O Come, O Come Emmanuel
My heart is so saddened by the past few days. We’ve had shootings at our Clackamas mall, then our local pet store caught fire (nearly all the pets were lost), and now the shootings in Connecticut follow that up. I’m left feeling empty and sad. There are hundreds if not thousands in mourning this week—a week we’re supposed to be preparing for Christmas and enjoying family traditions. Seeing the flags flying at half-mast in town was a dampening reminder today. And while I drove around with my family, doing some last minute shopping and buying a much needed pair of boots for my daughter, I was struck by how life still moves on despite the loss. However, the twinkling lights, merry music and usual hope of the season is contrasted by loss. Deep, heart wrenching...
Read MoreHopelessly Devoted to You
The word dedicated sure has changed meaning for me in the past four years since we’ve been eating an allergy free diet. It all started with my son, but as we did testing on the rest of us, we found we suffered from similar reactions and sensitivities to gluten, egg and dairy. So for the most part (notice I say most and you know who you are!), we avoid these ingredients. My son, though, has to have food made in a dedicated kitchen on dedicated equipment—so no eating out for us. We read labels very carefully now—watch words are ‘made on shared equipment’ (a no-no for Seth) or ‘made on dedicated equipment’ which means there’s nothing on that machinery or in the process that will contaminate his food. I look out for that word now—dedicated—it...
Read MoreAnd So This Is Christmas
The other day I had an opportunity to share my faith with someone who was confused about Jesus’ deity. And, as when anything like that happens, my faith deepened as I went about finding the verses of the Bible to share with him. As it’s Christmas, the time of year when Christians choose to celebrate the birth of their savior, I thought I’d share a bit of what I found for my searching friend. I think the misconceptions of the world often infiltrate our ideas of who Jesus was. I often hear through the media that He was just a good man, or that He never claimed to be God, or that He was a just a prophet. Rather than listening to what others say, I think the best source of information is the fountainhead—the Bible. I’ve linked all the verses to read in...
Read MoreWhat are you getting?
Guess what? It’s almost Christmas. And unless you’ve been living in a cave somewhere, the advertising gurus of the world have been drilling the holidays home into your brain for well over a month now. In fact, I think I saw Halloween and Christmas decorations up at the same time somewhere. It’s easy to get caught up in the mad rush to get it all done. That’s one reason we, as a family, try to plan it all out early, so we can enjoy the day to day traditions we love so much about the season. Getting up every morning and turning on the tree and lights. Reading from scripture about the Christmas story. The kids taking turns reading our advent calendar. All along, pointing our family to the real reason for the season—Jesus birth. I love Christmas carols and...
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