WHAT I LOVE ABOUT CHRISTMAS...

What I love about Christmas...

I posed the question in Facebook and through text media.

Did everybody have a wonderful Christmas? What was the best part of your holiday? What did you enjoy most? Your comments are appreciated.

I responded:

I simply LOVE Christmas because its a global celebration of Jesus Christ, a foretaste of our heavenly worship when we gather from every nation, tribe and tongue. No matter how anyone feels or believes, what they say or do, CHRISTmas is about Christ's first coming into the world. Its about the supernatural, divine love of the Father Creator for His mankind creation. Lots of religions out there. Christianity rules and is unparalleled in its core belief system of love from God and love of God in us for one another.

Others responded as well:

I loved the simplicity of it being just us three sharing the essence of this holiday season which is the love of Jesus Christ. We had a marathon of beautiful Christmas movies. My step son surprised us by buying us beautiful cards and gifts with his own money. His thoughtfulness and sincerity are priceless. - CM

Hola! Isolating myself from friends and work and spending the week with my family was awesome. What I enjoyed the most was God opening up the door for us to minister to my brother who was visiting from Tampa. He was very receptive and opened up quite a bit!!!!! God is good :) - EV

The streets of Geneva lined with thousands of Luminaria Christmas Eve. Stunning sight! - GR

Had an 'early' Christmas as my children's mom was leaving town on Christmas Day; best part was spending quality time with my babies, we watched "A Wonderful Life" together. - TP

I'm glad that I was able to spend time with family. Everyone in both families had a great time.  Got plenty of gifts, new wardrobe. - DC

I enjoyed my daughters & grandkids opening their gifts & playing. Watching nativity movies but I got a special gift, my sister who was not talking to me, called me to wish me a Merry Christmas. That was the best for me. - EV

Spending time with family. - KH

We shared Christmas with brothers in the faith in a poor sector and far from the city, then also with my family and friends! We praise God and rejoice in his presence! Many accepted Jesus as their personal Savior! There's a tremendous joy in my heart and thankfulness to God. All the glory for Him! Amen! - RMcK, Guayaquil, Ecuador

Leading a homeless man to the Lord before I got to my family. - VR

I had my daughter Jaz and we had a great time  - MH

I ran security at my family get together and prayed. Haha. - CM

Did an outreach for the homeless. Around 100. Face painting, haircuts,food to eat, food to take, presents for the children! Then spent time with family, including the grand kids, exchanging gifts, then out for dinner!!! Praising The Lord all the day long! Thank you Lord for a wonderful Life!!! - DS

Yes, it was wonderful. Taking communion with my hubby on Christmas Day. :D. - AR

It's gonna be ...when I take my Bride to Tampa for a shopping spree, date day!  I can't wait! LS

What I enjoyed the most was being able to see my kids faces when they saw the gifts. Being able to be home with the kids having a Christmas tree and decorations. Cooking dinner with my family and enjoying the meal was good too. Praise God! - DB

The best part of my holiday was enjoying peace and unity with the family. I love my family and I want to be a good example to them. I want to share Gods love and see His Kingdom come and His will be done. This holiday season,  I have been reminded of the beauty of when it all started.  When Christ was born. Our God is alive, hallelujah! - AU

Yes!  My family and I had a great day.  I enjoyed awaking healthy and the family members in good health and we all acknowledged that the day was about Jesus' birth and our salvation. - WDW

Jordan getting my sons remote control helicopter stuck up in a 50 foot everglade and his cousins husband climbing up to get it. That was pretty eventful! - DB

Waking up to hear my little boy saying "Happy Birthday Jesus!" and no one fussing. JO

So it's the day after Christmas and looking back as the year is coming to a close... I can thank God that my wants far exeeded my needs. so all that I can say is 'Thank you, God, because you may not have given me everything I wanted, but you have never denied me anything I needed.' - LJB

I want to take this to Thank God for my family, I had a very blessed Christmas. - JB

God is so good, my son is still alive and so am I. My voice came back for Christmas, we were all able to go and see my son at his girlfriend's house, sitting there a beautiful tree covered in moss with lovely chinés. Talking, laughing, celebrating. Some say that this is nothing but for someone who needs a heart transplant, this is miraculous. Some may say this is nothing. I say this is God. - CC

It was a day filled with good food, good company and so much Jesus! - LJ

Mine was bitter and sweet. I was very sad because my mom is very ill in the hospital. But so happy to spend it with James and Lauren. I will always treasure the memories. - PH

Christmas morning, jammie's, family, and reading about Jesus' birth all together to start the day!  But the very close second was inviting our neighbor over for Christmas Eve dinner at the last minute.  She commented how thankful she was that we invited her over.  She has lost her husband, her nephew, her brother and most recently her daughter in the past 9 months.  Thank you Holy Spirit for your leading! - JN

As crazy as it sounds "one' of my favorite moments was Christmas morning when my older daughter had big crocodile sad tears come to her eyes when I told her I did not make our traditional egg casserole for breakfast.  Granted her big brother, little sister and niece would not be with us and already that caused sadness.  BUT I will never again veer away from our however small family traditions! - ER

Being together with family and loved ones, enjoying Gods blessings, seeing my children happy and excited to be with their cousins and receiving their gifts, and playing dominoes.  Grateful, blessed, and amazed. - IR

This Christmas was special in many ways. It was my first Christmas as a Christian.  My first Christmas in a long time seeing my son and his mother growing in Christ and Happy.  My first Christmas realizing how fortunate we are to have health, a roof over our heads and really no needs.  I have been in the hospital with my father since Christmas and have witnessed many  people needing a lot.  A lot of health, shelter, food, clothing and most importantly Love! I ask my brothers and sisters to take a minute today to give thanks for all God has blessed us with and to pray for all the people in need. God bless us all! - JR

Our first Christmas where we got to enjoy each other's company healthy. My hubby took the time to go to the mall, wait in line and pick out a beautiful tennis bracelet. He had it wrapped and all. First time he takes the initiative and I had nothing to do with it. It felt so good!!! Thank you Jesus. I also thank God for our Boys Town. They made sure our son had clothes, shoes, books, trucks, jeep, even a football. We always got him a toy and two outfits. WOW!!! HE WENT NUTS!!!! HAD THE TIME OF HIS LIFE, STILL PLAYING WITH ALL HIS NEW AND FAV OLD TOYS! The Lord told us our boy's 8th year would be a new beginning. We see it and say, 'Thank You, Jesus!' - DMD

I enhoyed the fellowship with my church family. I especially liked the parrandas! - EA

I spent Christmas on my honeymoon!- MM

Holding my new grand-daughter, Callie, in my arms. - RQ

Enjoyed worship and sharing food with the needy in the village nearby! - JMO, Kenya


So many beautiful stories of times shared making memories with loved ones. 

My question to you, dear reader: Did you have a wonderful Christmas? What was the best part of your holiday? What did you enjoy most? Your comments are appreciated.

love & blessings
Margi

ONLY THE BEGINNING...

This is not a “thus saith the Lord” kind of word. It’s the product of meditation, musing, meandering and talks with God. I am publishing as an opinion piece, as the documentation of events from my perspective. I am only sharing it with you, some of my dear friends, for comment and confirmation. I do not care to post it on my wall because I don’t want to enter into vain arguments with people who would disagree with one or two points from personal political or religious persuasions. I am trying to wean my thoughts from republican or democrat ideology, liberal or conservative, because at the end of the day, they serve the same gods – themselves. We are about Kingdom, and though I would probably have to consider myself conservative (by their standards) I would rather be thought of as biblical. It’s really only about the King and His Kingdom. Some, may consider our view narrow but we know better. Not from a place of superiority but from a place of serving and co-ruling with the King as His brethren and favored ones. This is a huge responsibility as well as a gracious privilege we must carry out with dignity and integrity, knowing our identity and exact place in the scheme of things.  He is God and we are not.

With love & blessings

Margi

ONLY THE BEGINNING...

In light of recent developments with clan leader Phil Robertson, Duck Commander branding, A&E, and now Cracker Barrel falling for the political correctness of the day in lieu of our First Amendment right to free speech, my heart is heavy.

I’ll tell you why. We, the Church, the people of God, still don’t get it. We are expecting a diametrically opposed culture to act, react, respond and live like many of us do. Sadly, I cannot say all, because not all Christians abide by Kingdom culture and hold to biblical standards. So our expectation is sadly misplaced. There is not one iota of biblical support for some people’s thinking that we or our principles will be accepted, embraced and walked out by people who do not believe like we do. To the contrary! Remember the definition of insanity? Doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result?  You can add to that willful ignorance and futility.

At one time in US History, the United Stated was, or at least seemed to be, a godly nation. When I first immigrated to the US in 1961, we were a much gentler, kinder, morally established people. It was not utopia but it was a less corrupt, less worldly culture.

Over the years with the erosion of the traditional moral values; with the extremes of the women’s liberation movement; with the sordid drug hippie subculture of Haight Ashbury and the advent of the “Flower Children”; with our involvement in the Vietnam conflict; with the removal of prayer from schools; with the acceptance of "free love", fornication and people living together outside of marriage; with the increase in divorce, even and especially among Christians; with the approval of abortion on demand; who can be surprised that the next item on the devil’s agenda would be to legitimize gay marriage and to redefine the term "family"?

Add to that the influx of immigrants from varied cultures with their religious practices and what we have is a severely alienated nation of people groups who are no longer willing to simply be Americans. Now we have Cuban-Americans, African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Italian-Americans, German-Americans, Japanese-Americans, ad infinitum and ad nauseam. Please don't misunderstand. Celebrating our heritage and roots is not bad. But the personal pride of citizenship and assimilation into the American society and culture have gone the way of the hula hoop and replaced with splinter groups of every kind who pride their heritage more than they love this country, which so magnanimously took us in and embraced us to give us freedoms and opportunities missing in our places of birth.

But like every good thing, abuse sets in and the very laws that graciously allowed us in are now turned to suit people’s preferences and “rights”. Because, after all, this is a nation of law and rights, though I am beginning to doubt this is the case any longer. The fundamentalist Islamic people want to live here but under their Shariah Law. So they maim, torture and even kill their own and others, right here in our midst, although federal law says it is a crime and therefore illegal. Millions of illegal immigrants violate our laws crossing our borders without an entry visa yet demand due process & clamor for amnesty. Our jails are full of convicts demanding their rights yet having violated and reviolating the rights of others upon release. Everything produces after its own kind. Thus lawlessness begets lawlessness, but I digress.

Voting blocks of people group together to elect individuals or pass laws that are good for them, their community, their state or their special interests, but that are not necessarily good for the country as a whole or for our economy, our global presence, or our future. Presidents come to the White House with a personal agenda for political prowess or individual greatness, to make a name for themselves in the annals of history as the first to do this or that, but not to serve the people, and definitely not to unify the country. Lawmakers in Washington DC protect themselves and their own piece of the action, without a care for what their special requests, their “pork”, will do to the rest of us living in the other 49 states. Basically, it’s a case of every man for himself!

We need only look at history and the Roman Empire to see where we are headed. Rome started off as a group of farmers, fighting off wolves to protect their livestock, and ended up being the pre-eminent empire of all of Europe, lasting over 2,200 years. “Ancient Rome contributed greatly to the development of law, war, art, literature, architecture, technology, religion and language in the Western world. In fact many historians consider the Roman Empire to be a perfect empire – influential, fair, long-lasting, big, well defended and economically advanced.” (a) Yet, the societal & personal moral decay, the disintegration of the family unit, the wars, the influx of foreigners, and the economic mismanagement destroyed them from within.

The last fifty years have been life-changing, a nation-altering 5 decades, in the US but there is more to come. The acceptance and love for Christianity, the religion of the people who founded this great nation, is waning. More and more people believe we are out of touch, ignorant, bible thumpers wanting to shove our religion down their throats. Little do they understand that the very US Constitution that upholds their rights was a document based entirely on the tenets and principles of life, liberty & equality as set forth in our Judeo-Christian culture. Phil Robertson is called homophobic and racist because he was asked a question in an interview and he dared answer it according to his Christian beliefs. I wonder if a Muslim fundamentalist answering the same question would have received the same treatment from GLAD and the media? That’s not even addressing the fact that they took only a portion of his answer and decided to run with it, instead of using the entire quote which included, “We never, ever judge someone on who's going to heaven, hell. That's the Almighty's job. We just love 'em, give 'em the good news about Jesus – whether they're homosexuals, drunks, terrorists. We let God sort 'em out later, you see what I'm saying?" 

Now, please understand. I am not a Phil-follower. I do not watch Duck Dynasty or purchase Duck Commander products. I do not know if I agree with everything Phil says or has said in the past. I do not KNOW the man, but I do support his right to free expression of his belief system without repercussion from the man-pleasing media. Why is it that every time a Christian stands up for biblical principles, his church, or his lifestyle, he is ridiculed in the media? Why not ridicule Miley Cyrus who made an utter fool of herself on TV recently? Or Lady Gaga who has morphed into yet an odder oddity every time she is captured on camera? No, those people are celebrated as creative, cutting edge, artistic, free spirits, whatever. Why is that? Because the media is media. They are after ratings and they want to please the majority of their viewers, be it MSNBC or Fox News. 

I have said all of that to say this. It ain’t over, folks. The lines of demarcation continue to be drawn. The proverbial line in the sand is coming your way. You will have to declare yourself. It becomes clearer and clearer as each day passes. Issues are arising that we cannot stand idly by without speaking up. This may cost us our lives some day. Will we be like Phil, who spoke from his heart and shared his opinion/beliefs candidly, stating exactly how he felt about hot topics, especially sexuality, homosexuality, sin and human nature? Or will be go the politically correct route and hide behind the door of fear of persecution? Or will we allow ourselves to be deceived by actions and movements that appear ‘good’ but are not God-inspired or God-driven? Do not for one moment be deceived, the persecutions are returning to the Church in the United States and Europe, and perhaps, much more. The Early Church was established on the precious blood of the Lamb and many, many martyrs. We may go out the same way we came in, in blood and glory!

Let me leave you with a few thoughts to ponder……

- Our Kingdom is not of this world!

- Since its initial heralding, the message of the Kingdom has never been
palatable. We carry that message.

- We will be persecuted because of our message.

- The world hated the Master. If we choose to be and walk like Him,
what makes us think we’re exempt?

- Our purpose is not to win personality contests but to win some to faith 
in Jesus Christ. We are in this world but not of this world.

- Whether we live or die, it is in Papa’s hands. In either case, I choose to 
live in the Kingdom with and for my King.  

Blessed and happy and enviably fortunate and spiritually prosperous (in the state in which the born-again child of God enjoys and finds satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of his outward conditions) are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake (for being and doing right), for theirs is the kingdom of heaven! Blessed (happy, to be envied, and spiritually prosperous–with life-joy and satisfaction in God's favor and salvation, regardless of your outward conditions) are you when people revile you and persecute you and say all kinds of evil things against you falsely on My account. Be glad and supremely joyful, for your reward in heaven is great (strong and intense), for in this same way people persecuted the prophets who were before you. [II Chron. 36:16.] Matt. 5:10-12 AMP

If the world hates you, know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you belonged to the world, the world would treat you with affection and would love you as its own. But because you are not of the world [no longer one with it], but I have chosen (selected) you out of the world, the world hates (detests) you. John 15:18-19 AMP

Remember that I told you, A servant is not greater than his master [is not superior to him]. If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you… But they will do all this to you [inflict all this suffering on you] because of [your bearing] My name and on My account, for they do not know or understand the One Who sent Me. John 15:20-21 AMP

I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have [perfect] peace and confidence. In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration; but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.] John 16:33 AMP

Where sin increased and abounded, grace has surpassed it and increased the more and superabounded. Romans 5:20b AMP

Consider it all joy when you encounter trials of any sort and be assured that trying and the proving of our faith brings out endurance, steadfastness and patience so let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be [people] perfectly and fully developed [with no defects], lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4 AMP

But be doers of the Word [obey the message], and not merely listeners to it, betraying yourselves [into deception by reasoning contrary to the Truth]. James 1:22 AMP

I tell you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you To show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike]. For if you love those who love you, what reward can you have? Do not even the tax collectors do that? And if you greet only your brethren, what more than others are you doing? Do not even the Gentiles (the heathen) do that? You, therefore, must be perfect [growing into complete maturity of godliness in mind and character, having reached the proper height of virtue and integrity], as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matt. 5:44-48 AMP

Invoke blessings upon and pray for the happiness of those who curse you, implore God's blessing (favor) upon those who abuse you [who revile, reproach, disparage, and highhandedly misuse you]. To the one who strikes you on the jaw or cheek, offer the other jaw or cheek also; and from him, who takes away your outer garment, do not withhold your undergarment as well. Give away to everyone who begs of you [who is in want of necessities], and of him, who takes away from you your goods, do not demand or require them back again. Luke 6:29 AMP

Jesus answered, ‘My kingdom is not of this world.’ John 18:36 KJV

(a) http://listverse.com/2010/06/22/top-10-greatest-empires-in-history/