Christmas come Christmas go

Well, what did you find under the tree?  My kids got enough money from all the different folks who gave them money to buy a WII.  If I'd known these things were so much fun I would have had one a long time back.  Right now we just have the basic sports game that comes with it.  But I've found I'm pretty good at Boxing, but I stink at bowling.  Not surprising, 'cause I'm not that good at bowling.  My only complaint is that it seems the game doesn't quite keep up with the remote, and the golf game seems off a little.  But, it's just a game.


I decided to buy a window mount for my DROID, which I'll probably put on tomorrow afternoon.

Jingle Bells, to you too buddy!

Hehehehe.  I couldn't help it.  I'm not exactly a Jingle Bells kinda guy.

Well, Christmas time has rolled around on us once again.  You know, I'm not nearly as big a fan of Christmas since I've had to start paying for it.  However, I have been the Beneficiary of a wonderful surprise.

Christmas and KJ2000 Reading

Well, Christmas is over, and all the gifts have been unwrapped around our house. This actually turned out to be a better Christmas for the kids than I thought it would be. We spent last Saturday with the family from my side, and had a GREAT time. We played Cranium (a neat game, and the more people the better). We snacked, and opened presents. We all swapped "White Elephant" gifts, which was real fun. I wound up with a bottle of soap from Bath and Beauty, or whatever its called. My Wife, Angela, wound up with the gift she brought, an empty Harmonica case. :-). My sister's Husband wound up with an older Wireless access point I had retired. I updated it and made sure it worked before I took it.
Sunday Evening we went to My wife's side's get together. Another good time. We had a great meal, and exchanged gifts. It was good. WE also had Sunday Morning Worship services at Missionary Ridge (Just in case you were wondering). I hope your Holidays, Christmas in particular, have been good to you. I really hope you focused on Family, friends, and the Christ who set us free. I know some of you will point out that Christmas was originally a Pagan Holiday, not Christian as many suppose. However, I feel that most of the traditions around this day can be redeemed. Just as God commanded the Israelites to melt down the gold and silver from the pagan temples and use it in the Temple, I think traditions that can be put through the fire of God's Word, and can come out OK, are fine. Like exchanging gifts in celebration of Christ's birth. Now, we all know that Jesus was NOT born on Dec. 25th, as there are too many indicators to the contrary. However, we can celebrate that He was born. His birth in and of itself did not redeem mankind, but had He not come into this world, and set aside His glory, we would have never had a Christ to redeem us at all!! Not only that but the story of Christ's birth teaches us a great many things that are backed up by other Scriptures. I'll probably go into them a little bit at a time over the next few weeks (yes I know afterward) so you can be prepared for Next year. I meant to this year before Christmas, but it just didn't work out.
For one: God shows that there are no age limits on those whom He can use. God used a girl, no more than 16 years old (Mary) to be the mother of His Son, Anna and Simeon we're "well stricken in years", with Anna being at least 84 years old, then there were Joseph, a young man, Elizabeth, probably middle age, Zacharias her husband, the parents of John the Baptist, who was filled with the Holy Spirit from his mother's womb. So you see, whether you are young or old God can use your service, and enable you to do extraordinary things. Not only that, but God can use Rich and Poor, Jew and Gentile, Slave and Free. He doesn't care whether you have an education (Matthew the publican, Paul the Apostle) or not (Peter the Apostle). You can be a fisherman, a shepherd, a Carpenter, a Tax Collector (publican), or even a leper. God used Kings, and slaves to write His Word, and to bring Jesus Christ the Living Word into this world. All the ground is level before the Cross, and there is no such thing as a big I and a little you. This is the consistent message of the Bible as a whole, and especially in the Birth of Christ.
Another tip, notice how God inconvenienced the WHOLE WORLD, to make it possible? God can move mountains if we'll only believe.

Now, the KJ2000 update. I ran into a snag. There appears to be an issue with the text, that I just can't get over. Here's a snippet from the email I sent Dr. Couric on Dec. 5th:
I found something that has me, well, kinda thinking.
In Galatians 3:16 the KJ2000 says, "Now to Abraham and his descendant were the promises made. He says not, And to descendants, as of many; but as of one, And to your descendant, who is Christ." However I couldn't find ANY such passage in Genesis. They all use "descendants" plural (except in one place that was specifically talking about Isaac). What do we do there?
I think that's why they went with "seed" in the KJV. My problem is I never got to take any Hebrew, I know how to tell a plural vs. a single Greek word, but with Hebrew I'm in the dark

end snippet.
This may not seem to be much of a big deal to some, however it deals with the prophecy of Christ's coming. And, if we force the plural onto a place in the Old Testament where there is no plural then we're not being faithful to God's Word. So, until I hear back my reading of that version has stopped. I haven't heard anything from Dr. Couric in a while, and I pray that everything is well with him.

BAH HUMBUG!

Gotcha. Well, that title is me. Its not that I don't like Christmas, I like it. Its that I can't stand the misuse of it by vendors who want to benefit from "Christmas Gift" shoppers but will not use the name 'Christmas'! If you are going to use the images to prompt people to buy from your store, and those images are unique to Christmas alone, then by George, use the word!!!

The other problem I have with this time of year is the music. I don't mind a Christmas song, but good grief do we HAVE to play it 24 hours a day? The ABSOLUTE dumbest idea Solidgospel Radio had was turning that mess on all the time!! By the time Christmas does actually get here we're all so sick of the stinking music we're glad its over!! At least I am. The problem is that just about the time I can actually warm up to hearing one they play the stupid thing so much I'm sick of it. And, what business does a "Solid Gospel" supposedly Christian, radio station have playing secular Christmas songs? You don't think there are any? What about "Rockin' around the Christmas tree"? You know, that catchy, rocky song they played in "Home Alone" when Kevin was trying to fool the would be crooks? It was cute there, its out of place on Christian Radio.

Not to mention the fact that I'm only gonna get a hundred dollar bonus, and the tires on my truck have to be replaced. This all adds up to a sucky Christmas for my family. Yea, I used that word. I couldn't think of a nearly acceptable word bad enough to describe how I feel.

Well, the weather outside pretty much duplicates my mood, dreary, rainy and dark. So, I think I'll go have some Egg Nog and call it a night.

Oh, and Merry Christmas to you and yours, May Christ be the center of your Holidays, not just this one.

Oh, I'm making some progress on the KJ2000 Bible reading. Its looking good so far. If only I can get the how to on making Sword modules!