Joy to the World, The Savior Reigns!

Joy!
Tea and prayers together, on deck overlooking waves and sweet sea air...a blessed vacation gift to us long awaited
Watching our dogs slip their surly suburban bonds to romp pell mell after gulls and pipers on dunes at foamy sea's edge
All of us trying to keep up
Laughing
Savoring the sound of waves crashing on sand, over and over again, as relentless as God's incarnate love
Sweet sounds of Twelve Day carols and an Elizabethan Garden to remind us in the midst of an ugly and often violent world that there is beauty
"Think on these things...
"Watch the sunrise and the sunset... Let the waves roll on...and let beauty give way to

Joy! Miracles on missions to Uganda: dear brothers and sisters in Christ healed, delivered, and empowered to bring in God's kingdom in places east and west
Dearer still their love for us, their prayers, and their example of what it means to follow Jesus Christ!
And now, a surprise gift from them-- a Council in Jerusalem in the new year that promises hope and a future for mission in a re-energized, re-vitalized, rich-in-spirit and resource poor Missionary Anglicanism

Other miracles...A church plant in South Riding that continues to grow, defying all odds, with deeper roots among those who continue to labor in soil often rocky, and sometimes surprisingly fruitful
Our children, home and safe!
Our eldest home from college.. All, together,
And to a person, missionaries serving in big and small ways
Helping other children in Sunday school and nursery
Singing in the praise band at home and away
Loving the less than loveable, against the tide of peer pressure
Standing their ground against assaults on Christ himself and giving testimony to Him
In classrooms
In college interviews
In homes of neighborhood friends
In the Kennedy Center, while receiving an award, giving glory to Christ to a crowd in stunned silence
"Like mighty oaks whose roots go deep in Christ and whose branches form a canopy of grace..."
Our vision for South Riding Church unfolding in our own family!
Astonished, our thankfulness must give way to

Joy! For the ordinary gifts that make life so full Best friends driving all the way up from South Carolina to spend a week with us Song and dance and concerts and plays to perform And in the midst of the ordinary... that reminder of the great, extraordinary gift that makes all life worth living "For unto you is born this day in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!"

How shall we find him? "And this will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Disarmed by a little baby, our hunger for a Savior gives way to

Joy! For God himself has chosen to dwell with us ... "Immanuel! God with us"! Disarming the pride, the power, and the technology of our world with... What?
Utter humility and self sacrifice... In a little baby Before whose Kingdom every Kingdom of this world must give way

This Christmastide, may such joy dwell in your hearts and be your one true strength in 2008 as you celebrate His relentless incarnate love!