God tells us where: (Micah 5:2)“But you, Bethlehem, out of you will come for me one who will be ruler over Israel, whose origins are from of old, from ancient times.” And God tells us by whom: (Isaiah 7:14) Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.  And He tells the why: (Isaiah 9:6-7) For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be

This is the first week of our Advent Season, the week of Hope. And I’m drawn to one of my favorite Christmas characters, Ebenezer Scrooge. I know, odd choice considering his name has become synonymous with a grumpy, stingy, miserly Christmas hum-bug. But that’s the point. If you read the last chapter of Dicken’s classic, you’ll read where Scrooge becomes un-Scrooged. The theme of A Christmas Carol  is hope. If Scrooge can change, there’s hope for all of us, even the demon lad

When I was a young kid and it was time for lunch or supper I’d get called to the table where the meal was laid out ready to eat, and I ate. Eventually I learned someone prepared the meal (mom) and someone worked  to earn and purchase food (dad) and even later I learned farmers grew, truckers transported, factories processed. And as my learning increased so has my gratitude for what it takes to put a meal on the table. Psalm 65 attributes to God all the authority to provide. J

This morning I had 15 voice mails on my phone. Every one of them was an automated call and it was a pleasure to hit the “delete” button. I have to do this daily knowing I will wear out the delete button but every now and then there’s a genuine message I need to hear and respond to. I’m tempted sometimes to “select all” and delete, but one of those 15 might matter so tomorrow I’ll run through my voice mailbox again. Then there’s those times I’m put on hold and that automated v