Merry Christmas!

We hope your Christmas is joyful (and maybe even restful), and filled with love and the remembrance of Christ our Savior, whose birth we celebrate today.  Think of it:  "Immanuel" - God WITH us!  Christmas is so much more than presents or trees.  So we take a moment this morning to share with you a Christmas poem written this year by my best friend, George Toles:

GOD IN YOUR ARMS

Nazareth girl, you’re so innocent, so pure.

Of all women on earth, how honored you are.

Why would God not choose one more mature?

Just a teen, with precious, holy Seed from afar.

There in your arms, this God-Child so dear,

Do you wonder what He’s thinking now?

Is He dreaming of the day we all would fear?

Who will tell Him what He’ll face, and how?

But in this hallowed moment you will wait

And cherish the rare privacy of His youth.

Soon a silvery traitor leads troops to the gate

As greed betrays The Way, The Life, The Truth.

This is your time; look deep into the eyes

Of this Babe who bled and died for you.

What will you say, when will you realize

That His gift of forgiving you’s all true?

Just straw, no fancy wrapping for this Gift.

Clothed in rags, far from home, in a stable.

One day soon in clouds He’ll come to lift

Us up.  Are you ready, willing and able?