17 Baptisms this year!

What a blessing to see three more people baptized this past Sunday, Dec. 19th.  John and Lori Lou and Cowboy.  These precious people are great examples of our target group.  Good people who are learning what it means to trust Jesus for salvation and grow in their relationship with Christ through obedience. This year, 2010 has allowed us the privilege to see 17 people do this.  Thank you who support us, we could not see this if it were not for you.  You are as much a part of our ministry as we are.

We are preparing for our Christmas Eve Service.  We trust God to bring many people. We will be doing a traditional Christmas eve program with the story of Christmas from Luke and many carols.  We celebrated Christmas with our Praise Team on Monday night with a special dinner in Playa.  Terry and I will be spending Christmas relaxing at home and enjoying each other's company and I'm sure reflecting on our year and preparing for next.  We will miss our family.  This is the second year we will not be spending Christmas with our children and grandchildren.  We are surrounded by our Church family and we love them dearly.

"Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them.  But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. Luke 2:51 (NIV). This verse is not the familiar one we find at the birth of Jesus but one written for us when he was about 12 years old.  Mary and Joseph have taken Jesus to the temple in Nazareth, as was the custom for Jewish boys.  After leaving Nazareth, Mary discovers Jesus is not with them.  Mary and Joseph return to Nazareth to find him.  After searching for 3 days they find him in the temple TEACHING. Even at this point in Jesus' life his earthly parents did not fully understand what he was doing. It was a God thing.  The one part of this verse that touched me was "but his mother treasured all these things in her heart".  The other time Mary treasured all these things in her heart was at the birth of Jesus.  Funny how things don't always play out the way we expect.  But God gives us sweet memories.  I have sweet memories of my children, my grandchildren, my family and my friends.  At this time of year I will also treasure these memories.

I plan to learn to treasure and ponder instead of whine and complain. I plan to grow in my love and appreciation of Jesus, just as Mary did. I plan to marvel at His coming and revel in His glory. And most of all, this Christmas, I plan to search for Him everywhere, just as she did — and never lose sight of Him again. (copied)

Merry Christmas!