Christmas Recap

I remembered that I had not yet blogged about the Cannon Christmas.  So here goes…

I had one of the best Christmases in recent memory this year.  It had nothing to do with gifts.  This year I really tried to listen. 

I listened to the songs as they proclaimed the greatness of my Savior and the astonishing way he entered our world.  I listened to the laughter of children, both mine and others, as they anxiously awaited Christmas day.  I listened to the Christmas play at church as it depicted a family learning about God’s love in a miraculous way. 

I listened as God spoke to my heart in a clear, clarifying way.

All of this listening helped this Christmas to be a calm one; one that was focused on the King and his entrance in the world.   

We had plenty of places to go and plenty of presents to open.  In the past, this has caused me some stress and anxiety.  This year, though, the time spent traveling and visiting was exhilirating. 

I shouldn’t be amazed by this.  It’s pretty clear from the Bible and from my own experience that there is great joy in focusing on the right thing.  But every time it happens, I am amazed.

I hope to be amazed more oten in the coming year.

The Gift of Hope

I want to share a couple of columns about hope.

The first was written by Rick Reilly.  Reilly used to be feature in Sports Illustrated, but you kind find his columns in ESPN: The Magazine now.  Some of his writings are humorous and some are spiteful.  Every now and then, though, he writes something that provides a ray of hope to an often hopeless world.  Check this one out:  http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3789373.

The second was written by me and was in the Knoxville News Sentinel last year.  You can see it here:  http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2007/dec/09/one-word/.

I see plenty of people who look as though they have given up.  Do all you can to give the gift of hope to as many people as you can.  We’re all in this together.

The Day Before The Night Before Christmas

I need your help. 

Put your “thinking cap” on and help settle a long-standing dispute between me and my brother. 

As children, we fought like all brothers do.  But this disagreement has gone on long enough.  Here’s the question that has plagued us for years:  When is the day before the night before Christmas?

Chris says that it is today, December 23rd, the day before Christmas Eve.

I say that it is tomorrow, during the day on Christmas Eve.  My thinking is that the night before Christmas is Christmas Eve night and the day before that night would be Christmas Eve day.

Please help us bring closure to this disagreement.  Share your thoughts (especially is you agree with me).

And, if I don’t have opportunity to write this later, have a Merry Christmas.  Celebrate the Birth of Jesus.  Do something nice for a complete stranger.  Take a deep breath and enjoy the moments.

God Bless.

It Is Well With My Soul

Amazing Grace seems to be the favorite song of many believers.  This is understandable, of course.  Once you have experienced God’s awesome grace, there really is nothing sweeter to be found.  Unmerited favor from an Almighty God that we did not deserve and can not repay is something worth singing about.

My wife prefers “The Worm Song.”  That is what she calls the song At the Cross because of the line–”would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I.”  The cross is where Jesus brought together God’s justice and love so that we could have life.  Yet another thing worth singing about.

I’ve had several favorite songs off and on throughout the years, but have kept the same one as “my song” for quite a while and I don’t think I’ll be changing my mind anytime soon.  It is Well With My Soul was written by Horatio Spafford following several traumatic events in his life.  In 1871, his only son died as a result of typhoid fever and a short time later the great Chicago fire brought him financial struggles.  Two years later, he planned a trip for himself, his wife, and their 4 daughters to Europe aboard the S.S. Ville du Havre.  Horatio was held up from going as planned because of business, but sent his wife and daughters ahead of him with the knowledge that he would come along shortly thereafter.  While crossing the Atlantic Ocean, the ship struck another ship and sank, killing all four of his dauthers.  Anna, Spafford’s wife, survived and \ sent a telegram upon reaching Europe that simply stated “Saved Alone.”  As Spafford travelled across the ocean to meet up with his wife, the ship that he was sailing on passed near where his daughters had died.  This is where Horatio Spafford wrote the words for It is Well With My Soul.

While the story behind the song is amazing and inspiring, the words of the song are even more so.  My favorite verse is says this:

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!

My sin not in part, but the whole,

Is nailed to the Cross and I bear it no more,

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, oh my soul!

Except for what is written in the Bible, there is no verse of song ever written that stirs my soul like these words.  To me, this is what Christmas is about.  The baby Jesus laying in a manger is great, but the God-man Jesus on the cross dying for my sins is even greater.

Praise the Lord, Praise the Lord, oh my soul!

A Biblical Christmas

Evangelical Christians claim that they believe the Bible is true.  They claim that what it says is important and relevant to their lives.  Because of this, they claim that they strive to live according to the truths found in Scripture.

Unfortunately, though, many of us are a little ignorant when it comes to knowing what the Bible actually says.

This is really a shame–especially for those who have been Christians for years and have been going to church/listening to sermons/reading the Bible for any length of time.

One of the easiest ways to see this is to examine what people think about the Christmas Story compared to what is actually in the Bible.  Many believers have a lot of non-biblical thoughts about what transpired at Jesus’ birth because of the inaccuracies found in Nativity scenes, Christmas plays, and even Christmas Carols.

Here are a few of the inaccuracies (in no particular order) that many people believe are found in the Bible, but are not.  I will include the Scripture references when appropriate and welcome any additional inaccuracies or questions.

1.  Mary rode on a donkey to Bethlehem. Sorry, but there is nothing in Scripture that states Mary rode a donkey or anything else to Bethlehem.  This is a small issue, but it aggravates me for some strange reason.

2.  The Innkeeper told Mary and Joseph that there was no room in the inn.  Wrong.  Luke 2:7 states that Mary and Joseph laid Jesus in a manger “because there was no room for them in the inn.”  There is no mention of who told them this.  Strangley, many of the Christmas plays I have seen even have the innkeeper’s wife getting into the act.  Sheesh.

3.  Mary gave birth in a stable.  Nothing in Scripture states this.  Again, Luke 2:7 states that Jesus was laid in a manger, but it does not say anything about a stable.  Some people assume this since a manger is a feed trough for “farm animals”, but there is no Biblical evidence for this assumption.  Others have stated that it could have been in a cave of some sort since caves were use by many people of that time as stables.  Really, though, the manger could have been anywhere.    

4.  There were animals present at the brith of Jesus.  No evidence for this either.  Sorry, animal lovers.

5.  The baby Jesus went to “sleep on the hay.”  Luke 2:7 said that he was wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger–no mention of hay. 

6.  The Angels sang to the shepherds about the birth of Jesus.  No Biblical support for this.  First, the Angel of the Lord appears.  Luke 2:10 states: “And the angel said unto them” and Luke 2:13 states: “And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying.”  Said and saying, not sang and singing.

7.  The star was present above Jesus the night of His birth.  This is a tough one, but there is no Scriptural reference for it.  Look at Luke 2:1-20–there is no mention of a star.  When the angel tells the shepherds about the sign of Jesus’ birth, he says “And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. (v. 12)”  They were not told to look for a bright star, but to look for a baby in a manger wrapped in swaddling clothes.  Matthew chapter 2 is where we first see a mention of a star.  In Matthew 2:2 the wise mens states that they “have seen the star in the east.”  Does this mean that they saw the star while the star was in the east (where they were from) or that they could see it from where they were from?  Good question that I don’t know the answer to.  However, Matthew 2:9 says that when they left Jerusalem and headed toward Bethlehem that “the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.”  The star was not stationary over Jesus, but moved ahead of the wise men, leading them to Jesus until it finally stood over him.

8.  There were three wise men.  Inaccurate.  The wise men brough three gifts, but it does not say that there were only three men.  It could have been many more.

9.  The three wise men were present at the birth of Jesus.  Not so.  Matthew 2:9 and Matthew 2:11 both talk of “the young child,” not a newborn baby.  Also, Matthew 2:11 says that the young child was in a house. 

Some of these inaccuracies (like the Jesus being born in a stable or the innkeeper telling Mary and Joseph about the lack of room in the inn) may have indeed happened.  But, these things are not in the Bible.

There are more inaccuracies out there, of course.  However, with this short list you can probably see that many Christians are a little messed up when it comes to one of the most important parts of the Bible.  This may seem a little trivial to you (and it may indeed be), however it shows that some of us who follow Jesus may not be a Biblically literate as we should be.

The remedy for this is for us to see how privileged we are to have Bibles and actually study them instead of leaving them on a shelf until Sunday morning. 

Get your Bible out and read the Christmas story for youself.  You can find it in the first and second chapters of Matthew and Luke.  You may just see things there that you’ve seen before for the first time–if you know what I mean.

My Best Day

I will never reach the absolute best day of my life. 

Please don’t think of me as being depressed, for this is by no means a depressing thought.  I know it kind of sounds like one, but I promise that it isn’t.  Give me a few moments of your time to explain.

The day I was born was not my best day ever.  It was a good day, I suppose.  Without it, I couldn’t have had any other days.

The day that I accepted Jesus as my Savior was of course an awesome day.  However, every day since then has been one more day that I have been walking with my Lord and one more day on my journey to Heaven.  In that respect, every day after that day has been better than the one before it.

The day I married Kristy was a great day.  So were the days when our children came to us (4 by foster parenting/adoption, one by birth).  But, again I have enjoyed the days after those days as well.

The day that I die and enter into Heaven will be my best day ever then, right?

Wrong.

Every day after that will be better than the next because it will mean that I have spent one more day at home with my Savior. 

Do you understand?

I am learning to see every day I live as the best day of my life because I am one day closer to Heaven. 

Every day after I die will be better than the last one because it means that I will have been in Heaven that much longer.  Since I will be there enjoying God’s goodness forever I will never reach my best day.

I’ll never reach the best day of my life.  What a joyous thought, don’t you think?

Thank You (Whoever You Are)

As I read the Bible, I find that I should trust God completely and not be surprised by the way that He chooses to bless me.  Those that love the Savior are instructed to believe that He knows our needs and desires to meet our needs.  I’ve heard sermons about this, preached sermons about this, and claim to believe this with all my heart. 

But when it happens I am shocked.  Completely, utterly, whole-heartedly shocked.  The shock that I feel during this time quickly gives way to awe and then to gratitude as I realize again how great God is and how much love He has for those in His family.

The thing that shocked me this time came in the form of a gift from an anonymous giver.  Of course, I thank God for this gift, but I would also thank the person or persons who gave so generously. 

I don’t know who you are, but you do.  You have blessed me and my family with your kindness and I pray that God greatly blesses you for being such a blessing to us. 

Thank you–whoever you are.

Twister

Well, my oldest little girl is now 7.  She came to live with us when she was just a month old and I instantly fell in love.  We officially adopted her a little over a year later, but she was my little girl from the time she entered our home.  Blessed beyond measure is the best way I can describe it.

We had her birthday party last Saturday at the church.  Even though we invited several people, we didn’t expect many to show up.  WRONG!  Just about everyone we invited came and I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough food.  But just as the 5 loaves and 2 fishes were enough to feed the 5,000-plus in the Bible, our meager amount of hot dogs and our small-ish cake kept going and going and going.  Many thanks to all who attended.

One of the gifts that Noelle received was the game “Twister.”  Yes, the very same game you used to play when you were a kid and far more flexible than you are now. 

We opened it up last night and gave it a go.  The kids loved it even though a few tears were shed whenever they were knocked out of the game.  Kristy and I even got in on the act.  Rest assured that I quit before I pulled any muscles.

It’s during moments like this that I am even more overwhelmed by God’s goodness.  Hopefully you’ve felt the same way recently.