life stinks,read the book!

You know God continues to amaze me. I have been preaching through the gospel of John for two and a half years now. Taking it a verse by verse and digging into all the goodness it has to offer. Over the last month there have been three verses that have especially become very meaningful to me in light of the death of my dad. It’s so amazing that just by “accident” (no accident but God sovereign will) I have been studying these passages at the same time that he died. They are found in John 13 and 14. I hope as I share them with you, they might also bring much joy and hope to you.

The first is John 13:7 which says “Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." He was washing the disciples feet and Peter did not understand why Jesus would do this. So Jesus makes something clear to Peter. Peter you won’t get this right now but afterword you will. You know what I really didn’t understand why my dad died when he did. I have a sister that I know really needed more time with him. There was a  grand baby coming that he was supposed to meet. The three d’s were supposed to go to dozens of Michigan games together. Maybe he was even supposed to see D III play in the big house (hey a dad can dream cant he). He was supoosed to see a grandson graduate from the Marines. The list goes on and on. This doesn’t even begin to address the whole retirement and growing old together aspect he was going to do with my step mom. But you know what, what God allows we don’t always understand but there comes a time in which we do understand. I will be honest I still don’t understand fully but I understand more today than I did on Jan 25^th. It still doesn’t make complete sense but it make more sense today than it did then. Maybe today you are experiencing something that doesn’t make sense and you are wondering what God is up to, be patient you might not understand now but afterword you will understand.

The second is John 14:26 which says, “ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” Here Jesus is letting the 11 know that right now this doesn’t make sense(Jesus was going to die, he was going to the cross and was going to leave them they didn’t get it though) but there is coming a time when it will. Jesus is telling them that the Holy Spirit is going to come and when that happens he says he will teach you and bring to your remembrance all that I have said. So in essence Jesus was saying in time you will remember all that I taught you and the words that I have spoken to you will come to mind. I believe this is still a ministry of the Holy Spirit today, not only with scripture but I do believe that the Holy Spirit reminds us of the words of those who taught us in life. These verses became so real to me about two weeks ago while I was on the treadmill. After our trip to Israel and my dad’s death, my knee that I had my ACL repaired seemed to have regressed and for a couple of weeks after the trip and his funeral I was in much pain. I remember one day while on the treadmill I was jogging and had been jogging for about ten minutes when I just felt like it was pointless, like my knee would forever be hurt and I just wanted to get off and quit. Then the words of my dad came to me, “Finish what you start son, never give up.” I was brought into remembrance of when my dad would have me push his white tracer up and down the street while he was in it, to get ready for football season. “Come on Nooner”, he would say. “Finish what you start, son.” “Son you are stronger than you know, now push this blank car down the street.” As I wanted to quit that day those words came into remembrance, I felt as if my dad was right there with me. This is grand of God to give us such power through the Holy Spirit. One thing I was so afraid of is that I would forget my dad, forget his face, forget his voice, forget his words, forget his love, forget his wisdom. I was reminded through this verse that as the Holy Spirit is in me and working in me, He will help me not to forget but to remember. Like I said God never ceases to amaze me.

The last one is John 14:28 which says, “ You heard me say to you, 'I am going away, and I will come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.” Actually this hit me like a ton of bricks last night. Jesus says to the 11 I am going to die and if you loved me you would rejoice, because I am going to the Father. It helped me put my dad’s death back into the right perspective. I had a horrible week last week . I was allowing myself to be down, allowing my problems to swallow up my faith. Funny thing is my wife asked me all last week if I was Ok, she said you seem so sad. I told her she crazy I’m fine. What a fool of a man not to heed the advice of a Godly wife. This verse got me and my dads death back in perspective. Sure be sad; still take my “five minutes “as he told us to do. (He said take your five minutes and mourn but then get on with it and live over and over while dying.) But after that rejoice because my dad like Jesus went to the Father and the Father is the greatest thing possible. He is greater than Christ and greater than life. He is greater than seeing Michigan play football, He is greater than seeing babies being born and He is greater than growing old with the one he loves. So it refocused me. This verse helped close up that hole in my heart that satan tries to keep open. I am not sure if you are in need of a readjustment, if so I hope that maybe these three verse will come alive to you like they did for me. I will finish with this thought. My dad while on his death bed said much, one thing he came back to was telling my family and myself to read the book(referring to the bible). He would say just read the book, just read the book all the answers you need are in there, they are right there in the book. So just read the book and you’ll be OK. As usual pops you were wise and right. Go Blue, Semper Fi and I love you pops. P.S I’m still reading the book.

Right Around The Corner!

This last Sunday was March 4^th 2012.  It was the 12^th anniversary of the day that our daughter, Alexis Joy, died while sleeping on my chest.  This year remembering her death was a little different.  It was the first time without my dad.  It was neat to see the way that God put this day together so that people’s hearts would be strengthen and encouraged through his and her death.  I have been preaching through the gospel of John for over 2 year now and as we came to March 4^th the text we came to was John 14.  This is what it says, "Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.  (2)  In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  (3)  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.  (4)  And you know the way to where I am going."  (5)  Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?"  (6)  Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  John 14:1-6.  How amazing.  I tried to put the thoughts together like this, On March 4th 2000 a baby girl died so that this man would be saved and so that 12 years later on the day he would preach do not let your hearts be troubled, all to the glory of God, to help those whose hearts are troubled.”  That was my heart’s desire as I came to this day, that hearts would be strengthened and encouraged and lifted up as I preached the gospel and preached from some of my pain and hurt.  There is a saying that we have at the Noonkester house that goes like this, one minute we will be here the next we won’t.   Being pastor kids my kids are very familiar already of the concept of death, but the reason we say it is so that we are preparing them for the time when we die.  We think we have forever to live but we don’t.  I remember in early January as my dad was recovering in the hospital,  he told my sister and myself, “There is coming a time when you are going to have to bunker down and live without me.”  On the way home from that trip after they determined that my dad was going to be Ok Ari said, “you know dad you are right one minute we will be here and the next we won’t, this is true for granddad to isn’t it.”  She realized what we have been telling her, death is coming for us all.  I did not think I would have had to bunker down so soon but I did.  So on March 4^th there one thing I particularly missed and that was a hug.  Not that I would have got it from my dad that day.  But that was one thing my heart ached for on that day because I remembered the hug that we shared the day that she died.  We embraced and he held me so tight at that hospital when we heard what we knew was coming.  He held me and he wept with me and he then told me it’s going to be OK.  That is what my heart ached for the most this last Sunday, just one last hug.  It took my thoughts back to the Monday when we flew in from Israel to be with him as he died.  When we got there we embraced again and I wept again and again he told me, son it’s going to be OK.  You know what he was right.  There is so much I miss already.  There is so much I wish for, like just one hug, just one word, just one smile, that list goes on.  But you know what its ok.  This week I have watched video of my dad that was taken while he we was at the hospital.  He said something that gives me encouragement.  He said, you know I love y’all, but you have to realize I’m right around the corner.”  Amen.  This is what I am living my life for so I can turn that corner some day and be with not only him, but other loved ones and msot of all Jesus Chrsit.  This is what gives me hope, give me strength and what heals my broken heart when I have those moments that I long for a hug or a go blue or a I love you son.  I am not sure where you are at as you read this.  Maybe life is prefect maybe it’s not.  Either way I leave you with this great reminder.  Do not let your hearts be troubled.  Believe in Jesus and believe in God.  When you do this everything you have ever needed or desired will be right around the corner. 

Run The Race!

I wrote this in early January for a NCCBA newsletter that goes out each month.  Thought I would share it. 

Lord willing as you are reading this my wife and I will be in Israel, embarking on a Holy Land tour.  Amazingly this trip was a gift from a person in our church.  It was a trip that almost didn’t happen.   My family and I went home to Michigan for a quick trip after Christmas.  We were on our way back and just crossed the Michigan border and were stopping for lunch when we received a call.  It was one of those calls that you think you will ignore till you get done eating.  Problem was my phone rang, then my wife’s rang and then mine rang again and then you think I guess I better get that.  So I answered the phone and it was my aunt and she dropped a bomb, "I’m up here at the hospital your dad is in the ER.  They aren’t sure what’s wrong and I will keep you updated when we hear something."  At this point my mind was going in a million different directions and I had a million questions.  Should we go back?  Is he going to die?   What about church services Sunday?   Is it really that serious? So 15 minutes or so went by and I got a call from my sister saying that my dad had been acting really disoriented and confused that morning and his blood pressure was sky high and he had had a couple seizures. The last seizure he stopped breathing and they had to put him on a ventilator. And they think he might have had a stroke or was having bleeding on the brain.  At this point it was an easy choice. So I called the chairman of the deacon board and told him what was going on and he told me to turn around and go back no questions asked.  We got to the hospital and I have been at the side of hundreds of hospital beds with people but I was not ready for this one.  This one was completely different.   I got there and there was my dad on a ventilator, looking so vulnerable.  They were running all kinds of tests and had no clue what was going on.  All they said is he was very sick and in critical condition.  We left the hospital late Friday night with many unknowns.  On Saturday morning we got there and the nurses said they wanted us to start to talk to him as they were going to try to get him off the ventilator and wake him up.  I left the room for 15 minutes and I came back in and I saw my dad with no tubes down his throat, eyes opened, and he gave me a “Go Blue” son.  Now I knew we were moving in the right direction.  It seemed like they did every test possible and never found anything seriously wrong.  We left on Sunday morning to go home and they eventually sent him home on Tuesday.  There was one thing that really hit me hard through all of this.  At one point after my dad was out of ICU and in a step down bed, it was just my oldest sister and I in his room and he looked at us and said,

“One day you guys are going to have to be strong and hunker down because I am not going to make it.”  These were sobering words for me to hear.  Up to this point our dad had been the strongest man I have ever known.  Up to this point he never had anything seriously wrong with him other than things like a cold or the flu. And now out of the blue, here he is telling us he understands the reality that he is in the latter phases of his life and he understands his mortality and that we must also.  That really made me think and ask some questions.  Am I doing a good job as a pastor helping people get ready to die and am I helping the people who love them get ready to say good bye?   Do I help them have an urgency to enjoy and grow in their relationship with those they love, while there is still the chance to do so?  And do I realize this and do I take enough time to do this?   If my dad did die could I say that I loved him all I could, that I said all I needed to say, and that I held nothing back from having the relationship with him that I should have?  And ever deeper than that, the question that really came to my mind is, do I really consider every day a gift of God and make the most of it?  I was reminded of this as we began our trip home and as our middle child said, “dad you always say we will be here one minute and the next minute we won’t. That’s  true for granddad too."  I thought to myself, out of the mouth of a child.  Thanks daughter for reminding me this!   This is true for me and for you also.  The reality is one minute we will be here and the next minute we will be gone.  When that becomes reality what will we leave behind?  What will be our legacy?  What will they say our life was about?  The reality is that some of us reading this right now might not see 2013 and if that is the case will we have made our lives count.  I know it wears us down to continue to run the race.  But I encourage you all to press on and to run the race today and this year like it may be our last.  If it is, at that point it will have been worth it all!

What do you do when it seems like God lets you down?

I received an email last week that stated, “What do you do when all hope seems lost?”  Basically the email was about what do you do when it seems as if God has let you down?  Last week I had a week in which it seemed (notice I said seemed) as if God let people down.  There were several families that I either met with or heard from who were going through extreme trials and pain.  Some were concerning financial difficulties, some were concerning relationship issues, some were going through the grief of the unexpected loss of a baby, and some were in the middle of a marriage crisis.  What do we do when it seems as if God has let us down?  This is no easy question to answer and maybe it’s not even the right question to ask.  I think part of the issue in America with God is that we have made Him to be a fairy.  He is our wish commander.  We expect God to do what we ask whenever we ask it.  We expect God to be that person that gets us out of every bind we put ourselves in.  We see God as that person that is supposed to prevent us from every hurt and pain.  I believe this is faulty theology.  I think far too many Americans think Gods purpose is to make their lives easy, great and comfortable,  if that is you, you are missing the boat.  The opposite is true God is not to make us great but rather we are to make Him great.  A constant prayer I pray for myself and family  is God do whatever you need to, whatever it takes God to keep us dependent and relying on You.  God do whatever is necessary for us to have complete reliance on you.  What do we do when it seems as if God has let us down?  Well we make Him great in those times.  John Piper often says, “God is most glorified in me when I am most satisfied in Him.”  That’s part of the answer to the question of what do we do when it seems as if God has let us down, we keep finding our satisfaction in Him and not our circumstances.  See when that email came and when all these people went through this hurt and pain all at once it was a great reminder to me.  God is not a puppet.  God is not obligated to answer selfish prayers.  God is not obligated to take away pain from our lives.  God is not obligated to make a believers’ life a bed of roses.  We are obligated though to make Him and His name glorious.  We are obligated to truly rely on Him and Him alone.  We are obligated to walk in faith that all things do work together for the good for those who believe and Love Him.  All those families that I had the great privilege to minister to last week was a great reminder to me because I found myself for a minute asking, “Hey God what’s going on here, these families love you and these families are serving you?”  It was personal for me.  Some of these families Les and I have been on a monthly basis fasting and praying  specifically for them.  So you think God we did what you told us to do, and they are doing what you told them to do, yet look right now their hearts are getting ripped right out of their chest they are hurting and struggling so bad.  See it was also personal for me in the fact that one of our  reason for fasting to pray was for ourselves.  Our middle daughter Ari is in need of getting some orthodontic work done.  She desperately needs this.  With our insurance the dentist said they will either approve the work at 100% or 0% so we fasted and prayed and confidently went to the Lord and asked that the insurance would find favor with her case.  We prayed with assurance that it would be covered.  We received in the mail last week a letter from the insurance saying they have denied the claim, 0% covered.   What do you do when it seems like God has let you down?  Shortly after I received that letter I went to the doctor office to get a shot and on the way I heard from My Savior and so I texted Lesleigh this.  “My Savior said everything is going to be Ok.  So you need to know lester everything will be OK.”  With that she responded, “you just made me smile because at first I said God we prayed with such assurance and faith you’d take care of it and then I immediately thought He will provide and be glorified even greater through this than if the insurance will take care of it.”  So we are learning to make God most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.  We have made arrangements for Ari to get braces it’s just money and will get taken care for someway.  But we have also gone forward with something else.  See we have been praying for a while now about being foster parents and also fostering to adopt or just adopting.  It seems like an impossible thing to do right now, especially financially with this added bill of the braces.  We are claiming Proverbs 16:13, Commit your work to the LORD, and your plans will be established.” We will be taking the classes and getting our home visit set up so that we will be certified.  We would love to finish our attic for more living space so we can the most space to take in the most kids.  We are committing these plans to the Lord and so they will be established.   The reality is God doesn’t let us down.  There is nothing that has come into our lives that hasn’t come into it for the purpose of making God great and glorifying His name in it.  Remember that everything in your life is in it for a God purpose.  When we begin to see everything, good and bad, in our life as opportunities to glorify God we will be most satisfied in Him.  Please join me in praying that as believers we make it our goal not to be safe but rather to say whatever it takes God make me to make you great!  This can be done.  A family just miscarried their baby boy at 20 weeks and in the midst of it they have said over and over, God is enough, God is great, God is our peace.  They have said over and over, It is well.  It is well.  Listen this glorying God and making Him great.  It can be done.  Recently a wife comes to me and tells me her husband has had an affair on her.  Today we are planning on renewing their vows this October and baptizing as a part of their wedding renewal.  They are more in love today than they have been in there 20 years of marriage.  They are more committed to Christ today than they have been in a long, long time.  This is glorying God and making Him great.  It can be done. 

How are you abiding in his word?

The Christian who is careless in Bible reading will be careless in Christian living. I think we all believe and understand this. I think we would all agree that is indeed a true statement. The more time I spend in the word is going to directly relate to the kingdom life I live. Read little, live little. Read much, live much. Yesterday at FBC one of the verses that I preached from is John 8:31, 32, which says, “So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” John 8:31-32 (ESV). Jesus gives us some clear instruction here about what we should be doing with his word; he makes it clear if you really are my disciples you are going to abide in it. Then he says as you abide in it you are going to know the truth and the truth will set you free. This is great news for the person who realizes that they in prison, in need of being set free. For those who do not realize they are enslaved it is not much news at all. This was the reaction of the Jews Jesus was speaking to. We are not slaves, we are not in need of being freed. As believers in Jesus Christ we need to realize from this verse that some of the keys to our kingdom lived life is directly related to our bible reading life. Even more important is the implications for struggling believers. For the believer who is struggling with an addiction, with a relationship problem, with finding joy, with all those things that seem to keep us enslaved this is very important because there is a direct correlation to you abiding in Jesus' word and knowing the truth that sets you free. In context Jesus is speaking to the crowd about understanding, believing and putting their trust into what Jesus was saying about himself to them in this chapter. For us today we can apply this verse to how we allow the bible to enter in us by reading it. I am not sure if you have a person in your life that models this to you. I do. My role model is my wife, Lesleigh. Lesleigh has committed herself to having daily time of reading the Word and also reading Christian books. Myself and our kids know that when they see mom sitting in her chair upstairs that she is off limits.(at least we are suppose to know this) Without fail my wife no matter what has gone on or what is going to go on that day has her time with God. She is such an encouragement to me, showing me that it can be done. Thinking about this I thought of some practical suggestions for abiding in His Word.
1. Quality over Quantity- Choose quality time in the word and not necessary quantity. Many people read through the bible in a year and it's very rushed. Others use the Daily Bread or other short devotionals. I am not knocking these practices. I am just saying for me personally the times I have done this I find myself just trying to check a box on some reading plan so I can say I did that or feeling frustrated by the lack of substance in devotionals. I find myself not really reading for growth just reading to get it done. I think that the best thing to do is the read the bible a book at a time. Study a whole book at once.  Take your time and learn and grow and read for growth in and for your life.

2. Consistency- The goal should be everyday but this is not reality in the world we live in. All thought no matter how busy we are, we never fail to eat, sleep, watch TV, etc. We should strive to be steady eddies. Slow and steady wins the race. If the habit is read 1 day miss 7, read 2 days miss 3, read 5 days miss 20 etc its going to produce in you the same kind of kingdom living. You will live out the word just as inconsistently as you read it. You can set a time and try to stick to it or be flexible with what going on in your life. Many people love to get up in the morning and spend time in the morning reading the word. If that is you that is great. I am more of a noon guy myself. And some are more of night people. The time doesn’t matter, the consistency does.

3. Mediate-I think this is really something many believers miss. A major point of your reading should be so that you can ponder on it. Think of the cow with his food. He eats it and shallows it, pukes it up and chews some more and then swallows it again. OK maybe don’t think about to much. Read your bible in a way so that you remember it and chew on it through the day and week. It does little good to read and then not to think about it again. For all of you married folks where both are believers, this is a great marriage builder. Les and I haven’t to many weeks go by since we were saved that we don’t mediate on scripture together by talking them through.

4. Be selfish-. This is the simplest yet the hardest to do at times A couple of weeks ago I asked Les if she wanted to play domino's and she said she would really like to but was just getting ready to go read so she said I’ll pass. Be selfish. Say no. Say no to your husband, your kids, your friends. Guard some time for you to hear from God. And don't feel guilty over it. 

5. Don’t give up- When you get and are inconsistent just don’t give up. When you have those stretches were you aren’t reading like you should don’t give up. Set it in your heart that you are going to get back at it, pray for the ability and determination to get going again and then just do it. Whatever you do don’t get in a rut and then think you can’t get out of it or that is doesn’t matter or that God wont forgive you.

When The Game Is Over Everything Goes Back In The Box

But he continued, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. 24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am he, you will indeed die in your sins.” John 8:23,24
As a pastor a reality I am reminded of on a consistent basis is the reality of death. When the game of life is over we all end up in a box. There is no discrimination to this reality, all who live will someday die no exceptions. The question I think we need to ask ourselves is when we do die what will our death mean? Will our death count because we made our lives count? The fact is there are many things that are worthwhile that we can fill our lives with while we are living that seems like we are making it count. The fact is the only worthwhile thing to fill our lives with that will make our life count is Jesus Christ. When you take your last breath and die the only question that you are going to be concerned about is- Was Jesus Christ my all consuming passion and desire? Everything else will become so pale in comparison with this question. I want to help as many people as possible to have Jesus Christ as their all consuming passion. This is why I preach the word as hard and as passionately as I do. This is also why I try to live the word as passionately and hard as I try to. The sad reality that I hear from people is this. They consistently feel as if they are not making their life count. The feel defeated when it comes to Jesus being their all consuming passion and desire. They feel as if there is no joy or growth in their spiritual life. If this is your struggle here are a couple of practical suggestions to help you.
1. Focus on today. This is old news I know but it is rarely really practiced. Think about how much time you spend thinking about your past and how it keeps you stuck in the present. I know many people that are stuck in their past failures and past mistakes. A key to living a life that counts is to realize that in Christ you have indeed been forgiven of your past. You no longer have to be held in bondage from old baggage. On the flip side of this we also struggle with the fact that we become anxious about tomorrow. We begin to think of all the things in the future that might come into our lives and we allow it to freeze us in present. I know in my life most of the stuff that I become anxious about is stuff that pertains to the future and 99% of the time in never comes to pass. I worry most about possibilities that never become a reality. A practical thing we can do as believers is to focus on today and live for the day. We can wake up each morning realizing that we have been forgiven of yesterday, realizing God has the answers for tomorrow, giving us the power to live for today.
2. Cherish the gift of people that God has surrounded you with. Don’t waste your life by wishing for all the things you want or all the people you would like to have around. Instead cherish the things and relationships that you have and pour all your efforts into enjoying them. Focus today on the people God has placed in your life to share your life with. Spend some time thanking God for the people in your life and then spend time growing in relationships with them. Nothing gives life more purpose and joy than when you are investing your life into loving and knowing people in a intimate way like Jesus did. The greatest gift we can give is the gift of giving and pouring ourselves into the lives of others.
3. Be selfish. This sounds weird doesn’t it? What I mean is be selfish to guard alone time with God. You should have some time in your life in which you say this is me time to connect with God today. My wife is a master of this. She sets aside time daily in which she reads her bible and reads Christian books so that she gets connected with God everyday through scripture and meditation on scripture. She doesn’t compromise this time. She sets it aside and during that time the kids and myself are off her radar and we know she is off limits. It’s just her and her great God and Savior. This is one of the most important things she does to keep her life focused on making it count and it is also something of great importance for you to do.
This is by no means a check list. It is not do these three things and you will make your life count. It is however three practical things you can do to help you run the race of life well so that when you die you will have ran well. After all that is our goal as believers.

Some won't like Christmas this year

I am not sure about you but I love this time of the year. I love the CHRISTmas season. I love everything about it. The Christmas carols, the parties with loved ones, the snacks and holiday dishes, like water chestnuts and little BBQ hotdogs, the Christmas programs, the Christmas eve service, the lights, the decorations, the anticipation leading up to that wonderful, awe filled day when we proclaim and celebrate the birth of a baby that would be the Savior of the world. And it should be a great celebration as that baby has changed the lives of millions of sinners like you and me. It seems that if you allow it God gives you many magical, awe filled memories this time of the year that are etched in our minds for a life time. With that in mind I think we must also realize and be sensitive of the many people who will struggle with this time of the year. Romans 12:15 tells us to, “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep." Listen there is no better time to be sensitive to God’s leading for us to rejoice with some and for us to weep with some. For many they will need some one to weep with. For many this will be a first Christmas without a dad, mom, sister, brother, child, friend, grandma, grandpa etc. Because of that it will be a hard time. It will be an emotional time. It will be a time in which they might struggle with anger and become bitter. It might be a time in which they shut down and become reserved. It might be a time in which they really don’t want to celebrate. It might be a time in which they become cranky and act out. Lesleigh and I remember our first Christmas after our daughter died. We did not want any part of it. We did not put up any decorations, we did not put up a Christmas tree(until my mom showed up one day and put one up for us) and if we could have had it our way we would have stayed in bed and watched movies all day together on Christmas Day. We have an awesome opportunity this time of the year to show people who are struggling with celebrating Christmas true and real Christian love and concern. Let’s make sure we don’t accuse them of being an atheist. Let make sure we don’t give off the impression that their faith is weak or they are committing a great sin. Let’s make sure we give them the freedom they need to do what they need to do to get through it. This week I had a good cry with someone, sometimes its all we need. Later that day they texted me with, its all comming into place. Lets be people that encourage, build up, and seek opportunities to minister to people this time of the year. And in doing so we will ensure that we are celebrating the true spirit of the Christmas season.