It’s almost crunch time!  Have you made your list of people who you respect and love?  Have you checked it twice?  Have you gotten everyone on your list a little something special to let them know of your appreciation and love for them?  Was getting it done fun and filled with joy?  Are you excited about sharing with the special people in your life, the way that you think and thought about them?  Or, are you still rushing around, trying to figure out what they might give you, so that you can at least try to come close to matching values?  Are you leaving people out, that should be included – you know, the ones that are not getting you anything, so why should you get them something?  Are you just dreading this Christmas thing with a capital “BAH HUMBUG!” attitude?

We mess up the whole Christmas thing, by forgetting what it is really all about!  Christmas is a celebration of the greatest gift ever given – the gift of Divinity wrapped in humanity.  The gift of God’s son Jesus given to you and me, so that we might have a way into eternal relationship that changes everything!  Have you ever stopped and thought that “gift giving” is God’s creation?  Think about all that God has given to you and me and one of the most amazing gifts that He has given us, is the gift of being able to give ourselves!  Get this – in our giving, God is allowing us to do what He does!  This is one of the great beauties of Christmas that we often miss and mess up!

We’ve missed the point on both sides of the spectrum!  On the one hand, we have people who give extravagant gifts with the wrong motivation.  And on the other hand we have people who don’t give gifts at all, under the false pretense that this is not really the point of Christmas.

Life is a gift that God has given to each one of us.  What we choose to do with our lives, could and should be a gift back to God.  The sad reality is that many of us, do what we want, all the while dressing it up with religious excuses and self-righteous analogies, which shift the blame off of us and onto God and our supposed growing relationship with Him.  (Ouch – I know that hurts and so do you – if you’re honest!)

Incarnation – The gift of God becoming man should challenge and change us, but all to often, rather than challenge and change, it confounds and confuses us!  We get so caught up in trying to be something that we are not and trying to make excuses for it, that we miss the real growing and living of life.  This is best seen at Christmas time with our warped up idea of giving and receiving.

We should give gifts.  Gifts are not bad, but we need to make sure that the gifts we give are given with and in the right spirit.  Given in the same spirit of our God, Who has given us the gift of life and life everlasting.  Don’t miss the point here – the gift is not near as important as the spirit and attitude of the giving and receiving.

Giving at it’s best is simply an expression of love, appreciation and affirmation!  The gift does not have to be grand or expensive to accomplish its purpose, it just has to come from the right place (our heart), with the right attitude (our love).

Don’t allow others to mess you up this Christmas!  Ask God to help you to make your list and then ask God to help you to choose the gifts for those on your list.  By the way, if you’ve never been shopping with God, then you are really missing an experience!  Now go get it done and enjoy it.  It’s supposed to be fun and filled with joy, so stop the fret, don’t regret and have some fun participating in one of the great creations of God!

The ipad and iphone have changed the way many people operate from day-to-day.  Listen to this Christmas music created exclusively on borrowed ipads and iphones and start getting in the Christmas Spirit, because it will be here before you know it!

One of the most innovative and creative churches that I know of, is Northpoint in Alpharetta Georgia, where Andy Stanly is Lead Pastor.  This is their iband – hope you enjoy!  Stick around for the end, you’ll be glad you did!

Just a thought to wrap up with:  How can you use what God has given you to creatively reach out to others with His love, grace and hope?

Growing up in the south is pretty cool!  I was thinking last night of some of the phrases that I heard growing up, that seem to be disappearing.  I thought it might be fun to remember a few every now and then, so here goes a few.  If you enjoy, I’ll do some more in a few weeks!

“He’s so clumsy he’d trip over a cordless phone!” Ever had one of these days?  Seems like everything you start to do ends up taking a whole lot more energy and effort than planned.  On those clumsy days, just stay after it, because things will eventually turn around!

“That’s about as handy as a back pocket on a shirt!” There are some things and some people who just don’t seem to be much help at all!  Some of the things and people who are supposed to make life easier, actually make life harder!  I am going to try real hard, not to be one of those people!

“Don’t go off with your pistol half cocked!” I’m guilty of this one!  You need to get all of the facts and complete information, before you go jumping to conclusions!  I could save myself a lot of heartache, if I would listen more, act less and patiently allow God to do His thing!

“We better git on the stick!” This means we’ve got work to do and only a little time to get it completed!  We church folks need to have this as our motto!  We are closer than we have ever been and we better make sure that we are ready and doing everything that we can to help others to get ready too!

“Fish or cut bait!” Don’t just stand around!  Get in and get busy!  There is work to be done and there is not time for anyone to stand around with their hands in their pockets!  You can either catch or help others to catch up, but if you want supper, then there is work to be done!

Hope you enjoyed these and there are a lot more from where I grew up!