2018 Worship Guide

2018 Worship Guide LINCOLN DAILY NEWS Wednesday, December 5, 2018 Page 15 E ven though it’s beginning to look (and sound and feel) a lot like Christmas, to some Christmas it is still too far away. Some others are struggling to believe the season has come around again so soon. About this time each year I receive a pleasant request from a friend to write a brief devotional thought (Yeah, right. When did you ever know a preacher to be “brief”?) to share with the loyal readers of Lincoln Daily News as Christmas approaches. After several years of crunching to meet the deadline, I decided I really wanted to do it differently this year. So, I made a conscious effort to ‘write’ this piece all year long by being mindful of Christmas in my everyday living – to keep Christmas close at hand. Unfortunately, I failed. Well, at least in the writing. I did think about it, however. I actually managed to intentionally remember Christmas throughout the year. • I thought about Christmas in January when I was given the privilege of speaking to my friends at Jolly Seniors about HOPE . • I thought about Christmas in February, the month LOVE normally takes the center stage. • I thought about Christmas in March as I shared the COMFORT of God with a family I dearly love as they said, “See you later” to a wonderful, godly father who succumbed to Alzheimer’s disease. • One can’t, or at least one shouldn’t, approach Good Friday (the cross) and Easter (the without purposefully thinking about Christmas since without His coming in the flesh they aren’t complete. So April brought thoughts about how Christmas means LIFE . • May gave us the opportunity to vacation and recreate at a friend’s house, but Christmas was still with me as my wife and I experienced disconnection from responsibility and PEACE . • We returned home in June via a long drive that brought lovely vistas of high rocky bluffs and verdant green fields and Christmas crossed my mind as I enjoyed the BEAUTY of God’s world. All Through the Year CONTINUE