Christmas was full of firsts this year for us. We left Sunday after church and headed to south Fayetteville, for an early Christmas with Lisa's side of the family. I always enjoy her family, but this year, we gave a special gift to my niece, Tori, in the form of a small ball python. She had been wanting one most of the past year, since she saw mine. The look on her face when we gave her the little snake and his aquarium was definitely a "Kodak moment."
We came home for Christmas at our house, joined by my mom & dad. They had never spent Christmas Eve with us, and we all attended Hebron's Communion service, then later attended a midnight candlelight service at Grayson United Methodist Church. Both are very different in style, yet very worshipful in content.
We opened a few presents on the Eve, then got up the next morning for a Christmas Day joined by my brother Mark & his wife. Mark had never been up for a Christmas with us, and in fact had only been to our house here once or twice over the past 8 years. I was real happy to have them and our parents here. It would have been perfect if my other brother Rick and his family could have been here from Texas.
Every year, there are so many memories to be made- and held for a lifetime. I am reminded of what the Bible says of Mary, Jesus' mother, on several occasions around His birth- "And Mary pondered all these things, treasuring them in her heart." Its amazing to imagine the memories she was making, definitely for a lifetime. Like her, I want to treasure the ones Christ gives me, at Christmas and throughout the years.
Rob

I had hospital visitation duty earlier this week, here right before the holidays. I usually don't mind the duty, in fact I somewhat enjoy it- being an encouragement to people, being out on the road, being out of the office. This on-call rotation was difficult for me, though. It wasn't the miles or the number of hospitals our people were in- although covering about 250 miles between about a dozen hospitals in two days was exhausting!
What made it difficult were the people I visited. To name a few, there was a teenager who had been hit by a car while waiting to catch the bus to school, in ICU on a ventilator with probable brain damage; a smiling 3 year old boy with anxious parents, waiting on test results to find out if their son has cystic fibrosis or not; a 50-something man who had undergone his 2nd heart bypass surgery, and was lonely and discouraged. But the most difficult for me was a lady I visited up in Gainesville, who is slowly dying. I had visited her last month, and she was up sitting in her chair in the hospital room, smiling & happy. We talked, laughed, prayed together, and I just had a great visit with her. This time I came to see her, she was on life support, tubes and IV's running all over her, and she was comatose, unresponsive with eyes half opened. I was shocked and saddened. I spoke to her and prayed over her anyway, in case she could hear anything at all. She is only 11 years older than me, and likely will not see the new year.
It was a sobering couple of days, and I really have not talked about it much. I guess I am reminded that, in the midst of the wonder and fanfare of the Christmas season, even with the hope that the birth of our Savior brings, we still live in a world of suffering and pain, and this will be a sad, painful Christmas for many, and for those they love. All the more reason to look for opportunities to commit "Random Acts of Christmas", like my last posting describes.
Following the Reason for the Season,
Rob

A friend of mine who is the children's pastor at 12Stone Church told me about a December campaign they are doing. Its called, "Random Acts of Christmas." All of their members have been given cards to pass out everywhere they go, but only after they do something kind & generous for someone in need. No agenda, no other motivation except to be the "hands & feet of Jesus" across the month. All that is asked of recipients is that they go to a website, 12Days12Ways.com, and nominate someone they know for freebees- free gas for a year, groceries for a month, cars or vans, etc. It reminds me of the movie, "Pay It Forward", where a good deed was passed on from person to person. In fact, stories have been told with 12Stone's campaign that illustrate just that- even cards passed on, good deeds done, by people totally disconnected from the church.
As I think about Christmas this year, I really want to commit "Random Acts of Christmas" myself- along with 12Stone. Its a wonderful thing to do, not just talking about doing good for others, but actually putting feet to it. We so often make Christmas all about us, with our desire and clamor for gifts, parties, cards, etc. Its a reminder that Christmas is really about the One who committed the first "Random Act" of Christmas, when God gave His Son to humanity, in flesh and bone, to save us from our sins. May we (I) be daily reminded of this over Christmas, and may we all look for those we can do something for, in Christ's name.

This past Wed.- Fri. our church did something very different than anything we have ever done. We put on an outdoor Christmas festival, called "Christmas on the Corner". It was similar to a Lake Lanier, Stone Mountain, or Callaway Gardens Christmas events, with costumed characters, a live nativity, a small Christmas train, local performing school choruses, food vendors, tons of lights, etc. My family and I enjoyed it the first night, then I worked at the event the other nights. I was the announcer/host on the "Christmas Tram", which went through the parking lots picking up and dropping off people for the festival. It was our Sunday tram, decorated with Christmas lights, banners, and playing Christmas music. I completely enjoyed getting to meet people, talk up and describe the event to them, and generally be entertaining for folks. By Friday night, I heard from numerous folks that kids wanted to ride the "Christmas Train" as they called it, and wanted to see the "funny train conductor", like some came to call me. Fun time!
Which is really what I hoped to do for people when they came to the event- begin the enjoyment for them even before entering the actual park, give them a good impression of Hebron, and ultimately, of Jesus Christ.
I hope we do this event every year- I think it can become a yearly event for the community to attend, and help further Hebron's influence for Jesus, pointing people to Him in the best time of the year.
Merry Christmas!
Rob