New Blog Post: Christmas visits and stories that never die
My brother Steve, his wife Cindy and her parents from Texas have been in town visiting this weekend. It was a white Christmas here in NC, a rarity since 1947, so its a big deal here. The whole town came to a screeching halt. The police did reverse 911 calls asking folks to stay at home (they laugh at us in Alaska!)
We spent a quiet Christmas Eve together, just me Tammy, Tori and Jack and we broke out the "fancy" plates with gold trim and drank sparkling grape juice out of the wine glasses, it was fantastic!
We enjoyed a great Christmas night dinner at my Aunt Becky's house with my cousin Mary Ruth and her family. The kids went sledding in the front yard and made "snow boulders", and what Christmas is complete without one of those?!
Steve and I met out at our farm yesterday for some snow covered skeet shooting. Steve got a new Browning automatic shotgun and we blasted some clay pigeons with his father-n-law out in our back pasture. Jack shot his first 12 gauge shot gun and nailed a clay pigeon, it was cool to see that! Then Jack and I did do-nuts in the snow.
We had some hilarious story telling times about Christmas' past. I was thinking of some the other day. I remember when my Granddaddy went nuts and bought my mom, my aunt and my grandmother all brand new, red, yellow and orange1974 VW super beetles. They were all lined up in his driveway Christmas Eve.
Or when my mom and dad gave Steve and I Red Ryder bb guns back in 1976. It was just like the movie "A Christmas Story".
I remember the chorus' and the stories of poor kids who had shot their eyes out. I can't tell you how many BB gun wars we had with those things and no one ever shot their eye out!
Last night we made some more memories sledding at Robbie and Kelly's house on their awesome back yard ski slope. Jack and his buddy Daniel and I sledded down the hill over and over again, and at the end of every run a massive wrestling match would ensue. Then back up the hill to do it all over again.
During a lull in the action, I laid back on the sled and gazed up at the heavens with the laughter of those two boys filling my ear. I thought about them and how they actually live in every moment and that is all that matters. Sledding is all they were thinking about. They could care less about Tuesday or Wednesday for that matter. Thoughts of the coming weeks challenges entered my head, the responsibilities, the to do lists, the meetings, the war. I tried as best I could to return to the days of when the moment was all that mattered. And for a brief second as I rose up to grab my sled and fly down the hill and fight off those two 12 year olds, all the stuff was gone. It was an absolutely perfect moment.
All the best stories I remember are those when the moment was all that mattered. All the plans for the future were insignificant all the past failures and victories were inconsequential. All that mattered was the BB gun, the people I was with, the sled, the wrestling match, my kids, my wife...whatever it was that was all that mattered.
As I gazed up in the sky, praying a thankful prayer, the pressure lifted a bit and the Lord seemed to speak very clearly, "Someday, the moment will be all that matters, someday "
Someday....At Advent we celebrate the 1st arrival of Christ implying that there will be a 2nd coming of the King. I have no idea when that will be and it seems so far fetched to the modern mind. But the Bible is very clear that it will happen, and I am looking for it. I've seen enough war and enough sadness to long for it. I've also seen enough joy and enough laughter to long for more. I also know this that eternity is beyond time, a perpetual state of living in the moment becasue moments don't exist beyond time there will always and only be right now!
Now that's a Christmas miracle and story to look forward to....all bought and paid for by a God-man on a tree 2000 years ago and activated for me and you by faith with thanksgiving.
We spent a quiet Christmas Eve together, just me Tammy, Tori and Jack and we broke out the "fancy" plates with gold trim and drank sparkling grape juice out of the wine glasses, it was fantastic!
We enjoyed a great Christmas night dinner at my Aunt Becky's house with my cousin Mary Ruth and her family. The kids went sledding in the front yard and made "snow boulders", and what Christmas is complete without one of those?!
Steve and I met out at our farm yesterday for some snow covered skeet shooting. Steve got a new Browning automatic shotgun and we blasted some clay pigeons with his father-n-law out in our back pasture. Jack shot his first 12 gauge shot gun and nailed a clay pigeon, it was cool to see that! Then Jack and I did do-nuts in the snow.
We had some hilarious story telling times about Christmas' past. I was thinking of some the other day. I remember when my Granddaddy went nuts and bought my mom, my aunt and my grandmother all brand new, red, yellow and orange1974 VW super beetles. They were all lined up in his driveway Christmas Eve.
Or when my mom and dad gave Steve and I Red Ryder bb guns back in 1976. It was just like the movie "A Christmas Story".
I remember the chorus' and the stories of poor kids who had shot their eyes out. I can't tell you how many BB gun wars we had with those things and no one ever shot their eye out!
Last night we made some more memories sledding at Robbie and Kelly's house on their awesome back yard ski slope. Jack and his buddy Daniel and I sledded down the hill over and over again, and at the end of every run a massive wrestling match would ensue. Then back up the hill to do it all over again.
During a lull in the action, I laid back on the sled and gazed up at the heavens with the laughter of those two boys filling my ear. I thought about them and how they actually live in every moment and that is all that matters. Sledding is all they were thinking about. They could care less about Tuesday or Wednesday for that matter. Thoughts of the coming weeks challenges entered my head, the responsibilities, the to do lists, the meetings, the war. I tried as best I could to return to the days of when the moment was all that mattered. And for a brief second as I rose up to grab my sled and fly down the hill and fight off those two 12 year olds, all the stuff was gone. It was an absolutely perfect moment.
All the best stories I remember are those when the moment was all that mattered. All the plans for the future were insignificant all the past failures and victories were inconsequential. All that mattered was the BB gun, the people I was with, the sled, the wrestling match, my kids, my wife...whatever it was that was all that mattered.
As I gazed up in the sky, praying a thankful prayer, the pressure lifted a bit and the Lord seemed to speak very clearly, "Someday, the moment will be all that matters, someday "
Someday....At Advent we celebrate the 1st arrival of Christ implying that there will be a 2nd coming of the King. I have no idea when that will be and it seems so far fetched to the modern mind. But the Bible is very clear that it will happen, and I am looking for it. I've seen enough war and enough sadness to long for it. I've also seen enough joy and enough laughter to long for more. I also know this that eternity is beyond time, a perpetual state of living in the moment becasue moments don't exist beyond time there will always and only be right now!
Now that's a Christmas miracle and story to look forward to....all bought and paid for by a God-man on a tree 2000 years ago and activated for me and you by faith with thanksgiving.
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