THE BEST OF TIMES; THE WORST OF TIMES

When describing Christmas this year, I could easily quote Dickens!  Judy and I started a "new tradition" by having our Christmas at our home ("Grandma's house" as Judy is now "Grandma").  Because we have "temporarily lost" Judy's Mom, "Grandma Dot-Dot" (Dorothy Tetley) on May seventh of this year (we will see her again soon, and join with her in praising the One whose birthday we remembered yesterday), we decided that celebrating Christmas, as we always have at Judy's sister's house, would be too painful.  And although getting everything ready was a lot of work for Judy and Dawn, staying busy seemed to help them cope with it all.

We were blessed to have five children (Laurie, Doug, Dawn, Cheryl & Todd), seven grandchildren (Hannah, Hope, Erin, Bethany, Matt, Stephen, & Jessica), seven great grandchildren (Alex, Rory, Rhys, Woody, Kara, Joshua, & Henry), and Hannah's friend David, come spend time with us.  Of course, with all those folks "present," there were a lot of gifts being exchanged; too many to mention.  However, there were two I received that were very special to me.  Before Judy's Mom died, she made me a towel with "God heart-symbol you Skip, and 'sew' do I."  It will never be used, as it is too precious to me!  And, Laurie made me a knitted "lap blanket," that must have taken many hours to make!  She has always blessed me with special gifts, but this one is beyond special - it was a "labor of love!"

And while the food was awesome, and the fellowship was great, we missed seven of our grandchildren (Kyle, Jenna, Jesse, Samantha, Amy, Michael, and Luc) and our precious and precocious Great granddaughter, Audrey!  And this is our second Christmas without our grandson, Corey.  Those of us who have accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior, will see him again soon. 

That brings me to my most important message for our friends, our family, and even for those who view us as their enemy:  whether or not you believe the Bible is the inspired Word of God, the fact that hundreds of its prophecies have been literally fulfilled, and seeing the world rapidly spiraling downward toward a one-world government, one-world religion, as the Bible predicted would occur just prior to the Lord's return, I want to warn you that He is coming again, and this time, it will not be as our sacrificial "Passover Lamb" (Jn. 1:29; 1 Cor. 5:7), this time He is coming as the King of kings and the Lord of lords, as the "Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5; 19:11-16)!  In fact, since no man knows the day or the hour of His return, the next minute or so may be all you have to repent of your sins, and receive Jesus as your Lord and Savior!  I am sorry if this offends you, but I would rather be guilty of offending, than I would be of failing to warn one and all of the soon coming Day of Judgment! 

Jesus' Incarnation was so that He could die for our sins!

His Second Coming will be so that He can gather God's children unto Himself!