Friday, December 23, 2022
(click here to listen to or read today’s scriptures)
Christmas is almost here
She gave birth to a son. Her friends and relatives rejoiced with her. His mother said, “He will be called John. Then they asked his father what he wished him to be named. He asked for a tablet and wrote, “His name is John.” Everyone was amazed.
I’m amazed every time I spend an hour or two with John, my brother. When he was born, Dad asked for a tablet and said “his name is John”.
Really?
No, but Mom and Dad did name him after his biblical namesake. John’s name means “God has been gracious.”
I know my brother John never wore a hair shirt, and I don’t think he fasted or feasted on locusts and honey. The desert is not his home; he seems most himself in the loamy prairies of central Illinois. But I imagine John the son of Zechariah and Jesus played as little boys, and so I imagine John my brother playing with Jesus too.
What then will this child be? For surely the hand of the Lord was with him.
We await with all our hearts the birth of Jesus. Knowing he is coming seems to make no difference to the surprise and joy I feel each year.
Suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire. Yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.
We decorated our patio for Christmas, and we finished our display just in time for the apartment patio Christmas judging. We played Kenny G Christmas music out there, set in time with our chimes and the very cold winter wind that covered the whole USA this week. Kenny G played “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and I remembered David McCullough’s story at the Mormon Tabernacle during the choir’s 2009 Christmas concert.
In just 10 minutes and 35 seconds the famous historian brought thousands (millions?) of us to tears, sharing stories of World War II soldiers and statesmen, along with two Christmas songs of the time, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” and “O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
Lift up your heads and see; your redemption is near at hand. Good and upright is the Lord, he guides the humble to justice.
Andi spent several hours making snowflakes earlier in the week. She was determined to make each of them a little different. Sound familiar? Miles, Jasper and I helped her staple them onto a bulletin board at Austin Classical School, around the words, “He will wash you white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18 and Aretha Franklin)
We had a good time with the boys that day. Fire in the fireplace, “instant winner” with HEB buddy bucks, long afternoon naps, and then a genuine Japanese dinner prepared by Aki’s genuine Japanese parents.
And Christmas is almost here.
All the paths of the Lord are kindness and constancy toward those who keep his covenant and his decrees.
Guide us, Jesus, into the stable, to worship you.
(posted at www.davesandel.net)
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