My Christmas...

was awesome! I wasn't bummed about not going home, but I was bummed not seeing my parents. When I can get time off next year I plan on seeing them. Maybe summer time :)

<----See that ketchup shirt? I pretty much made that my "pajama" shirt and wore it saturday and sunday as well. I showered and stuff daily, I just wore the same clothes.

Call me weird if you like but it's okay to do that because they were "pajamas".

Anyways, back to Christmas. As you can see from this picture...I did not starve! Deserae spent the whole morning making food and preparing for me and Ken. Chris...I don't know what he did. He'll probably say, "Whatever, I helped...I put ice in the cups." That's usually the extent of his cooking prowess. :D But I thank them both so much for inviting me over.

Chris and Des are the type of friends you always wish to have, but you never knew you wanted these types of friends until you meet them. They are amazing! Thank you extra much Deserae for getting up so early and cooking lots and lots and lots of DELICIOUS food.

Chris...Thank you soooooo much for marrying the love of your life!

I spent Christmas there. Ken made the biscuits and mashed potatoes, just how I like them, I might add. I baked brownies. And they burnt...So yeah, I contributed nothing to the mix but that's what friends are for, right?

After eating, we played scene it...80's version. It was fun, even though Chris and I lost both times. I learned that I know nothing about 80's culture (except The Princess Bride) But that doesn't help when Des is faster at shouting out movies than I am. :)

Oh! And they got both Ken and I gifts. I felt really loved on that day.

Also, I felt really loved on Christmas Eve. So, I have a spare tire on my car and didn't want to drive, so I coudn't go over to the Bryant's house. I tried to phone them, and Basil to hitch a ride, but they missed my call and Basil doesn't answer his phone.

So, they call me back and go all the way across town just to pick me up and take me to their place so we can watch a movie. There was a few of us there and the girls had each decorated a stocking for us and wrote our name on it and glittered it all up! I loved it. They made a glitter-bear and put glasses on mine :D It's the little touch of detail that brings it all about.

Oh-They got me a very nice looking tie to go with my suits and I like dressing up, so there's another detail they paid attention to.

So, I had two days of fun, spent a moderate amount of time at each one, AND I got to spend lots of time secluded and to myself reading, playing games, and breaking in my converted pj's.

It's the most wonderful time of the year.

Selah

Hello everyone who reads this. If you are named among my friends I pray for you everyday. And if I don't know you, I pray for you more often than you might think.

Have you ever put a lot of time into a gift? Not just some small thing you bought at Wal-Mart or something you picked up at Hobby Lobby? But, have you ever taken a lot of time and consideration into a gift. One you thought would be perfect. A gift that came from your heart and you were sure the other person was going to be ecstatic?

I don't give people gifts that often. It's not that I don't enjoy seeing a person's face light up when you get them something special, it's just that it's really hard for me to find that something special. It can even be for someone close like my dad or mom. I just have a hard time finding the right gift so much that it can be frustrating.

But when you finally have it. That eureka moment when you are so happy that your friend will be surprised, and you give it to them, and they don't seem to appreciate the gift as much as you did?

They didn't mean to hurt your feelings. But you had invested so much thought into a great gift and had built up so much energy into it, that when the moment came to get the reciprocating feelings, you fell flat on your face. Not a good feeling. Not one bit.

New question: If you knew that gift was going to be ill received, if you knew that it would be taken forgranted, would you still give that person your gift? If it's something that came from your heart, would you be willing to share it with them, even if they stepped on it?
Selah.

Isaiah 53:6-7 (KJV)
⁶ All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
⁷ He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.

This is saying that Jesus didn't speak back to what was happening to Him. But have you thought about that? His GIFT of life. His GIFT of justification. Have you thought about his gift? The gift He poured His blood into this gift. He gave His flesh. He gave and gave and gave...So we could enter into peace.

Sometimes, we fail to consider that the righteous are taken away from the evil to come. Sometimes, we fail to consider that He was bruised for our iniquities, that the chastisement of our peace was upon Him.

Peace. Selah. When we don't take that which the Lord has offered us. Has sacrificed for us! When we live in turmoil with the purchase of peace in our grasp, how can that make God feel good?

I would be heart crushed to have spent so much time and effort and investment into such a gift, only to have it ignored. The pain God has given himself to stand for unconditional love is mind numbing. He could have made it work based. "I only love you if you love me". It would have been blissfully easier. He could have saved himself heart break, pain, ridicule, grief and sorrow.

But listen to this...
Isaiah 53:10 (KJV)
¹⁰ Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

That is amazing. In doing this, Jesus redeemed us. Our sin is forever removed. We have relationship with God.

What a loving, merciful, unselfish Father we have. Selah.