This year’s Christmas season has not been like previous years for me. The past few weeks I’ve been more like the Grinch and Scrooge before their turnarounds than after the light dawned on them. Yesterday and today, however, it’s been getting better and I’m finally there.
I’ve been listening to Christmas music on the radio as I drive and rereading both the traditional Christmas passages in Matthew and Luke as well as what I call non-traditional Christmas verses.
It was attending our Christmas Eve service a couple of hours ago that put me over the top. I was reminded of all the similar services I led the past 30 plus years. There’s nothing like children reading the Christmas story, singing the carols, enjoying special music, and lighting candles to get into the Christmas spirit.
All along during the past few weeks I’ve been rereading a book entitled The First Days of Jesus written by Andreas Kostenberger and Alexander Stewart. One thing they said that rang my Christmas bell the most was this: “He [Jesus] wasn’t born like a king; he didn’t live like a king; and he certainly didn’t die like a king. He was nonetheless God’s promised and long-waited King” (p. 142).
I’m excited about tonight and looking forward to tomorrow. I hope you are enjoying the Christmas spirit and have a Merry Christmas. (By the way, the picture above is not of our living room!)
Feel free to leave a comment below and/or share this post on Facebook.
Pastor Bob Mink 
I hope everybody has wonderful and. merry Christmas. Remember it is your Savors Birthday. Thank God that He sent us His son
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It’s very early Christmas morning and I thank you for sharing your last four Christmas messages, which I just finished reading. I consider them my first Christmas presents to open today. Reading them was such a perfect way to begin my Christmas morning. Thank you for your thoughts, your teaching and especially for your encouragement. Pulling Christmas stories out of different parts of the Bible is just another example of how we learn something new each time we read a passage which we have read before. Christmas blessings to you and Jan.
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Thanks Bob! Praise God for the best gift of all! Merry Christmas.
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Merry Christmas ! A great reminder message. We all need to step back and remember the reason for the season. Always enjoyed Christmas Eve at MVCC/Discovery and yesterday was no exception.
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Glad we helped tip you over to the non-Grinch side. I watched Patrick Stewart’s version of A Christmas Carol last night… reminded me how easy it is to lose the joy in lot of areas of life if we’re not careful. As many times as I’ve seen it, Dickens did a masterful job showing a man’s heart change, or a Grinch’s heart grow two sizes!
This is my first day back in the office after a lovely week off; got a funeral on Friday. I wondered who’d have to die because I took a few days in a row off! This one’s an old (but not really close) friend. He was in a car accident on Christmas Eve, presumably driving to the Christmas Eve service. 84. He wins the prize!
Hope Sunday went well for you, and was enjoyable! I was in Muleshoe worshiping at my brothers very small church. It was nice.
I don’t make resolutions at New Year’s… but if I did, one of them would be to see more of YOU in the coming year. I felt like I hardly saw you last year, just in passing. I value you and your friendship!!
Blessings,
Jim
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