It was October, and Christmas catalogues had already begun to arrive. When we went to town, my granddaughters were thrilled to notice Christmas displays in the stores. They begged to wander the aisles that sported the latest Christmas … Read more
Search Results for: "Micah 5:"
Because Of Bethlehem
A Facebook post caught my attention. Boyd McWhorter, it reported, was a native of my hometown of Cochran, Georgia, USA. Unless you were a big fan of college sports — in particular for the National College Athletic Association's … Read more
Christmas Grace
The gifts circled the tree in a wide radius and reached toward the ceiling. Early Christmases escape my memory, but the later ones I remember fondly. My grandmother worked at the local hospital as a nursing assistant, and my grandfather … Read more
Small Town Hero
Every town needs its hero, and I should also say, heroine. Little places like to have someone they can point to and highlight achievements that seem larger than life. There is a certain sense of pride that goes with it. I am from Sevier … Read more
Weather Predictions And More
Winter isn't my favourite season. Although it's very beautiful after a snowfall — a winter wonderland, as they say — I don't like it when the wind blows and visibility becomes almost nil, especially if we have to travel somewhere. We … Read more
The Lamp In The Stable
As I was looking through some of the Christmas carols in the hymn books that we have, I noticed that a fair number of them refer to either the stable or the manger: "Once in royal David's city stood a lowly cattle shed" or "Child in the … Read more
God's Plan
Sometimes, we make plans to do certain things, and then later, we change our minds. Sometimes, plans are made for us. For instance, this past autumn, I had problems with my left eye, which resulted in an operation on October 23rd. After … Read more
Prophecies With Fulfillments to Celebrate
When we toured Israel as a group, our faith was reinforced as our experienced leader, a Christian minister, many times supplemented our Jordanian guide's orations of what we were seeing by telling us of further connections between these … Read more
Predictive Text
I learned to text, only to discover that the cell phone fancied itself a prophet. This is called predictive texting. Whenever I punched in a letter, it finished the word for me. Thus, I sent messages full of words like "spzxq". The last … Read more
The Shepherd Has Come – Part One
What if this Christmas we specifically celebrated Baby Jesus as the promised Shepherd and made shepherds our season's theme? What would that be like for you? Here's what I imagine: I see a Christmas tree decorated with fluffy sheep, … Read more
We Wait In Hope
Having for many years taken part in a number of Christian activities at the local Long Term Care Centre, I have gotten to know a considerable number of people on a quite personal basis. Some of them tell me about their hopes and … Read more
Little Among Thousands
As I write, I'm thinking of a friend who is travelling to many parts of the Holy Land, places some of us only read about in the Bible. I thought, *How exciting it would be to visit the town of Christ's birth so close to the Christmas … Read more
Those Boxes
At this time of the year, churches all over the world are placing red and green cardboard boxes in their foyers. These are not ordinary boxes, but very special ones. Most people refer to them as the shoeboxes, but these boxes will never … Read more
For Unto Us A Child Is Born
For a number of years, it has been the custom in our town for merchants to decorate their store windows with a certain theme during certain seasons. There have been a number of different themes over the years at different times. One day … Read more
The Advent Wreath
As I see Christmas approaching, I am reminded of the preparations that have made the season special in our home. One such preparation was to go to a Christmas tree farm where we would choose our tree, and have it cut down and mounted on … Read more
Previews Of Christmas
Last year while shopping at a local thrift store, I was surprised to find a Christmas Bible study book with the odd title, Christmas from the Back Side, written by J. Ellsworth Kalas, a professor who teaches where my son … Read more
Gentle Shepherd
One of the gentlest people whom I have ever met was a shepherd. His family had been shepherds for generations, so it was natural for him to follow in their footsteps. He was a clever man who probably could have been a great teacher at … Read more
Were You Alive?
Recently, my children, aged 4 and 6, have begun to understand the concept of time. Bethany now realizes that time passes in an orderly fashion of minutes, hours, and days. We seldom use the common practice of 'three more sleeps,' … Read more