CHOOSE: TO LIGHT THE CANDLE OF LOVE FOR THE 4th SUNDAY OF ADVENT

FIRST EVANGELICAL CANDLELIGHT SERVICE 2017!

Children sharing the Greatest Love Story ever told with word and song! (John 3:16, KJV)

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON THAT WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH IN HIM SHALL NOT PERISH BUT HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE.

A perfect way to "light" the flame of love in one's own heart....

And to pass it on---candle by candle,
into the hands of other believers.

Believers rejoicing in the One
who is the light, celebrating
His birth together!

Love and light
filling the sanctuary.

A sanctuary of God's Presence
In every heart!

Merry Christmas Eve!

CHOOSE: TO FIND THE SACRED IN THE ORDINARY

God's goodness is all around us.

Sometimes we just need to change our focus in order to see it. Even in the hard place or the ordinary. Those plain ole daily happenings. God is in every part of our lives.
In everything, He's there! (1 Corinthians 12:6)

Certainly this is the season to celebrate each and every ordinary events---remembering we are children of an extraordinary God!

Con-TEA-emporary : a NEW Brew

Newfangled---just like iBooks and audio ebooks---I try them......then I go back to my old school ways.

It's why I like to hold my Bible in my hand. Don't get me wrong, I also have a Holy Bible App, but... it's my "hard copy" Ryrie Study Bible that I most often use for careful examination of God's Word. (Acts 17:11)
I want to be like Ezra and set my heart to study God's Book (law) so that I might teach those statutes to others. (Ezra 7:10)

This year I chose to try the NLT version for reading through the Bible, though not for study. I was rewarded with new insight and am celebrating finishing the entire Bible in two more days as I'll try a new brew of tea as well.
I'll broaden my tastes----and then probably go back to my PG TIPPS loose tea and NASB next year!

CHOOSE: UNWAVERING IDENTITY

What's your ID?
Mom. Dad. Child, Spouse. Sibling. Friend. Student.
These are standards and many remain unwavering throughout one's life. Sometimes it feels as if we lose our identity as a person and just become one of our labels.

What about in the area of worship? Do we just wear the label of a denomination or religious affiliation. Christian. Jewish. Muslim. Atheist.

Is this the area of one's life where an ambiguous identity is often more visible in certain places, certain days of the week or certain positions at certain times? 

Is is visible on Sundays in a sanctuary or on Saturday in a synagogue but not as recognizable the rest of the week?

Work and worship are not separate identities for believers. Brother Lawrence showed the sacred in washing pots and pans. Even washing dishes became a blessed sacrament for him. (Practicing the Presence of God, p. 12)
Socrates asked (in the prayer from Phaedrus), "May the inward and outward man be at one." (A. Lindberg. Gift from the Sea, p. 23)

The identity that counts is Child of the King. That identity never wavers.
Beloved in Him. An ID of one who lives a life with no separation between spiritual and secular.  Richard Foster calls it, in Freedom of Simplicity, living out of the divine center. (p. 82)

Choose to identify with the LORD and do not waver. It's a lasting identity!

CHOOSE: A TUESDAY TREAT

On this day, December 19, one hundred and seventy four years ago, Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol. So, today's choice was easy as "The Man Who Invented Christmas" was showing at the Cordova Malco.

 

For 10 + years, our  family had tickets for "A Christmas Carol" at Theatre Memphis---usually seated in the first row center of the upper section, often needing all 14 seats in row J as we invited friends to go with us. Barry Fuller had our hearts as Scrooge.

To treat ourselves today to see this year's new holiday movie about how Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" and thereby creating a tradition was a no-brainer for us, especially when son Buddy's review was so glowing. A perfect movie for our family he said as know all the phrases and word references. He was right----we did. 

It was indeed a Tuesday Treat. According to hubby, the only thing that would have made it better would have been to have all our children in the audience with us----because those are memories we share with them! "God bless us, everyone!"

CHOOSE: MONDAY MOTTO

We've all heard the maxim, "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade." Well, this week I don't have time in my schedule to make lemonade.

But God.....took my "lemony" thoughts in a new direction.

I don't have to "cook" anything. God used Max Lucado's words from his book, Anxious for Nothing Finding Calm in a Chaotic World. (p. 150)

I only need to remember them---no preparations needed.

LIFE STILL GIVES LEMONS. LIFE GVES LEMONS TO GOOD PEOPLE, BAD PEOPLE, OLD PEOPLE, ALL PEOPLE. 

LIFE COMES WITH LEMONS.

BUT, WE DON'T HAVE TO SUCK ON THEM. (Emphasis mine!)

Thanking the Lord for the reminder to choose a "new" Monday motto today. (1 Thessalonians 5:16, 1 Thessalonians  5:18)

CHOOSE: TO LIGHT THE "CANDLE OF HOPE" FOR THE 3rd SUNDAY OF ADVENT

This Collierville neighborhood yard sign "simply" says it all for Christians.

CHOOSE: TO HOPE

I hope to be back within a bit to finish this. "Hope" in my intro sentence is a verb meaning that I "intend, if possible, to do something."
Regardless, that was an unfulfilled expectation/hope for me. Four days is more than "a bit of time."

Earlier today, I passed a house under construction,  and I assume that the prospective owners "hope" (verb) to move in doing the Christmas season----at least that must be what they want to happen. Unsure optimism at its peak!

At night the wreath is even lit and blinks to passer-bys.
Their hope (noun) is synonymous with desired expectation. But their hope seems unlikely.
Hope deferred makes the heart sick. (Proverbs 13:12) Hopefully, (adverb) this seasonal display was more  tongue-in-cheek in cheek. Just a whimsical way for a family to exaggerate their plight!

I choose to hope they will be moved-in sooner or at least in timely manner and to be grateful for their acceptance of the delays and sharing it with us who pass by.

CHOOSE: TO SMILE---everytime you listen

Here's a gift to all who give 48 seconds to hear this Christmas Story, Asher style.
"Great" nephew Asher, was recorded 2 days before his 3rd birthday on Thanksgiving and regaled us with a truncated Luke 2:8-14!
These verses will come alive as you listen to a GREAT Christmas story. It's the RX for a happy heart which will break out into a smile.

Smiling is an involuntary reflex when you listen to Asher's Christmas Story---you have no choice. The smile is the response! It just happens for 48 seconds.

CHOOSE: TO SEW HOPE

A simple license plate speaks volumes. For this driver, it advertises her business.

But for me....it reminds me of my need to sew more hope into my life.

The tapestry of our lives is a pattern of faith, love, hate, joy, disappointments peace, panic, praise. Yet, we all continue to hope to "do better."

For Christians, sewing hope in God, into the pattern of their lives, is the right choice.
Hope, past, present and future, is promised in Scripture. He is our hope. Our faith in Him is an indication of certainty, "for in hope we have been saved." (Romans 8:24)