Who would steal the Christ child from a church’s crèche and for what reason? I was perplexed as I looked at our church’s empty manger that memorable Christmas. Recently I was walking by a church near where we live and noticed that their nativity scene was fenced in with chicken wire. No doubt it was there to discourage thieves and pranksters. Things have not really changed over the centuries. In many different ways the enemy of our soul still endeavors to steal or fence-in the Christ of Christmas from society and our souls.

How are you welcoming Christmas this year? Some people would identify with the movie “The Grinch who Stole Christmas”, others perhaps with Ebenezer Scrooge of Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Storekeepers anticipate the money Christmas generates. Party givers look forward to the merriment of the season. Many enjoy the music. Children revel in the sense of mystery and magic. Believers rejoice in the miracle and mercy of Christmas. Magnitudes of art, music, literature, movies, and kind, noble deeds have been inspired by Christmas. Yet, secular humanists and many others do not always welcome Christmas.

It seems that the storms and stresses of life throughout the world have increased exponentially sense that dreadful day of 9/11. In fact Jesus said that in the end times, “men’s hearts would fail them for fear of those things that are coming upon the earth” (Luke 21:26). In Matthew 24 Jesus gave some future signs that would point to and precede His return to earth. He referred to this time as “the beginning of sorrows” (Matthew 24:8). He described it as being like a woman in labor pains. Could we be in “the beginning of sorrows” that will usher in the triumphant return of Jesus Christ to planet earth?

Sixteen-year-old Elizabeth and fourteen-year-old Jennifer called their mothers shortly before 11:30 pm on a June night in Houston. They were coming home from a friend’s house. But as they cut through a wooded area they came upon gang members drinking beer and fighting one another. The gang turned its hostilities towards the girls.

Four days later the bodies of Elizabeth and Jennifer were found – strangled to death with a belt and a shoelace. Six young men were charges with rape and murder. One of the boys had appeared on a local television show the before, hoisting a beer and boasting “Human life means nothing”.

Victories don’t come without a battle. What battles are you fighting this New Year? Perhaps it’s the “battle of the bulge”. You’ve vowed to lose weight and live healthier – but it’s a battle. Some continue to battle life controlling or negative habits or sin in their lives. Many people battle increasing debt or mounting stress at work or at home. If you have battles to fight this New Year I have good news for you. You have an ally. There is one who has never lost a battle and he desires to stand with you if you will look to him. He is the Lord God – the Lord mighty in battle.

It is the most life altering walk of history. Hollywood has its “Walk of the Stars” – the walk of the rich and the famous. The one who walked the road of the “Via Dolorosa” (The Way of Suffering) walked a lonely road. Over 2,000 years ago Jesus Christ walked the gauntlet of reproach, rejection, and suffering, carrying his cross up Golgotha’s hill to be crucified outside the city of Jerusalem.

Because Christ’s Passion was accomplished in a specific geographic and historic place, thousands of pilgrims have journeyed to the Holy Land to follow the steps of the Savior that he walked that day up the “Via Dolorosa”.

On a wonderful fall morning I sat on our backyard swing wondering where all the beautiful birds were. On the ground below our birdfeeders was a flock of sparrows joyously feeding in the grass. I’ve honestly never been too excited about sparrows. They seem so common, colorless, and, you know – ordinary. This particular morning God began to speak to me about the sparrows.

Jesus drew the attention of his disciples to the sparrows. “’Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father knowing. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

“Everyone loves Thanksgiving except the turkey,” reads the marquis at a local real estate business. The first Thanksgiving in America was a simple but joyful celebration. After the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, the first winter the colony was decimated by exposure, sickness, and starvation. In the spring some friendly Native Americans taught them how to plant crops in the New World. In the fall they had an abundant harvest and decided to have a feast of thanksgiving to God. They invited their friends to celebrate with them. Tradition says that turkey was part of the thanksgiving feast.

In 1776, America’s founders gathered in Philadelphia to draft the Declaration of Independence. A new nation was born – free and independent – the United States of America. In 1787, after the American patriots had won our independence on the bloody battlefields, representatives met to draft the Constitution of the United States.

The Constitution has been amended over the years, but its broad language is illuminated by the Declaration of Independence where the founding fathers outlined their moral vision and the government it implied. The opening lines are perhaps the most important: “We hold these truths to be self-evident.” What were the moral truths? “That all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”

A few years ago one of the funniest and exciting comedies was released entitled “The Princess Bride”. Westley, a poor stable boy, searches for TRUE LOVE. Blonde haired Buttercup was kidnapped and taken by evil Prince Humperdinck to be his Princess Bride. But through many perilous hardships Westley finds and save his true love.

The world hungers for true love. An old song says, “Love makes the world go around”. It certainly does. But what is TRUE LOVE? The common Greek word for love is “Eros”. It is not found in the New Testament. It refers to a sexual, selfish, appetitive love. “Philos” is another Greek word for love. It refers to esteem and affection. We are familiar with Philadelphia, the city of brotherly love. The Apostle Paul used a word for God’s love – Agape. Agape is a self-giving love. It involves concerned commitment.

The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon showed the world how much some people hate freedom. Some don’t like free trade, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom to petition the government or freedom of religion. They believe an elite group should dictate to the masses how life should be lived.

Someone once said, “War is hell.” Yes, war is spawned and instigated in hell. God’s love is giving mankind freedom to choose evil or good, righteousness or unrighteousness, heaven or hell. God’s love in allowing humankind to choose it’s own course (including partnering with evil unto the most hideous consequences) is neither indifferently passive nor aggressively active when horrible things happen. God has always been and is and always will be redemptive. He provided the way for reconciliation – the Cross of His Son Jesus Christ.

Perhaps the experts are too prone to categorize the youth generation into a neat stereotypical box. I have never been fond of labels personally, possibly because I never seemed to fit into the prescribed order of things. In the past youth “experts” have described the “baby boomer generation”, the “busters”, “generation x”, and the “y generation” population. The new generation of youth has so many “sub-culture” types, that many youth workers realize that one blanket statement could not begin to describe this generation.

When interviewed most teens seemed to share a common sense of searching as in previous generations. Acceptance seemed to be a common desire.

Marsha confessed that she was not in the Christmas Spirit. Perhaps it was the empty nest syndrome and the fact that none of her children could make it home for Christmas. James was far from home and lonely on a tour of duty in Iraq. How could he experience the spirit of Christmas in a strange and stressful country?

What about you, are you in the Christmas Spirit? I have good news for you. Regardless of where you are and how stressful your circumstances, you can experience the Spirit of Christmas. The same spirit that brought Mary joy, wonder, and the miracle of the Christ is available to bless your life today with the Spirit of Christmas.

I must confess – as a child, I was afraid of the dark. I was especially afraid of things that go bump in the dark. A light in my bedroom would comfort me but my dad thought that it was unnecessary. At the time, we had a coal burning stove and occasionally I would have to go down the long dark path to the coal shed to fill the coal bucket in the middle of the night. I out ran the shadows and imaginary monsters in record time on my way back to the house. I still have a long scar on one arm from tripping over a hobgoblin. Surprisingly, I had no fear when my dad went with me and no monsters ever showed up.

Perhaps the most infamous character in history is Judas Iscariot. It he who betrayed Jesus Christ and sold out for thirty pieces of silver – the price of an injured or slain slave in 33 AD.

It was the prophet Zechariah who prophesied hundreds of years before the time of Christ that this betrayal would take place. “And I said to them, ‘If it is good in your sight, give me my wages, but if not never mind!’ So they weighed out thirty pieces of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.’ So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord” (Zechariah 11:12, 13 NASB).

What do Meriwether and William, Stan and Oliver, Ben and Jerry, John and Charles, Priscilla and Aquila, Richard Sears and Alvah Roebuck have in common? They all learned that by partnering together, they could accomplish much more than they ever could by themselves.

In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught us how to pray with world-changing power, and also gave us great truths about God. (Read Matthew 6:5-18). Consider the first words in the Lord’s Prayer, “Our Father.” Why did Jesus not say, “My Father”? Most Americans have the mindset of me and my. We are more individualistically oriented. Jesus told us to pray “OUR” Father. As we understand and incorporate the power of “our” in prayer, we will experience amazing things. Consider these four power points of “OUR” in prayer.

I am on a quest for the perfect pillow. My philosophy is that the kind of pillow one uses determines, to a large degree, the quality of rest one has. So, I have been on a quest for the perfect pillow.

I have tried numerous pillows on my quest. I know how Goldilocks must have felt at the three bear’s home. “This one is too hard. This one is too soft! And this one is just right!” My wife likes a gigantic pillow about 18 inches thick. But it leaves me with a stiff neck. A “down” filled pillow feels good initially, but collapses in the middle before the night is done. I have tried a bone shaped pillow, a foam filled pillow, an air filled pillow, and a wedge shaped pillow. But my quest for the perfect pillow continues.

Some people seem to have a “green thumb”. They can make anything grow. Such was the case of my grandmother. Flowers and plants flourished under her care. Perhaps it was not coincidence that she was given the name Rose. In his earlier years, my father grew flowers commercially. I love to visit beautiful gardens and admire the work of a master gardener. I do not have a “green thumb”, but occasionally puttering around in the yard is very relaxing and enjoyable.

When Corrie and Betsie ten Boom were imprisoned in a horrible concentration camp for hiding Jewish refugees from the Nazis during World War II, Betsie had a vision of their future ministry.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. Sadly, the traditional observance of Memorial Day has diminished over the years. Many Americans have forgotten the meaning Memorial Day. At many cemeteries the graves of the fallen are ignored and neglected. May we honor and remember those who gave their life to combat the enemies of the freedoms we so enjoy and value in America.

As I visit some of the Civil War battle sites and read about the staggering numbers of casualties in the various battles waged by those who cherished liberty, I stand astonished by the vast numbers and sacrifices made by so many. Inspired by the poem “In Flanders Field”, Moina Michael wrote:

It was a rainy fall afternoon when we walked through fallen leaves up the hill of the cemetery to stand by the graves of my two teenage brothers and a cousin, the fallen victims of a young drunk driver. Standing in the cold rain with tears coursing down our cheeks, I was asked the question I’ve been asked a multitude of times by broken, hurting people – “How can I ever forgive the individuals who have perpetrated such horrible hurts?” Many are consumed by the resulting rage and pain of wrongs done to them but others choose not to be.

Imagine facing your worst nightmare. Perhaps it’s Freddy Krueger splintering your bedroom door with a blood soaked axe. You’re lost and you cannot find your way out of a dark house of horrors. Someone is screaming with ear piercing decibels and you wake up realizing that those terrible screams are emanating from your mouth.

Perhaps your fear is not near as dramatic as some people face, but it is just as real. In school, I had a mental block when it came to math. I had an incapacitating fear of math class. For some people the fear factor is simply an adrenaline high reality game show. But the reality is that most people have certain fears that they must deal with. Courage is not the absence of fear but it is punching through the fear. To live the life that God means you to live, you must overcome fear. “Fear hath torment” (I John 4:18). Fear neutralizes, paralyzes, destroys, and stymies faith and love.

Two brothers running across America, as well as a young couple sitting on the steps of a subway station near the collapsed World Trade Center, all must face the question: “Where are you headed?”

A famous rock singer sang, “The world is a bad place, a very bad place to live. Oh, but I don’t want to die.”

Today we watch shattered children, the victims of war, groaning on the six o’clock news while we calmly eat our dinner. We hear people threaten one another and plot the bombing and massacre of innocent families. We suddenly realize that we Americans are also vulnerable along with the rest of the world. The enemy, the devil (John 10:10) is trying to rip apart our world of peace and freedom, leaving only a memory.

A young, single mother struggles to make ends meet. Two of her three children have severe medical problems. Nine year old, Evon is undergoing her second round of cancer treatments. Sometimes this mother feels so alone and tired, but she perseveres. What gives her the strength to carry on?

A young father grieves the death of his wife who died in the World Trade Center on the tragic day of September 11th. How can he go on without his beloved wife?

A young man runs for his life and hides in caves in the wilderness. The king has tried to kill him and has put out a “contract” on his life. How will God’s promises and plans ever be fulfilled in his life?

As a child, my friends and I would play army and other war games. Perhaps we thought that there was glory in fighting and dying. The Roman poet, Horace, expressed it this way, “Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori (Sweet and fitting it is to die for one’s country).” I think Horace was wrong. I’ve stood by the graves of too many friends and family members. The dying, grief, and suffering was not glorious. I think it was General Douglas McArthur who said, “War is hell!”

The tongue can produce terrible evil or tremendous good. The tongue can lash and libel or the tongue can liberate and express love. Recently two talk show hosts were fired because of their constant abusive tongue. Terrorists are fomenting mayhem and death through their rhetoric of hate. The Word of God tells us, “But a tiny spark can set a great forest on fire and the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a world of wickedness corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself” (James 3:1-12 NLT).