Recently, while having dinner with our son and his family, our 4 year old grandson, Noah, turned to my wife and said, “Grandma, you’ll never be lost because God is always with you!” Perhaps he had experienced being lost or learned a new truth.

Have you ever been lost? If you know and trust God, you’ll never be lost because God is always with you. Like Noah, you can experience God’s promises. “For he hath said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (Hebrews 13:5). “And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).

I remember the house my father built with his own hands when I was a child. Much of it was built with used lumber. I remember pulling hundreds of nails from the old boards. We mixed the cement ourselves in an old cement mixer. Compared to most homes, it might have been considered just a simple cottage. But it was a labor of love.

I’ve got a more glorious mansion awaiting me in my Father’s House. The carpenter of Nazareth built it with nailed scarred hands. Jesus told His disciples, whose hearts were sorrowful because of their Lord’s predicted death on the cross, “Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God, believe also in me.

My mother almost ruined my life. Oh, she wanted to be a good mother, and she was in many ways. I don’t know where the idea first came to her. Perhaps it was the pop-psychology of the day, or one of Dr. Spock’s brainy ideas. Somehow, she thought that she could either increase my brainpower or make me into another Einstein by making me memorize Mother Goose nursery rhymes. I guess she was desperate for anything that might work. And being her first child, she probably didn’t know any better. So, she cajoled me, bribed me, and inspired me to memorize nursery rhymes at a very young age.

“Her children arise up, and call her blessed, her husband also, and he praiseth her” (Proverbs 31:28). Many mothers live with a sense of guilt and frustration in measuring up to the standards of a good mother. One mother confided in me, “When will my family understand that I am not super-mom? Mothers are people too.”

How does the Bible describe the mother that pleases God? She possesses a sense of spiritual values: faith, courage, prayer, wisdom, joy, trustworthiness, dedication, kindness, and reverence. (Read Exodus 2:2; I Samuel 1:12; Proverbs 31; Psalms 113:9.)

Having a farm background, I know how important it is to mend fences. It is sometimes a tedious and tiring job, but to neglect it can result in tragedy and loss. When we lived in South Dakota, a rancher friend had several sheep. When a sheep would find a hole in the fence and go through it, the whole flock would usually follow. Occasionally one would get stuck and die struggling to get out. It is imperative to be ever vigilant in mending fences.

Multitudes of marriages and human relationships have been damaged and destroyed because of the neglect of mending fences. We must constantly work at mending relationship fences in marriage, family, church, and the work place. Let us consider seven steps to healing of marriage and human relationships.

I could feel and see the tension on the faces of many of the men in our prison Bible study. I had told them that Jesus taught us to relate to God in prayer as our Heavenly Father. (Matthew 6:9) I knew what they were thinking. For many of these men the image of “father” had a negative connotation. Today in America many children have a father who is abusive, distant, or absent. It is heart breaking to know that many children do not know the love and positive influence of a father.

I didn’t receive a lot of spankings as a child. But I believe I remember every one I got from my dad. One particular one is very vivid in my memory. I enjoyed throwing a baseball, bouncing it off the front porch steps, and catching it. My dad told me not to do it. Why not? What would it hurt? Besides how would I ever break into the major leagues if I didn’t practice?

Shortly after my dad’s warning, I was once again bouncing the ball off the front steps. The ball took a wicked hop and went crashing through the bedroom window where my dad just happened to be resting.

The future looked dim for Alvin and Calvin Harrison. After being evicted from their home, the twins found themselves homeless. For a while, they lived in their mother’s old mustang. They quickly learned how to survive. After experiencing the loneliness of foster care, they finally were able to go live with their grandmother. Perhaps that’s where they first discovered their athletic talent and developed the discipline and determination to go for the gold. In the 2000 Summer Olympic Games in Sydney, Alvin persevered to win the silver in the men’s 400-meter.

Then there was the unbelievable and flashy Michael Johnson, with his golden running shoes, who became the first man ever to win the 400-meter in consecutive Olympics. He has won four Olympic and nine world championship gold medals.

Susan Tom, a single parent of seven adopted children with disabilities, didn’t set out to adopt children with special needs but somehow they found each other. After her divorce, Susan, a mother of four (two biological and two adopted) became a foster parent and soon fell in love with the children no one else wanted. Taking in children with challenges hasn’t been easy. Xenia and Hannah were born with spinal bifida and confined to a wheelchair; Cloe was born unable to bend her elbows and knees and getting around the house is extremely difficult; Katie was born with fetal alcohol syndrome and is mentally challenged; Faith was badly burned as a baby and encounters stares from strangers every day of her life; Margaret was not expected to live because of brain damage.

What we need is an old-fashioned Christmas. Oh, I’m not advocating a nostalgic, picture post-card Christmas. But a real Christmas, where the focus is on the reason for the season – the birth of Christ Jesus, Messiah, Lord of heaven and earth. Many believers are opting out of the over commercialized, secular Christmas. The glitz and gifts galore have left them tired and empty. Instead they are getting back to a simple old-fashioned Christmas where there is time to reflect on why Jesus came to earth as a babe in Bethlehem and to give devotion and worship to the Holy one, the Christ of Christmas.