Christmas

Feeling knocked down this Christmas?

December 21, 2022 // 13 Comments

What will be your highlight of 2022? I’ve got a bunch, but one that tops the list happened in September. It ranks right up there with Lazarus rising from the dead. Almost. We had received the sad news that a family friend had suffered a crippling stroke and was in a bad way. It was a real shock because [...]

The Three Nights of Christmas

December 18, 2020 // 27 Comments

Pohutukawa by Tepora Watene It’s that time of the year where we gather with friends and family to celebrate Christmas and to tie a bow on the year that was. 2020 has been an interesting year, as the Chinese would say, and few will be sad to see it end. But even though this was a challenging year, 2020 was not [...]

Merry Christmas from the Shaky Isles

December 19, 2019 // 24 Comments

As you may have heard, one of New Zealand’s many volcanoes erupted last week killing more than a dozen tourists plus a couple of local tour guides. It was a tragedy and a reminder that our time on earth is short. So make the most of it this Christmas. Treasure your families. Make memories. Live fully. Love [...]

The Other Reason for the Season

December 23, 2011 // 16 Comments

How did Mary get to Bethlehem? If you get your history from Christmas cards, you might think she rode a donkey. But it is unlikely that Joseph owned a donkey. How do we know? Because he was poor – he brought a poor man’s offering of two doves when they presented baby Jesus in the temple (see Lu 2:24 and Lev [...]

The 12 Posts of Christmas

December 16, 2011 // 4 Comments

In case you missed them, below are 12 of my favorite posts from 2011. (Clicking on an image will take you to direct the post.) Happy Christmas! Your favorite post is not here? Find it in the [...]

Christmas cards that say something

December 8, 2011 // 1 Comment

Every December our mailbox gets stuffed with Christmas cards – and they’re all addressed to the previous owners! We hardly get any. But that’s okay because paper cards are so 20th-century. In the digital age, nothing expresses goodwill like a jpeg file that is cut and pasted onto an email. Or [...]

Real Christmas Cards

December 15, 2010 // 4 Comments

“Dear eight pound, six ounce, newborn Baby Jesus, in your golden, fleece diapers, with your curled-up, fat, balled-up little fists pawin’ at the air…” ~ Ricky Bobby, Talladega Nights The first Christmas was heralded by angels praising God for the Savior born in Bethlehem. But today Christmas is marked [...]