Now I don't want to get off on a rant here...

Merry Holidays....I mean…Happy Christmas…Ummmm

So what’s your poison – Merry Christmas? Happy Holidays? Bah Humbug?! When I was a kid I used to like to switch these known sayings around wishing people a Happy Christmas and a Merry New Year or something like that. They were just words and didn’t mean a whole to me one way or another. There seems to be quite a few people getting fairly worked up over their usage now and what does it all mean.

WAS JESUS OF NAZARETH BORN ON DECEMBER 25TH?
Probably not. Philip Schaff writes in the History of the Christian Church (Volume 1), “Christ was born AU 750 (or BC 4), if not earlier. This is evident from the…chronological hints in the Gospels, as compared with and confirmed by Josephus and contemporary writers, and by astronomical calculations… an argument for the truthfulness of the first Gospel.” There have been arguments for His birth to have taken place in pretty much every month, but Schaff believes that January is most likely. So December 25th is not a God ordained or Scripturally ordained holiday celebration; therefore, it is quite difficult to argue that this day has explicitly been set apart for Christians only.

IS SANTA CLAUSE A DEVICE OF SATAN?
Not exactly; at least not historically speaking. The origin of Santa Clause is Nicolas the Bishop of Myra in the fourth century. He was real man, “A priest, a bishop, Nicholas put Jesus Christ at the center of his life, his ministry, his entire existence.” Hardly pagan origins, but “the true center of Christmas—the birth of Jesus” has been corrupted with a focus on Santa Clause and materialism. In that respect, anything that distracts from the focus on the birth of Christ is most certainly a device of Satan.

BIG DEAL?!
So December 25th is a day for Christians and pagans AND Santa isn’t Satan nor a Saint. Why all the fuss then over those words? I believe that pagans are rather more authentic when they say “Happy Holidays” and thus more consistent than one who says “Merry Christmas”, but denies the authority of Scripture, Grace, Faith, Christ and the Glory of God. The problem is not with the words themselves, but that they aren’t treated equally by either side in the “culture war”. The pagan is hostile towards Christianity, and the Christian can put more meaning in the words than the act of compassion found in the incarnate God among us.

“Cultural opposition to Christmas is but one representation of a fundamental shift in American society. This shift has not occurred on its own. A secular elite, fueled by hostility to historic Christianity, now insists that America surrender Christmas as a public celebration” (Anti-Christmas Bias and the Political Correctness Police by Albert Mohler). The mistake here is that “Happy Holidays” is as every bit as biased as “Merry Christmas”, and should be treated as such. By not getting upset when we hear one or other we show grace and understanding that not everyone believes what we believe.

Being consistent with truth coupled with love and grace will do more to win hearts for Christ than back biting and fighting over the significance of a man made date. Of course that’s just my opinion. I could be wrong.

Not a creature was stirring EXCEPT for a mouse

We have been experiencing a small mouse problem at home, and it has been making us pretty batty. They are quite the nuisance and leave evidence of their daily romps through our home in the basement and on the 1st floor. Our dog Brandon doesn’t seem to mind them much – too small to pose any real threat to a black lab. We have had offers to bring cats over to catch them, but I’m quite certain the cat would be in more danger from Brandon than the mice of the cat.

There have been many explanations as to how they’ve happily adopted themselves into our family this year:

Orkin Man – "they are getting in through the gaps at the edges of our floor boards because we recently ripped up our carpet to enjoy the hardwood floors."

Various Friends/Family – "there is something going on in our neighborhood and others are probably having the same problem."

My Father – "they got into our new furniture while it was in the warehouse, which was purchased more than a year ago and have just now gotten out". OR "it was through our sump pump pipes that lead to the outside."

Mine (which of course I believe is the most likely) – Aslan has sent us talking mice to help us through the winter. You see they were kind to him when the White Witch killed him and chewed through the ropes that were binding him, so as a reward for their goodness they are now talking mice. How they figure into our lives – I’m not quite sure yet.

Just before Christmas our pastor was leading us through Exodus and the plagues on Egypt. I have a greater understanding now of the annoyance an unwelcome guest can make in your home after dealing with these mice. But we have something the Egyptians did not have – STICKY GLUE TRAPS!!! We had a breakthrough last night and caught THREE mice in one day! I cannot express the relief that brings to know that something we are doing is being effective. After weeks of not catching any this was quite the momentous occasion. Thus it is now documented in 1’s and 0’s for the entire internet to see.

Don’t worry, I definitely checked to see if any of them were talking mice and none had any clue who Aslan was.

‘Tis the Season to be Jolly

Last night my wife and I embarked on a journey to find our second Christmas tree as a married couple. Our tree last year was not huge, but plenty big enough to take up the corner at the bottom of our steps. However this year we now have a rather large desk in that area and were presented with a challenge as to where we could put our temporary evergreen companion. We were able to find a small potted tree to place in our oversized bay window.

I thought the biggest challenge was going to be finding a tree small enough that wasn’t going to be another overpriced fern. Apparently, parking the car would prove to be the most difficult part of the evening.

One of life’s guilty pleasures must be pulling into a parking lot and doing the “pull through”. You know, when you find two open spots right behind one another and you pull through the back spot to the front spot. It’s great – that way you don’t have to back out when you leave!

Last night I was able to do this “pull through” in the parking lot. Moments later, not seconds mind you, a pick up truck came around the corner and stopped in front of my car as though he were going to pull into the spot I was now occupying. Oddly enough, there were two spots to the left (as in closer to the store), that he could have pulled into. He chose the “bah-humbug” approach, throwing his truck into reverse, peeling wheels backwards all the way around the corner and into the spot directly behind me stopping only inches away from my bumper. Clearly he was agitated about something!

As he exited his vehicle, he gave me a very stern look because I was watching him the whole time waiting to see if he would say something to me about his outburst. So I spoke up…

“Is there something wrong?”
“Not that YOUU would notice”
“Well you parked pretty close to my car”
“Wanna measure it?”
“I don’t need to measure it – I can see it”

And he walked off. Well I can only guess that his season of jolliness got off on the wrong foot. Maybe he ate a bad candy cane already or something? My wife popped up and said that was the stupidest thing she has ever seen. The jolly season isn’t over yet, but I hope that is our only dose of Ebenezer Scroogeism. The rest of the night was great fun decorating and getting our house ready for the celebration of Christ’s birth.

Fa la la la la lah, la la la lah

Perry Hall Price

Martin Blank (class of 87) had quite the time at his 10 year reunion. With getting to kill someone and explain to his close friends that he was an assassin. I planned a group game once called assassin, but never got to kill anyone myself. The idea was that each participant would choose their weapon (i.e. squirt gun, ketchup bottle, clothes pin, etc.) and provide a rough schedule of their weekly activities. Then they would each be assigned a name of another participant, given their schedule and prepare for battle. They would spend the next week looking over their shoulders and hunting their own target. Last man standing – WINS!

Huge detour of the mind there – moving on...

My 10 year reunion was this past weekend and I pulled a Martin Blank circa 1987 (a no show). Being rather shy in High School and learning the hard way what misplaced trust will get you; I had mixed feelings about going. I had always foolishly envisioned walking into my 10 year reunion with a beautiful wife, successful job and charismatic personality. Having two out of three isn’t bad, but there was just an empty feeling for me now over that. Before it was to some large measure – the pridefulness of showing people up that used to look down on me.

This was not something I wanted any part of now. I’m sure I had a much more enjoyable date night with my wife then I would have had being there. There are some people that I haven’t seen in awhile that would have been great to see again. I suppose I still have some mixed feelings about not going and wondering what I missed out on. But at the end of the day I am overjoyed at what the Lord has blessed me with in my life. He is where my happiness comes from – not by comparing myself to former classmates. Perhaps in another 10 years I will be more interested in reconnecting with people than protecting my heart from the perils of pride. Either way, I don’t plan on shooting anyone – unless it’s with a bottle of ketchup!