Greetings Parents,
Merry Christmas!
Well, not quite, but I thought I’d get an early start on the whole thing for you! Are you prepared? Done all your shopping? Set up all your gatherings and parties? Thanked God for His gifts to you? What was that???
Yes, have you thanked God for his gifts to you? Now you know I’m going to let you get away with all the material things He as provided you with in this life, I think that is all too easy. It is also the first thing we unfortunately come to when we thank God for what we have. We sit with our kids when we get the chance, and pray about all the good things God has given us.
“Thank you Lord for this warm house in winter.”
“Dear God, thank you that I have enough food to eat.”
“Father, thanks for all the neat stuff we get to buy for Christmas”
Those are all things you should be thanking Him for, but are you forgetting anything?
I reflect on a conversation I had with my neighbour as we were shovelling driveways the other day, he on his four-wheeler, and me with my broken Sears shovel. (I’m getting over it!) His mother, living next door to us, had fallen and broken her hip 2 weeks prior, and had not returned from the hospital yet. One of my daughter’s best friends lives with this woman, her grandmother, and so I knew something was not right with the situation.
“How’s your mom doing?” I asked him as he stopped by me, removing his goggles to talk a moment. “Terrible. They’re going to let her come home so she can be at peace, and then they’ll move her to Riverview. They know she’s gone.” He explained how it was through the broken hip that they discovered the bone cancer that was eating away at her, and the entire family was preparing for her last Christmas on this earth.
It was all matter of fact until I mentioned to him that this was exactly the way they discovered that my mom was dying of cancer. This connected with him, and I think it spoke to him, because his last words to me as he drove off, “All this other stuff is really not that important when it comes down to it. Your health and your family, that’s it.”
So, as you reflect on Christmas this year, and you look at the gift God gave us in Christ Jesus, what are you thankful for?
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Eric
youth@nkmb
UPCOMING EVENTS
Celebrating Christmas with a multicultural flavour! Come dressed for celebrating and bring $10.
(6:00pm @NKMB)
7:00 – 10:00pm, come dressed (appropriately) for the beach party! $5/person.