Christmas with Ann

Ann Voskamp is a farmer's wife, home-educating mama to 6, and author of the NYT bestseller One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are. She is also a DaySpring writer, Women of Faith speaker, and library book loser. She’s been named by Christianity Today as one of the leading 50 women most shaping culture and the church today. She’s also soup-stirrer, partner with Compassion International, loud laugher, kid snuggler, and Jesus lover. Honestly, she's a bit of a mess. It’s okay, really. Grace is the most amazing of all.

Please… take a few minutes to let this amazing woman share the true meaning of Christmas with you in this simple home video. You will be blessed!



Sharing my love with you, and wishing you a wonderful and loving Christmas!

Your brother in Christ,

Dave

Ann’s journal is at: http://www.aholyexperience.com/

Holiday Things

It’s time, once again, for my annual Christmas card. This year, I made 500 to share with co-workers, family, friends, my church, and strangers. I’ve already handed out most of them, though… a couple of dozen still have to get posted to snail mail (old Christmas card habits die hard). The picture is the one I used for the front of the card, so with the exception of the little logo and identifying date stuff on the back, the card is here on the blog. If you MUST have a physical card to hold in your hand, message me your email address and I'll send you the WORD file so you can print one on your color printer. Folding it into card form... I leave to you. Merry Christmas!

Holiday Things

by David Alan Hoag  --  December 8, 2013
(sung to “My Favorite Things” with apologies to Rodgers and Hammerstein)

Mall decorations that start in October
Disgusting Santas that can’t remain sober
Huge Christmas trees lashed to cars with just strings
These are a few of our Holiday things

Black Friday shoppers that line up for savings
Fist fights and tazings and rantings and ravings
Parking lot frenzies leave cars with fresh dings
These are a few of our Holiday things

No Christmastime it’s a Holiday Season
A public manger’s municipal treason
Racking up credit so much that it stings
These are a few of our Holiday things

When the season
Isn’t jolly
When it all seems mad
I simply remember the little Christ Child
And then I don't feel so bad

A star to the Wise Men new secrets unfurled
Shepherds heard angels sing “Joy to the World”
God’s gift to humans that comes with no strings
These are a few of my Christmastime things

A Savior the wise and the powerful sought
When God sent our Savior it’s not what they thought
God crowned a baby the King of all Kings
These are a few of my Christmastime things

We needed a Savior so God sent us one
We mean so much to Him He sent His own Son
Filled with such love and such joy my heart sings
These are a few of my Christmastime things

When I give thanks
To my Savior
And to God above
And I remember the little Christ Child
My heart overflows with love

Merry Christmas to You!

May Christmas bring you…
love, peace, and uncontainable joy
to fill your heart, and your New Year, too!

Dave  Hoag

 

 

Too Busy With Christmas to See Christ

I hope you have spiritual mentors in your life. I’m not just talking about your Pastor (who SHOULD be one of your spiritual mentors), but other men and women who breathe God’s Spirit into your life on a regular basis. Greg Laurie, one of my many spiritual mentors, is the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship, with campuses in Riverside and Irvine, California. What follows, here, is a teaching story Greg posted on Facebook (12/6/2013). I didn’t want to lose track of it, so I reposted it here on the blog.
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Status Update by Greg Laurie
I heard the story of a mother who was out Christmas shopping, frantically trying to get everything done. She had her small child with her, but for a moment, she lost sight of him. In sheer panic, she started retracing her steps and found him with his nose pressed against the glass of a store display, looking at a manger scene.

The boy said, "Mommy, Mommy! Look! It is Jesus in the hay!"

"Let's go," she said, as she took him by the hand and led him away. "We don't have time for that."

Exactly! That is the whole problem with this time of year that we call Christmas. We can be so busy celebrating Christmas that we forget all about Christ. In a sense, we can actually lose God in the midst of it all. We can very easily lose God in the so-called celebration of Jesus.

For many, the Christmas story is the one about Scrooge being visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, or maybe Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, or Frosty the Snowman or Santa Claus.

But technically, can we lose God? No, we really can't. You can't lose someone if you know where they are. If you know where they are, then they are not lost. But you can lose sight of someone. And some have lost sight of the Lord in their lives, especially at this time of the year.

Maybe you've had the experience of talking with someone who was checking their texts or updating their social media as you're trying to tell them something important.

God never does that. God is never disinterested. God is never distracted. And even if we forget about Him, He never forgets about us. Christmas is not about buying presents; it is about His presence in our lives.
--------------------

Think about that! Our focus at Christmas (and all the time, actually), should be all about Christ’s presence in our lives. THAT presence is the… Joy to the World! What if we spent less time buying presents, and spent more time in the presence of God? Just a thought…

Your brother in Christ,

Dave

The Christmas Scale

A story of the Good News. This is a short and touching story that you are not likely to forget. Enjoy!

Your brother in Christ,

Dave

Oceans (Hillsong United live)

Such simple teaching, shared with a quiet passion, and sung from the heart… ignites God’s Holy Spirit! This is happening all over the world. If it’s not happening in your church it may be because you have become old wineskins. This just might be important to consider, as God directed Matthew, Mark, and Luke to write about it in all their Gospels, as in:

Matthew 9:17

Neither do people pour new wine into old wineskins. If they do, the skins will burst; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins, and both are preserved.”

Mark 2:22

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.”

Luke 5:37

And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined.

You don’t have to be an old wineskin. Repent, die to sin and death, and be raised up… a new creation… in Christ!

If your church is full of old wineskins and you are looking for a place to worship God that is open to, and filled with His Holy Spirit, I invite you to come experience worship at Eastside Christian Church in Anaheim, California. Come experience what it means to be a new wineskin! If you are not in Southern California, look for a Christian fellowship that is embracing God’s Spirit to:

1.       Pursue God

2.       Build Community

3.       Unleash Compassion

Christian communities that are alive in God’s Spirit are not hard to find… just look for the light on the hill. Stepping out of the boat onto the raging ocean might seem difficult, but if you keep your eyes on Jesus you can overcome a lifetime of ritual, habit, and customs to become a new wineskin. There is no need to remain cracked, broken, and empty, when you can be made new and filled with the new wine of salvation… in Jesus.

If you decide to check out Eastside, contact me, and I’d be overjoyed to show you around.

YBIC,

Dave Hoag

Facebook Friends

To all my friends on Facebook: Thank You for blessing my life!

I’m conservative about who I allow as a friend on Facebook; I only “friend” people I know in real-life. Because of this I am continually blessed by all my wonderful Facebook friends. They encompass a wide spectrum of humanity… singles, couples, working, retired, professionals, family, spiritual mentors, and many brothers and sisters in Christ. The following is by no means an exhaustive list… of some of the people I know on Facebook… and of some of the ways they bless me:

To all my friends who are singles… thank you for sharing your mercurial ups and downs, selfies that you will probably regret one day, bar adventures, ball games, concert pictures, Vegas weekends, and latest crushes. I may not agree with all of your life choices, but I love your enthusiasm and love of life.

To all my friends who are couples… thank you for the never-ending stream of kid pictures. Keep them coming, as I’m pretty sure I haven’t seen every possible shot of kids at Disneyland, water parks, or the beach. Actually, it’s pretty amazing to watch your kids grow up… with so many facets of their lives covered by social media.

To all my friends who are working… thank you for full coverage of seminars, retreats, and business conferences. Finding you in conference pictures brings back fond memories of “Where’s Waldo.” It’s great to see you in happy poses with co-workers, but trust me when I say that dissing the boss or the company you work for on a public forum WILL come to a bad end.

To all my friends who are retired… thank you for the constant flow of grandchild pictures, snowbird travels, and strange bucket list doings. I suppose I’ll be right there with you if I ever get to retire. Since I swore I’d never go back to the refrigerator box under the overpass, I’ll probably be working well into my nineties!

To all my friends who are professionals… thank you for not wasting my precious Facebook time with constantly asking me to LIKE your business, professional organization, or inappropriate website. Actually, I know that you are far too busy recommending skills for each other on LinkedIn to update your Facebook much anymore.

To all my friends who are family… thank you for constantly inviting me to share your Farmville or Candy Crush addiction. Thanks for posting disturbing pictures of me at raucous family gatherings! Happily, since virtually all of these cell phone portraits are blurry, I can easily disavow any association, and clearly claim mistaken identity. Exceptions include the stunning pictures my daughters post of themselves, their husbands, and my amazing grandsons; photographic genius! Like, like, like, like!!!

To all my friends who are my spiritual mentors… thank you for planting seeds in my life. I love you for never giving up, for getting a message to me, for faithing on, and for calling me to harvests. You bless me in ways you may never know. Thank you!

To all my friends who are brothers and sisters in Christ… and know that you cover the entire spectrum of people I call “friends”… thank you for your encouragement, your edification, your love, and your prayers. More often than you know, you are a light in the darkness for me.

So, wherever you fit in my list, thank you for being in my life. Thanks for the good and the not-so-good, the amazing and the mundane, and thank you for adding light, color, and interesting texture to my life.

With much love and many blessings,

YBIC,

Dave

Sticks and Stones… (Part 2)

More on how words can label us…

Satan is always whispering in our ear how we aren’t good enough, how we have failed, and how we should expect to be rejected. Watch, and listen to, this powerful video by Matthew West, called:

“Hello, My Name Is…”



Next time Satan tries to slap a negative label you, look at the name tag God has given you and remember that you are a…

Child of the One True King!

YBIC,

Dave Hoag

Sticks and Stones…

Our words have power to encourage, to heal, to crush, or to wound. God warns and instructs us of the power of words; time and time again. Are we paying attention, or do we just let words fly from our mouths? Check out this song from Hawk Nelson about words. I’ve included the lyrics (below) just in case you can’t play the video for some reason, or… if you like to ponder over the poetry like I do.



Let my words be life.
Let my words be truth.
I don't want to say a word
Unless it points the world back to You.

YBIC,

Dave Hoag


Words
By Hawk Nelson

They've made me feel like a prisoner
They've made me feel set free
They've made me feel like a criminal
Made me feel like a king
They've lifted my heart to places I've never been
They've dragged me down back to where I began

Words can build you up
Words can break you down
Start a fire in your heart
Or put it out

Let my words be life
Let my words be truth
I don't want to say a word
Unless it points the world back to You

You can heal the heartache
Speak over the fear
God, your voice is the only thing
We need to hear

Words can build us up
Words can break us down
Start a fire in our hearts
Or put it out

Let my words be life
Let my words be truth
I don't want to say a word
Unless it points the world back to You
Let the words I say
Be the sound of Your grace
I don't want to say a word
Unless it points the world back to You

I want to speak Your love
Not just another noise
I want to be Your life
I want to be Your voice

Let my words be life
Let my words be truth
I don't want to say a word
Unless it points the world back to You
Back to You
Let the words I say
Be the sound of Your grace
I don't want to say a word
Unless it points the world back to You

Words can build us up
Words can break us down
Start a fire in our hearts
Or put it out

I don't want to say a word
Unless it points the world back to You

Status Update

I read so many posts about friends, relatives, relatives of friends, and friends of relatives who have been told the end of the world is coming. Well... they've been told the end of THEIR world is coming. Doctors diagnose cancer and then give them the number of days, weeks, or months before the end of THEIR world. How devastating this is for all concerned: patient, family, and friends. Everybody is suddenly living with a countdown calendar of death to the end of the world. It turns out that the doctors are often wrong, especially for people of faith.

I’m posting the following from Greg Laurie’s weekly column in a Spirit-led effort to encourage those who are living a countdown calendar of death to switch to looking for the return of Christ instead. Read Greg Laurie’s entire column to discover how this change in perspective can lead to a happy, joyful, and purposeful way to live.

Your brother in Christ,

Dave Hoag

Status Update

By Greg Laurie

According to the Mayan calendar, 2012 was supposed to be the year the world would end. I was amazed at how some people actually were concerned about this, though they disregarded the one reliable book that predicts the future – not once, not twice, but hundreds of times with absolutely accuracy. They will completely blow off the Bible and instead pay attention to the Mayan calendar.

There were also a lot of articles and blogs written last year about what to do if the end of the world is coming. Here were a few ideas:

1.  

End your diet immediately.

2.   Park wherever and however you want.
3.   Resolve to hit the gym tomorrow.
4.   Listen to “It’s the End of the World as We Know It” by REM.
5.   Throw out that bucket list.
6.   Make a lot of noise in the library.
7.   Touch everything that has a “Do Not Touch” sign in the museum.
8.   Order 4,500 pizzas and give one to every stranger you meet. (I liked this one.)
9.   Leave the toilet seat up.
10. Go to the store and buy 2013 calendars. They are probably on sale.
11. Find a Twinkie.

I went out on a limb and dared to say that the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar was not going to occur. But the Bible does have a lot to say about the last days and about the imminent return of Jesus. There are 260 chapters in the New Testament, and Christ’s return is mentioned no less than 318 times in those chapters. Statistically, one in every 25 verses mentions the return of Jesus Christ.

Jesus himself spoke of this often. He said, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38 NKJV). He also said, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2–3).

When I became a Christian in 1970, the Jesus Movement, as it was called, was in full swing. A lot of young people were coming to Christ. There was a lot of talk about the soon return of Jesus. It was very common to see bumper stickers on cars with slogans such as, “In case of Rapture, this car will be unmanned.” There were many stickers that said, “Jesus is coming!”

I don’t know how many of those I have gone through since then, but quite a few. Still he hasn’t come. Some people would say, “You are all wrong. Maybe he is never coming.”

But here is what the Bible says in response to that: “The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent” (2 Peter 3:9 NLT).

Peter continues on and says, “But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise. … Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live” (verse 10

Peter was emphasizing that if you really believe Jesus is coming back, then it should impact the way you live. And if it doesn’t impact the way you live, then you are completely missing the point. So how should we be living?

We should be watching for him. Jesus said, “Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near” (Luke 21:28 NKJV). As we look at what is happening in our world today, we can have our Bible in one hand and our tablet or newspaper in the other and see how Bible prophecy is being fulfilled before our eyes.

The Middle East is a powder keg. It could blow up at any time. There is an outbreak of excessive acts of violence in our culture like we have never seen before.

We should be ready to go. When I go on a trip, I always pack my bags the night before, especially if it is an early morning flight. I will always have everything ready to go. I want to be to the flight on time. So I prepare ahead of time. In the same way, we want to be ready to go when Jesus returns.

And to be ready for the return of Jesus is to be engaged in activities you would not be ashamed of if Jesus were to come. It is a good thing to ask yourself periodically, “This place that I am about to go, this thing that I am about to do, would I be embarrassed or ashamed of it if Jesus were to come back?” If the answer is yes, then don’t do it. We should be working.

The Bible says that faith without works is dead (see James 2:20). If watching is the evidence of faith, then working is the evidence of faith in action. Watching for the return of Christ will help us prepare our own lives, but working will ensure that we bring others with us. Jesus was saying there is a blessedness in living this way: “Blessed is that servant whom his master will find so doing when he comes” (Luke 12:37). Another way to translate the word “blessed” is “happy.” Happy are those servants. …

C.H. Spurgeon wrote,

“It is a very blessed thing to be on the watch for Christ, it is a blessing for us now. How it detaches you from the world! You can be poor without murmuring; you can be rich without worldliness; you can be sick without sorrowing; you can be healthy without presumption. If you are always waiting for Christ’s coming, untold blessings are wrapped up in that glorious hope.”

Looking for the return of Christ is not a miserable or repressive or confining way to live. It is a happy, joyful, and purposeful way to live.

Reposted from Facebook; taken from Greg Laurie’s weekly column at Worldnetdaily.com

Presence

I’m not a member of Newport Church, but their video is awesome.

PRESENCE from newport church on Vimeo.

Where is your presence important? Where are you moved, inspired, and empowered by God’s Holy Spirit? What community of Christ calls to you, and… will you answer with your presence?

YBIC, Dave

Ebenezer

Today, I was listening to the David Crowder Band song “Come Thou Font”, and I was reminded again of a word that I have never understood in the lyrics of that song. The lyrics are:

Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount I'm fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love

Here I raise mine Ebenezer
Hither by Thy help I'm come
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wondering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let Thy goodness like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander Lord I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
   seal it for Thy courts above

Come thou fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
   seal it for Thy courts above
O Here's my heart, Lord, take and seal it,
   seal it for Thy courts above


The word I was having trouble with was “Ebenezer”. In context, the line is:

“Here I raise mine Ebenezer”.

Now, just about everyone is familiar with Ebenezer Scrooge, but I was pretty certain that fictional character of Dickens was not what was being referred to in the song, so… it was off to the internet for some research. In a quick synopsis of 1 Samuel 7, here’s what I found:

Samuel and the Israelites were under attack by the Philistines. Fearing for their lives, the Israelites pleaded with Samuel to pray for them. Samuel offered a sacrifice to God and prayed for God's protection. God listened to Samuel's prayers causing the Philistines to lose the battle and retreat. After the victory Samuel took a stone and placed it between Mizpah and Shen and called the stone Ebenezer proclaiming, "Thus far the Lord has helped us". Ebenezer means "Stone of Hope".

A stone… Samuel lifted up a stone to remind us that it is not by our strength, but by God’s grace and mercy that we are rescued from danger.

How often do the attacks of this world and the sins of others harden our hearts to stone? Now, every time I hear this beautiful song, I will lift my stony heart in HOPE to God in the firm assurance that He will bring me to victory over the Philistines in my life.

It is only by God’s mercy and grace that I am… your brother in Christ.

Dave