OnFire Encouragement Letter
Hi Folks and Merry Christmas!
Its official!! Mark’s sport stacking records have been verified. He is the official Canadian record holder for his age and overall in the 3-3-3, 3-6-3, and cycle categories. Also, he and Jan now hold the Canadian doubles records overall, and for age. Way to go!!!
Speaking of records, we set a record in our church for attendance last Sunday morning. We combined our worship service with the Sunday school concert and, despite the forecast of a snow storm to start that morning, we had 88!! We normally only mark “regular” and not “special” services, but I’m so excited about this that we’ll have a hot choco mug-up after the service on Sunday.
Less than a week to go before Christmas. Most of our Christmas events are over now. The boys finish school tomorrow (Thursday). We’ll have a Christmas eve service. My mother and step-father will arrive Saturday from PEI for Christmas.
I’ll see how things go next week re: putting out OnFire. If I do, it will be, understandably, later in the week.
Blessings for your Christmas.
- -- - - - - - - - - - -
I have a few friends who are artists. Neat people, artists. I look at a tree, and I see leaves and firewood. They look at the same tree and it becomes a fascinating subject to be photographed, painted, shaped, carved, worked, glued, or turned on a lathe. The results are absolutely beautiful.
An old man named Simeon met Joseph, Mary, and Jesus when they took him to be presented at the temple. Simeon, it says, was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” (Luke 2:25* I talked a little about this a few years ago in OnFire #39, “The Best is Yet to Come.” See below for the link)
Upon seeing Jesus, Simeon took the infant into his arms and blessed him. “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation...”
Like my friends who see more than the rest of us see normally, Simeon saw something in Jesus beyond what many others saw. Simeon saw that Jesus was not just any baby. There were lots of those presented at the temple. Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah. Others saw a newborn baby and swaddling clothes. Simeon (and Anna, too, for that matter Luke 2:36-38), saw the Saviour.
It is easy during the Christmas season to see all the activities of Christmas and not to see Christ. I find it takes conscious effort to see beyond the gifts, trees, decorations, food, preparations, shopping, wrapping, and everything else to see Jesus. It is a very real danger that we might celebrate Christmas without him.
I hope that each one of us might be like Simeon this Christmas - To see beyond the baby, to see beyond the celebrations of the season, to see Jesus Christ, “For my eyes have seen your salvation.”
Hope this helps. Be OnFire.
Troy
For more on Simeon, see OnFire #39 “The Best is Yet to Come.” http://www.onfireletter.com/page4.html
ON FIRE is a weekly letter of encouragement by Troy Dennis. To be added to or removed from the ON FIRE list contact him at onfire@eastlink.ca . Archives are located at www.onfireletter.com This letter published Dec 19, 2007. *New International Version, copyright 1973, 1978 by the International Bible Society.