Two Trees

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!




TWO TREES

The Christmas tree stands all aglow
And shimmering magically;
But watching there, my wandering thoughts
Recall another tree.

There hung no tinseled ornament
Or brightly colored thing;
There only hung the dying Lamb,
Adorned with suffering.

No star atop that other tree,
'Twas crowned with thorns instead;
No packaged gifts lay underneath,
Just drops of crimson red.

Though one tree shines with colors bright,
With tinsel, lights, and star--
To blood-bought eyes the other is
More beautiful by far!

MAF

Christmas Music Fest!

Some pictures from our Christmas Music Fest on December 18:

Christmas Fellowship This Sunday

Sunday, December 18, we'll have a special Christmas fellowship and music fest after lunch.




Bring extra goodies and some Christmas music to share!

It's a great chance for children (or adults) who are learning an instrument to play something for us in a fun, relaxed atmosphere ... or for individuals and families to sing.

Note also that on Christmas Day we will meet as usual at 10:30 ... but we will not have lunch together.

More Fuel for Prayer and Praise

From Daniel and D'Ann White:

We are pleased to report four souls prayed to receive salvation in Guerrero. It is a double blessing because I was sick and unable to attend that particular meeting. Roberto and another man, Clemente, went and held the Bible study without me and led those precious souls to receive the Lord's salvation without me being there. This demonstrates great growth for both these men who have been saved for less than two years. Pray for Roberto's and Clemente's continued growth in the Lord and for the four adults in Guerrero who were saved.

This past weekend our home was broken into while we were gone. I am thankful that we were not here and that nobody was injured. They must have been scared away, because only a couple of things were taken and the value was not that great. It could have been much worse.

Thank you all for your continued and faithful prayers for the ministry and for our family.

A Parting Shot ...

... at Hebrews 11, from the pen of David Gooding:

Faith makes you sure that the future things you hope for--and therefore by definition do not yet possess--are really yours, so that you learn to count on them as if you already had them.

Some things are invisible, either because that is their nature, or because they are as yet hidden in the future. Faith brings us conviction that they are real so that we count them as certainties and base our choices and decisions on them and guide our lives by them.

That's how the godly men and women of a past age lived. That's how we must live too.

You are so used to exercising faith that you would be startled if you were to sit down and think how many things you reckon with as realities, solely by faith.

You believe implicitly, don't you, that Christ is coming again? He isn't here yet!

You believe He is in heaven, but you have never seen Him there!

You believe that He prays for you every day, but you have never heard Him.

You stake everything on His sacrifice, but you were not there to see it.

And how do you know He is risen again?

Yes, you have become so used to exercising faith that these things have become an integral part of your daily life. Having believed them, you have found that they are real and stand the test of experience.

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, conviction about things unseen.

(David Gooding, An Unshakeable Kingdom: The Letter of Hebrews for Today)