I believe that Jesus had wonderful manners. After all, we learn in 1 Corinthians 13 that love is not rude. No one who has ever walked the earth loved more than Jesus did. The heart of manners is something He taught us: "Do to others what you want others to do to you." Saying thank you is one of ... View Post
Handling Holy Interruptions
Merry Christmas Eve, Mamas The shepherds in the fields near Bethlehem were doing what shepherds do, protecting the sheep in their care. On this particular night they were staying out in the fields with them. As far as we know, this night seemed like any other night at work. It is obvious ... View Post
A Merry Christmas Greeting
As history writers, Ray and I enjoy looking back at the past, including our own. On Tuesday we made a video in which we reminisced about happy Christmas memories from our childhood. Yesterday our videographer added some photos and a Merry Christmas greeting from many members of the Notgrass ... View Post
Sometimes Things Go Haywire
Happy Wednesday before Christmas! It's a day for me to be embarrassed by that half-baked blog post that went out by email this morning. The reason it looked half-baked is because it was. It wasn't supposed to go out at all. It was a draft I began working on yesterday and then finally had to abandon ... View Post
Putting Our Faith in the Baby Who Came
First, I want to thank Joanie and Cathy for identifying this painting. While writing "We Don't Need to Be Afraid" for yesterday, I found other incidents in the gospels when people heard the same comforting words that the shepherds heard: Do not be afraid. When the angel came to Mary to ... View Post
Being the Family Glue
This past Sunday I was holding our youngest grandchild during the song following Ray's sermon. This grandson is six months old. Ray was standing in front of the pews, facing the congregation. He was directly in front of us. Our grandson looked at his Notty and then turned and looked at me, looked at ... View Post