Merry Christmas!

I just wanted all of you to know how much I missed those of you who couldn't be at Church on Sunday. It was a little empty needless to say, but where 2 or 3 are gathered in His Name, He promised He would be with us and He certainly was!

Let me fill you in on a little of what you missed. The sermon was pretty short, but the point was that we buy gifts for other people, but the Greatest Gift to us was the Christ Child. I wondered what we give to Him at this time of year. So I wrapped up a big box sitting at the foot of the cross with a flap for all of us to write anything we want on a card or paper to give to Jesus. It might be your broken heart, your anger, a habit, or most importantly, your soul! It could even be a better committment to Jesus. Maybe you need to forgive someone this year and give that to Jesus! Whatever it is, there is a catch! Once you put that in the box and give it to Him, you can't take it back! We would never think of taking back a gift we give to someone in this life, but often we say, "I'm just giving this to Jesus", then suddenly we have grabbed it back and try to fix it ourselves. Whatever you put in that box is FOREVER! I will never read what you put in there - that is between you and Jesus and I sure don't want any names on the cards. When Paulette gets back, we are going to go up to the Church and pray over that box and dedicate all of those things to God. It is all symbolic, but there is something to say about releasing it and really giving it to Jesus once and for all! I'd like to leave that box there for a couple of weeks for those of you who weren't there today so you can have your opportunity to do that. Once we are finished, I'll take the wrapping off the box, place the cards in a brown paper bag, and burn them without ever seeing them. When I served on the Indian field, they believed that when you burnt something precious, the smoke rose as a prayer to the Great White Spirit. So, with that in mind, that's why I'll be burning them. I pray you will want to participate and give something you've held in your heart too long, to Jesus!

I leave in the morning (Monday) for Missouri and we will spend Christmas there before returning home. I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you a Blessed Christmas like you've never experienced before! May God bless all of you.

I love you all so much!

Pastor Bob