Hi ~ me againstill thinking about 're' words! But this time it's 'rebirth'. I love Christmas music. In high school (almost 100 years ago) I was part of the Concert Choir and we learned countless Christmas songs in 4 part harmony of course! My brain still remembers each song and alto part. I can't wait for the radio stations to go 'All Christmas' right around Thanksgiving...

Luke 2:7 - "and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger" For Christmas Eve I chose to focus on this simple verse describing Jesus' birth. This is such a plain statement of the most significant and most divisive moment in human history. Think about how the everyday act of a child being born (a poor child at that) changed...

...I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. -John 10:10 Jesus came to give us abundant life. That word life in this verse comes from the Greek word Zoē which is eternal life. Zoē life is the very life and nature of God. Eternal life is not something you receive when you get to heaven, as a child of God you have eternal life now in ...

Each year at Christmas time as the Christmas songs play on the radio and the conversations about family drown out every other conversation, I'm struck with a heavy sadness. The sadness surrounding family members that I've lost seems to become so much bigger, and everything else so much smaller. I don't think that weight of sadness is what God had in mind when he sent his S...

The first Advent devotional I wrote about was the birth of Jesus - His first Coming. Humble, gentle, serving. In contrast, His second coming - His return to earth to reign completely as Sovereign King - is spoken of in greatest detail in Revelation 19:11-16, "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With jus...

"He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever" Revelations 21:4 Sometimes I feel like every day is a battle with the enemy! Whether he is pouncing on our family's period of grief or whether he is poking at my own self-doubt. He is always lurking around pondering how he can trip us u...

Matt 26:6-116 vNow when Jesus was at wBethany in the house of Simon the leper,1 7 a woman came up to him with an alabaster flask of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he reclined at table. 8 And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste? 9 For this could have been sold for a large sum and xgiven to the poor." 10 But yJes...

I love the reason for Christmas: the promise of a King wrapped up in a baby boy, the hope of a Savior to rescue us from sin! But here's the truth, lately I find myself so caught up in the bedlam of my schedule, that I forget that in everything God is with me and that this is what the Christmas is all about! There's shopping to be done and presents to be wrapped. Cookies ne...

John 14:27- Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. It's really hard to imagine peace sometimes... especially now with this busy season, so many things going on, so many things we worry about, so many hard and sad things happening. But the Lord reminded me that He came a...

Jesus came into the world as a demonstration of God's Love. 1 John 4:10-11 This is love: not that we love God but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved is, we also ought to love one another. Believing includes belonging- We are all called to belong, not just believe. We are created for community, fellowsh...