December 4th ~ Lord, Make Us Thankful

December 4, 2015 By Stanton Lanier 1 Comment

Click above to listen to the Thanksgiving piano-English horn duet as you read. This track version is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

Frank Stanton Bondurant was his name. My mom called him “Daddy,” but to his grandsons he was known as “Daddy B.” He was born in 1905 and died in 2002, just shy of his 97th birthday. As I reflect on his influence in my life, I am amazed at how many lasting impressions he made. He was quite a storyteller.

Daddy B was an only child. His parents both died before their 42nd birthday, so he didn’t think he would live past that age. They both played piano, but he was a gifted violinist. He played high school football when there were no face masks, just a thin leather helmet. He broke both eyebrow bones and both collar bones. He loved to play games and tell jokes. If you said, “Please pass the cereal,” he would throw you the box! He introduced me to fig preserves and Mama B’s blackberry cobbler. He threw baseball with me for hours when I was a Little League pitcher, teaching me how to grip the threads to throw a curve ball, drop ball, fast ball and slider. He played his violin with me when I was playing piano in middle and high school (that’s us in the photo when I was thirteen).

When I learned to drive he always reminded me that if an animal ever ran in front of me that I should “go through it,” and not swerve to miss it. He had wrecked his car one time avoiding a dog. His advice probably saved my family’s life when I hit a deer in June 2002 driving sixty miles per hour. I went through it. Incredibly, we were on the way to Daddy B.’s funeral when this happened.

“Lord, make us thankful for these and all our blessings. Pardon our sins for Christ’s sake. Amen.” This was Daddy B’s prayer before every meal whenever we saw him. These are only a few of my memories of this beloved man of character, passion and faith. I loved Daddy B. I will always remember the blessing he was in my life.

Who is your Daddy B? Can you be a “Daddy B” for someone?

December 3rd ~ The Glow of Giving

December 3, 2015 By Stanton Lanier 2 Comments

Click above to listen to Little Drummer Boy as you read. This track version is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

“For it is in the giving that we receive.” – St. Francis of Assisi

In 1991 we lived in a tiny apartment in Hoboken, New Jersey. Early that December we had a window leak, so a handyman and I spent the better part of a week together in our small living room. Near the end of the week I asked him if he knew of anyone going through a tough time who had young children, because I wanted to help out with buying Christmas gifts. He was quiet for a few moments and then said, “Is it too bold of me to ask for this gift… I have four kids and it’s been a rough year.”

His joyful spirit never gave a hint of his struggles. I was so excited to help his family. He gave me the ages of his kids, their interests, and their special Santa requests. We agreed that I would give him the wrapping paper so he and his wife could have the joy of giving the gifts. It was a tearful moment for both of us.
When he came back the next week to pick up the toys, he burst out crying while he bear hugged me. We both cried tears of joy and gratitude. I will never forget the depth of emotion we shared.His story may stop there…. his 1991 Christmas miracle. My story doesn’t.

I basked in the glow of giving all year that year. I couldn’t wait to do it again and feel the warmth of giving the following Christmas. We found another family in a rough spot and my husband and I agreed to meet the father with wrapping paper and unwrapped toys so he, too, could have the joy and ownership of wrapping his children’s gifts.

As we knocked on his door, we had Christmas in our hearts and anticipation of being wrapped in the warmth of gratitude. The door opened wide to a family young and old. Without any pleasantries, they swiftly grabbed the gift bags, nodded, and slammed the door in our faces.

We stood there in shock with the closed door inches from our noses. Slowly we turned to each other and started to chuckle in total disbelief at the speed of the exchange. We walked back to the car shaking our heads trying to parse together what had just happened.

I am grateful for the juxtaposition of these Christmases. This quick exchange taught me a greater lesson than the warmth of the first. Didn’t Jesus heal ten lepers, and only one came back to give thanks? (Luke 17:15-16). Lack of gratitude didn’t stop Jesus from giving and it wasn’t going to stop me.

Give, give, and give as Jesus did with no expectations. The warmth of the bear hug and tears shared in 1991 is enough to sustain me forever.

December 2nd ~ The Soundtrack of Peace

December 2, 2015 By Stanton Lanier 2 Comments

Click above to listen to Awaken the Dawn as you read. This track version is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

As a writer, I use music to wash over me, creating moods and an environment that fuels creativity. When I wrote the Left Behind: The Kids series with Jerry Jenkins and Dr. Tim LaHaye, Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman felt like friends. Writing Almost Heaven was an exercise in mandolins and guitars and bluegrass.

There is a soundtrack to our lives, our stories, as real as those we hear in films. It’s up to us to listen. We can drown the notes with other pursuits, other music that crowds it out, but it is there, running through our lives every day.

At this busy, hustle-bustle time of year, the Good News is all around us, but you have to listen carefully to hear the soundtrack over the 24 hour news cycle. If you lean even closer, you can hear that same soundtrack running through your own life.

I choose to rest in a sovereign God who made everything seen and unseen. I choose to believe there is more going on than I understand. Looking back, I see the intricately woven story of redemption as the soundtrack playing behind the man and woman choosing to eat. I hear the minor chords as men sell their brother into slavery and watch that evil become their salvation. When all seems lost, the waters part and a path is hewn where none existed. Promised Land ahead, people stumble over their wayward hearts as prophets, priests, and kings rise and fall. A Wonderful Counselor is promised. A Mighty God will appear. A Suffering Servant.

Sometimes I think the soundtrack of my life is the B side of an old garage sale reject. It’s haphazard and scratched and almost unintelligible. I envision God watching human history and shaking his head. Then, with a snap, he awakens with the spark of an idea. A way to redeem he hadn’t considered.

God is not like this.

The cross was not his fallback plan. God chose the manger that cradled the infant head of his Son. Every bit of straw, every animal in that dirty cave, every shepherd that came running, every angel that sang his song was chosen. Every footstep toward Golgotha, each nail, each thorn on the crown. Every Roman guard pressed into service. The tomb that couldn’t hold him. The stone that rolled away.

And you.

The sovereign God who made you wants you to hear this soundtrack, not to figure out how he scored the music. This is not a musical puzzle. He asks you to surrender to his music. He is playing the notes behind the pain and struggle of your life. You can participate. You can fight against him or abandon yourself to the ebb and flow that began creation’s song.

The soundtrack of peace is the love of God. This crimson melody runs through history’s landscape and the crags of your life.

May the music haunt you today and give you peace. May you hear the soundtrack gently leading you toward hope.

December 1st ~ The Sled

December 1, 2015 By Stanton Lanier 6 Comments

Click above to listen to In the Bleak Midwinter as you read. This piano-English horn duet is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

Cypress Road was packed with fresh fallen snow in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. I could see it through the big living room window of my childhood home. The temperature was just below freezing. School was closed. My tummy was full with a vitamin fortified Kaboom cereal breakfast. All my “Mt. Everest” gear was in place. It was another dream winter morning for a nine-year old. Cypress Road. One hundred yards long with a perfect twenty degree slope. Another downhill sledding adventure was about to begin.

This unforgettable scene happened many times during my elementary school years. It was a treasured experience. So much so that a full body length sled was at the top of my wish list for Christmas 1974. The gift appeared and was all I had hoped for. A Gladding Champion Fastback. Sixty inches long, three strips of polished hardwood, painted for speed (including speedometer) and shiny red runners.

Every day after Christmas I waited… January… February… March… April… no snow. I couldn’t believe it! My sled dream had come true, but the snow never came that winter. The following summer my dad took a new job in Pensacola, Florida. As my eleventh birthday approached, I wondered “Is this really happening?!” My new sled and I were moving to the Florida panhandle! That was a long time ago. The Gladding Champion Fastback is now stored in the basement, still gliding through life with me. The glamorous adventure he was born for has ended up being a humdrum existence. A historic two inch snow at our house in Milton, Florida only resulted in a drag across the flat front yard. A few times “Champ” has coasted down some small slopes when we have had ice and snow in Atlanta or north Georgia, where I have lived most of my life. But for the most part, it just rests in storage, waiting to deliver pure joy with a long, downhill run.

Every December when I see my sled, I still long for that joy ride. But I am also reminded that no earthly possession will ever bring me the joy that comes from a relationship with Jesus Christ.

What is your sled? Do you treasure Christ above all earthly treasures?

Day 31, 31 Days of December Peace ~ Confetti Moments

December 31, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring as you read. This unique arrangement is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

Even though I have played the piano or keyboard over 500 times for concerts, events and groups of all sizes, I haven’t been to that many concerts in my life. On July 2, 2012 I got to go with a friend to see Coldplay live in Atlanta. The audience was captivated from the opening moments. Confetti was blown in huge volume from the stage to the ceiling throughout the second song. Then, it floated back down over the crowd in millions of pieces. This was followed by huge, colorful, air-filled balls being hit into the air across the arena. All kinds of celebration symbols were lavished on everyone like it was New Year’s Eve. It was magnificent.

Here is what I learned…

1. Humankind Loves to Behold Beauty. Rainbows of colors and lighting illuminated the stage, the band members, the confetti, and the computer programmed sparkling wristbands (that everyone in the audience was wearing). These experiences illustrated C. S. Lewis’s words that our greatest moments of beauty, adventure and intimacy in this life are glimpses of heaven. Also, that God planted eternity in the human heart. “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart” (Ecclesiastes 3:11).

2. Humankind Longs for Hope. C. S. Lewis once wrote, “All joy… emphasizes our pilgrim status; always reminds, beckons, awakens desire. Our best havings are wantings.” Pleasure, comfort, safety, security, good health, provision, enjoyment, seeing the world, loving people… these are some of the ways in which we look for and long for hope. The list could go on and on. G. K. Chesterton adds, “I had always felt life first as a story; and if there is a story there is a storyteller.” The idea that my life is part of a greater story gives me hope.

3. Humankind Loves Moments of Wonder and Adventure. C. S. Lewis also said, “I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation.” There is this hard wiring we are born with. One part says guard your life, another part says go for it – “it” being experiences of wonder and adventure. Life moments that make our heart race – like being mesmerized by nature, taking a faith risk, or serving others in love – are worthy pursuits.

What beauty are you beholding today? What hope are you longing for? Where are you feeling nudged toward wonder and adventure in the New Year? Watch for life’s confetti moments…

Day 30, 31 Days of December Peace ~ Don’t Wait

December 30, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Silence as you read. This piano solo is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

“If you’re waiting to do something with your spouse, don’t wait.” These words rocked my world in the final hour of a men’s weekend retreat in May 2008. Even if you’re not married, read on. All of us are waiting to do something. Maybe you’ve waited long enough.

The Souly Business retreat had brought several powerful moments. I thought I had experienced all that God was going to do. Then, during a talk titled Finishing Well these words cut straight to my heart. The speaker told a story about a very successful Texas chicken farmer, who had died suddenly from a heart attack. At his funeral service, his wife said, “If your waiting to do something with your spouse, don’t wait.”

Ever since 1995, for thirteen years, my wife and I had received a newsletter twice each year inviting us to consider a trip to Greece and Turkey. They were always mailed from the same couple who had led a group of twenty people, including us, on a spring 1995 pilgrimage to Israel. That experience was unforgettable. We had never seen the Bible come so alive and be confirmed so incredibly – geographically, archaeologically, and spiritually.

We knew Greece and Turkey would be just as amazing. It was called The Journey’s of Paul. The itinerary included Athens, Corinth, Ephesus, the island of Patmos where John wrote Revelation, Instanbul and much more. It just wasn’t practical. In the 1990s we both worked and it was just us. No kids. But from 1995 to 2005 our two children were born and an unexpected career curve ball was pitched to us. In 2004 I left a ten-year financial planning job to found Music to Light the World and become a full-time pianist and composer. Since then, our finances had been “just in time” with no surplus.

When the “don’t wait” words stirred my heart with such clarity, I sensed God whispering, “Take a leap of faith. Trust me. You’ve waited long enough. It’s time to do this thing with your wife. Go on the Greece-Turkey trip.” It was crazy from a worldly perspective. I would have to make a withdrawal from my IRA, paying a 10% penalty and income taxes on the entire amount. Yet, there I stood. After each talk there was a space for a few men to speak their mind. For the first time during the weekend I was telling eighty guys what had just happened. Apparently we were supposed to take this trip and not wait. But we were living month-to-month, and our only savings was in retirement accounts. And, I was a former financial planner and would be withdrawing the cost of the trip from my IRA (the room erupted with laughter at this point). Yes, God does have a sense of humor!

I have found when we move forward by faith, things start to line up. They don’t line up in advance. All the steps are not clear if we wait too long. But when we follow God’s nudges, He reveals things little by little. Like the $1,000 down payment toward our trip that was a gift from a complete stranger at the retreat, who heard my story and just “happened” to have been assigned the job of praying for me in secret the entire weekend. Like the fact that our parents’ schedules were open so they could stay at our house with the kids. It was stunning to witness all that took place. This story alone is one reason I live by faith in a God who loves us more than we can imagine. Even when life doesn’t make sense. Even when I have my doubts. Isaiah 41:10 says, “Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.”

What are you waiting to do? Don’t wait too long. Take a leap of faith.

Day 29, 31 Days of December Peace ~ Pursuing Your Passions, Part 2

December 29, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming as you read. This piano solo is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

Continuing from yesterday…

In the summer of 2004, I left Ronald Blue & Co. to become a full-time pianist and composer after founding Music to Light the World. The greatest blessing of my call to financial planning was not that it was a life calling, but that I had learned God would speak to me and I could hear His voice if my heart was surrendered to Him. The improbability of my career shifting from money to music is a miracle and a mystery that has stretched our faith, but God has been faithful.

The principles of Ronald Blue & Co. were vital in giving my wife and me the financial ability to follow God’s call. We both worked before having children, lived well within our means, and paid off all of our debts except our home mortgage. We made extra principal payments over time and were able to convert from a 30-year to a 15-year mortgage with the same payment. We maximized and diversified our savings using recommended money market and mutual funds. God also challenged us to be more generous in our giving during these years.

Below are two additional steps and scriptures that have had a powerful impact on our faith journey. I hope they inspire and encourage you to pursue your passions.

3. Invite. After you have prayerfully asked God to speak, waited upon Him, listened for His voice, obeyed what He says, and clarified the vision He has revealed to you, then you are ready to invite others to pray for you and even contribute to your cause. Ask God to help you seek to please Him and not men. “Before they call I will answer; while they are still speaking I will hear” (Isaiah 65:24).

4. Imitate. Imitate the faith of others who are surrendered to God and seeking His will in their lives. Spend time with them and learn from them. Imitate Jesus’ desire to please the Father. “So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’ Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Hebrews 13:6-7).

Is it time to invite others into your vision and story? Who can you imitate?

Day 28, 31 Days of December Peace ~ Pursuing Your Passions, Part 1

December 28, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Coventry Carol as you read. This piano solo is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

In 1994, at the age of 30, I surrendered my career life to God and asked Him to show me what He wanted me to do. After getting an MBA and spending five years in consulting and sales, the time had come to trust God 100% instead of asking Him to join me in what I was doing.

In 1995, God called me to Ronald Blue & Co. to become a financial planner. It was the clearest sense of direction I had experienced in my life. So clear, in fact, that I thought the greatest blessing was that I had found my life calling. It was a joy and a privilege to wake up each day and give financial counsel to clients based on a biblical perspective.

Working with clients on financial and life stewardship caused me to ask myself the same questions I would often discuss with clients. How much is enough? What are your passions? As I reflected, my heart was stirred to revive a lifelong passion I had for playing the piano and writing songs. “Baby steps” of faith led me to a place where God inspired me to compose instrumental melodies to help people slow down and experience His peace. The next year, I released my first CD and gave it away to friends, clients and co-workers. More and more people began to enjoy and share my music and two more albums followed.

Below are the first two steps that had a powerful impact on my faith journey. I hope they inspire and encourage you to pursue your passions.

1. Invest. In 1999 I had a stirring in my heart that I was supposed to invest in a keyboard and computer to record some old songs I had written in high school. God’s voice just would not go away on this, so I gathered information for six months, waited upon the Lord, and took action steps to obey and invest. Following this, God revealed a new idea to create solo piano from scripture to bring peace to the soul. “Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

2. Invigorate. What is it that invigorates you (i.e. refreshes, revitalizes, stimulates, enlivens, energizes, rejuvenates, animates, strengthens, livens you up)? Make sure to integrate whatever “it” is into your life, even if this means just a few minutes each day or a few hours each week. Make the most of life right now where you are. “I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free” (Psalm 119:32).

Are you hearing God’s still small voice telling you to invest in some way? What invigorates you?

To be continued tomorrow…

Day 27, 31 Days of December Peace ~ Where Did All the Time Go?

December 27, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Thanksgiving as you read. This original, piano-English horn duet is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

On the one hand it is just another month. Through the demands of other’s expectations and crowded calendars, the routine takes over and seems to direct us wherever it wants us to go. Each week is filled with days passing by and each increases in velocity. It can seem quite mundane in the routine busyness of it all. Or worse, it can be a blur of to dos that leave us feeling empty and worn out.

And yet, the fact that December is the final month of the year distinctly sets it apart. Regardless of the type of year we have experienced, it closes that chapter. As we begin turning this page, the ending comes with a new beginning. Something magical happens in us as we realize the passing of time that has occurred; the brevity of this life becomes clearer in our thoughts. We ask ourselves and each other, “Where did all the time go?” as we secretly hope that something meaningful was achieved.

But before we can see the shadow cast completely, December ushers us into in an overwhelming rush of joy, brilliance and awe. We learn again and again… that the world we live in, filled with the beauty and pain of our humanity, has been pierced with the invasion of a supernatural Savior. Rescue has come. Rescue is here. Love becomes real, for Love took on flesh. In the most amazing story in all of human history, God became one of us.

Turning an eye to a new starting line with hope of how we can live out the coming chapter with more vigor, more urgency and yet have greater Peace, we see the opportunity for redemption of time and we can live more contentedly.

So when we see this rightly, December leaves us grateful. Let us write the next year’s chapter well.

Day 26, 31 Days of December Peace ~ The Skyride

December 26, 2014 By Stanton Lanier Leave a Comment

Click above to listen to Snow Angel as you read. This original, piano-cello duet is from 2009 Best Holiday Album December Peace (ZMR Awards, winning over Enya and Yo-Yo Ma). If you enjoy, please consider sampling and ordering the CD, MP3 Album or sheet music. You can also listen and download on iTunes and all other digital outlets.

This story is from 31 Days of December Peace (soft cover or eBook). Also available from Amazon Kindle, iTunes, and other e-Readers.

Where could you use some “December Peace” today?

Every December, high atop Georgia’s Stone Mountain, there are long strings of lights fashioned to a tall pole, arranged in such a way that from any part of the city of Atlanta, it looks like a giant Christmas tree.

Stone Mountain is just what it sounds like, an enormous mountain of granite that rises almost 900 feet into the suburban Atlanta sky. It’s got a carving of three confederate soldiers on its face, the largest carving of its kind in the world. And all around the mountain are tourist-friendly activities. A train, a riverboat, even a 3-D movie and mini-golf.

There’s also the Summit Skyride, high-speed Swiss cable cars that transport passengers from the base of the mountain to the top. Skyride operators collect tickets, load the cars, and press the buttons that put the whole process in motion. In college, this was one of my jobs. I was a Skyride operator for an entire summer, and when Winter Break hit, I went back for a few weeks to earn some extra money.

In December, the Skyride operator had an additional responsibility. One operator per day got the opportunity at dusk to flip the switch that powered the lights of the Christmas tree. With one motion light shined to an entire city. Nearing the end of my 3-week holiday stint, I finally got my chance to turn on the Christmas tree. I’m pretty sure Christmas day had already passed, but I didn’t care. I was excited about the privilege of powering it up. On that night, I brought the light of Christmas to an entire city. Never mind that it was a simple task and if I had not done it, any other minimum-wage-earning chump like me could have accomplished it.

I think that was part of the beauty of it. Becoming a source of light to others didn’t require a fancy job, expensive degrees, or full bank accounts. It just required a willingness to serve and a single touch.

Christmas is a reminder to all of us that God has brought light to the world. Without the birth of Jesus and the glory He carried into this broken planet, there would be no peace on earth in December or any other time. Through Jesus, God reached down and touched humanity. And that touch illuminated not just the city of Bethlehem, not just the world at that time, but it provided light for all cities, for all times, for every person, forevermore. Jesus didn’t have a fancy job, a college degree, or a lot of money. His parents didn’t even have a room to stay in upon his arrival. He was born and placed on hay in the rough rock of an animal feeding trough.

And that moment continues to be the pinpoint that opened a dark world up again to a flood of the brilliant and beautiful and breathtaking light of God.

May the Light of the world bring peace to you and your city this December.

« Previous Page
1
…
5
6
7
8
9
…
12
Next Page »