Shepherds

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests." When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." Luke 2:8-15

They were the outcasts of society, dirty, lowly men whom no one wanted the company of. As they were tending their flocks on this autumn night, they experienced the shock of their lives. And it wasn’t just their lowly estate that made it such a shock – it would have been an odd occurrence for anyone, for suddenly, in the middle of the night, the field became brighter than day. It was when they saw the angel, though, that their fear overwhelmed them. They must really be in trouble now!

But the angel told them not to be afraid. He had good news. A baby had been born. And not just any baby, but One who would be a Savior to everyone, even them! Hadn’t they once heard about a promised Messiah? Then there were lots of angels. This must be big news! They rushed off in the direction the angels had pointed them.

And then they saw Him. He was an ordinary baby, and yet He wasn’t. There was something different about Him. As they returned to their fields, they knew life would never be the same. They had seen the face of God.

Did Someone Say Snow?

In Nashville? Before Christmas? Well, not much, but we did get some. A rare occurrence, no doubt.
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This is Nash’s third winter, and he has never seen a serious snow. Dasha, who is in her eleventh winter, got to see an eight-inch one a few years ago, which she could barely get around in!
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The county schools around here were all closed on Friday, though as you can see, there was little, if any, on the roads. That’s just what they do around here. The kids don’t mind. Neither do the teachers. The snow was all gone by noon, as is often the case here.
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Though I really don’t like winter much, a little snow is kind of exciting, as long as I don’t have to drive in it. I wouldn’t mind if we had one big one that just shut down the whole town, after everyone got home safely. We usually get one every few years, so maybe we are due for one.

Bethlehem

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are small among the clans of Judah, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times. Micah 5:2

In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. Luke 2:1-4

It was a small, unimportant town. Its only claim to fame was that it was the "City of David," and it was some sixty-five miles from where Joseph and Mary made their home in Nazareth.

But now they were required to journey there – not exactly great timing for Mary who, by this time, was getting close to the end of her pregnancy, and a long distance to travel, especially on foot.

Were Joseph and Mary aware of Micah’s prophecy, made over seven hundred years earlier? Possibly, but regardless, they weren’t going to Bethlehem by choice, but by law. After all, they were of the "house and line of David."

Isn’t it amazing that God had revealed so long ago that little Bethlehem would be the place? He had a plan, and it was unfolding.

Beware

I confess. I’m not very good at keeping my checkbook. Not terrible, mind you -- I haven’t written a bad check in years -- but not great either.

My usual procedure when I use my debit card is to stuff the receipt in my checkbook and then periodically go through and write them all down. Then I call the bank, make sure their balance is at least roughly comparable to mine, and check what checks/debits have cleared.

Occasionally there will be a charge from the bank that I don’t have recorded. If it’s just a small charge, I usually just assume it’s a receipt that got misplaced and let it go.

I was going through this procedure this week, and there was a charge for $4.95 that I had no record of. This caught my eye because I rarely put an amount this small on my debit card. Plus, it sounded familiar. I scanned my check register and noticed that I had the same charge one month earlier. I got out my paper statement, and it said the charge was from Juno.

I used Juno as my Internet/e-mail service for about seven years. They took the $9.95/month charge out of my checking account. Their service was satisfactory, but alas, dial-up Internet has become all but obsolete, and Juno doesn’t offer DSL, so several months ago we made the switch to AT&T.

At that point I called and cancelled my service with Juno. I remember talking to a man there who, after I cancelled the service, told me about Juno Speedband, which I could have as a backup service, in case my DSL service ever went down. He told me he would give me a month free, and I said that was fine. I am positive that I did not knowingly agree to pay for this service at any time.

After I saw my bank statement, I looked up my Juno account online. They had been charging me for 3 months. The first month was $6+ because they charged me for some extra days. I was FURIOUS. I decided to wait until after work to call them so I could calm down a little bit.

When I finally called them and began to explain the problem, the lady began a well-rehearsed speech about how I really needed this service, in case my DSL ever failed, and it would fail. It was obvious that she was accustomed to these types of calls. She was talking so fast I could hardly understand what she was saying, but I finally interrupted her and told her that I did not want this service, and what was more, I had not authorized them to take money from my checking account, and that I considered this to be stealing! She said they would end my service that very day.

I told her that wasn’t enough. I wanted my money refunded that they had already taken out. She said she wasn’t authorized to do that. I told her to find someone who was. She put me on hold. She came back and told me they would refund me $9.90 for 2 months. I told her they still owed me another $6+. She said they could only refund for up to 2 months because they didn’t know what transpired in the conversation between me and the man I talked to when I cancelled my service. She said they would send me an e-mail confirming this agreement. "Thank you for using Juno. Please consider us for your future needs." Click.

That was Monday. I finally got the e-mail yesterday, but I haven’t yet received a refund. I still have hope that they will at least do what they said they would do, and at that point I am going to call my bank and tell them not to allow any future transactions from Juno.

Thankfully this was not a huge amount of money, but the fact that they took money out my account without my permission makes me furious! So my warning to you is, if you have any charges on your checking account that you can’t account for, check them out. It would be nice if we could trust people and companies to behave ethically, but unfortunately, we can’t in this day and age. We have to protect ourselves.

Jesus

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. Matthew 1:21

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11

Our Lord has many different names given in the Bible. "Jesus" was the name given to Him by his earthly parents, at the angel’s instruction. It was the name everyone knew Him by. How appropriate that He should have a name that means "Jehovah (God) saves," for this is precisely what He came to do.

Before He came, there was no hope for our sinful world. No one met the standard of perfection that God required for us to enter Heaven, so He made a way for us, a substitute form of righteousness. He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for our sins. Now through Him we may have eternal life if we will only acknowledge our sinful state and accept Him as our Savior. What better way to celebrate Christmas this year than to accept God’s wonderful gift as your own?

Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree

Don and I got our Christmas tree this weekend. This is our fourth Christmas as a married couple, so we’ve kind of developed a few traditions. We get our tree at Lowe’s, and Dasha goes with us. (Nash will probably never get to go to Lowe’s because of his tendency to lift his leg and leave his mark on every new thing he encounters.) We bring the tree home and set it up in the corner of the living room. We turn on Christmas music, and Don puts the lights on it, and then we get out our ornaments. We both have moms who have always made sure we were well-supplied with Christmas ornaments, so we collectively have a lot of them. We’ve kept them stored separately, which helps us remember whose are whose, plus we have acquired a few together since getting married. As we decorate the tree, we review memories attached to certain ornaments.
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I have several favorites. One is a "Tennessee" ball that my parents gave me about 20 years ago. It’s part of a collector series of all 50 states, but I only have Tennessee.
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This is another of my favorites. It was given to me several years ago by one of the kids in a Sunday School class I taught. It closes up and looks like a Bible, but opens to reveal a scripture and a mini nativity scene.
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I got this one at an ornament exchange party. It hooks into the string of lights and lights up, changing colors periodically.
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Don’s favorite is his "naked skiing Santa." He’s had it since he was a little kid. I’m not sure why he likes it so much; it’s kind of obnoxious. Maybe that’s his reason. But I indulge him by letting him place it in a prominent place on the tree. Whatever.
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I also have a special tree skirt that my mom made for me. She made my brother one too. It has pictures representing each of the "Twelve Days of Christmas" that she cross-stitched. I know it took her many, many hours to make. A tag she put on the underside says "1991."
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Hauling in a live tree and decorating it, only to un-decorate it, take it down and haul it away a few weeks later, leaving massive amounts of needles in its path before, during and after, really is a lot of trouble if you think about it, but it’s one of those things that I enjoy about Christmas, even though it has little if any spiritual significance. It’s pretty, it makes for good memories, and it sure does make my house smell good.

Joseph

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly. But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us." When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus. Matthew 1:18-25

He couldn’t believe it. Mary, his betrothed, had just told him that she was pregnant, and her growing figure supported her story. But it couldn’t possibly be true. It certainly wasn’t his child, and surely Mary . . . she seemed like such a righteous woman.

Well, he would just have to do the honorable thing and break off their engagement. Then Mary could go and marry whoever the father of the child was.

But he loved her so . . .

When he was finally able to sleep that night he had a dream, a very vivid dream. In the dream he saw an angel. Hadn’t Mary said something about an angel? But the angel was talking to him now, telling him to go ahead and marry Mary – she hadn’t been unfaithful to him. She was carrying the Son of God.

When he awakened he wasn’t sure if it was all true, but his next visit with Mary reassured him. He was to be the "step-father" of the long-awaited Messiah.