first went in search of Jesus more than two thousand years ago, it seems that Christmas and 'road trip'have gone together." -Max Lucado Will you be traveling this holiday season with or to your family? Years ago, when our children were quite young, we made the yearly Christmas pilgrimage to my parents' home, a trip of about 100 miles. My preparation prior to this annual trip included completing all the home decor for the season, writing and mailing the holiday cards, keeping track of all the children's school and other Christmas activities, purchasing and wrapping all the stocking stuffers and gifts for our immediate family and an extended list of other relatives,

I've always been of the mindset that one cannot have too many books. An avid reader all throughout my life, I've read thousands of books and have accumulated way too many for the strength of my bookshelves. It's probably time to purge. Again. After reading the 23rd chapter of Jeremiah this morning, my thoughts about reading went in somewhat of another direction. The two words "reading" and "caution" seemed to pair up in my mind after I thoroughly studied that chapter. Jeremiah was a prophet of God, and in that chapter God tells Jeremiah what He thinks about the other prophets in the land and what Jeremiah should say to them. It's not a pretty conversation. In fact, God gives a scathi

Mood swings. We all have them. I know very few people who sail through this life with nary an up or down in their outlook on life. Some folks are mostly positive. I like to put myself into this category, although yes, I know I whine and complain (and justify it!) on some occasions. Others are basically negative, unpleasant people. The glass-is-half-empty-and-there's-nothing-left-anywhere-to-fill-it-either people. If we're honest, it's awfulchallenging to be around these folks. And then there's the prophet Jeremiah, the main character in the Bible's Old Testament book by the same name. The book of Jeremiah is 5.2% of the entire Bible, and with its 33,002 words, it is the longest book