The Christmas Story

Are you looking for a way to tell your kids your kids the Christmas story, in a way they will understand?
If so, try the following video, otherwise, just watch it anyway to remind yourself of the true meaning of Christmas:

Welcome To Our World

The long promised saviour of the world is here!

Once again this Christmas we have celebrated Christ coming into our world all those years ago.
Into a world that needs Jesus.
Every person in this world needs Jesus.

Please welcome Christ into the world, and into your life this Christmas.

Welcome To Our World by Michael W Smith

Tears are falling, hearts are breaking

How we need to hear from God

You've been promised, we've been waiting

Welcome Holy Child

Welcome Holy Child

Hope that you don't mind our manger

How I wish we would have known

But long awaited Holy Stranger

Make yourself at home

Please make yourself at home

Bring your peace into our violence

Bid our hungry souls be filled

Word now breaking Heaven's silence

Welcome to our world

Welcome to our world

Fragile finger sent to heal us

Tender brow prepared for thorn

Tiny heart whose blood will save us

Unto us is born

Unto us is born

So wrap our injured flesh around You

Breathe our air and walk our sod

Rob our sin and make us holy

Perfect Son of God
Perfect Son of God

Welcome to our world

Please visit Michael W Smith's website: http://www.michaelwsmith.com/

Joseph's Lullaby

Can you imagine how Joseph felt when he found out Mary was expecting a baby?

Matthew 1:18-19 (The Message)
The birth of Jesus took place like this. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. Before they came to the marriage bed, Joseph discovered she was pregnant. (It was by the Holy Spirit, but he didn't know that.) Joseph, chagrined but noble, determined to take care of things quietly so Mary would not be disgraced.

At the time of Jesus' birth Joseph would have been frowned upon for marrying a woman who was pregnant outwith marriage. But Joseph believed in God. He believed that God had a plan for Mary and him to raise this child, the Christ child.

Mary and Joseph loved Jesus just as a mother and father should love their child. The song I've used above by Mercy Me portrays some of the thoughts and feelings Joseph must have had when Jesus was born. A beautiful song and a lovely presentation.


Be blessed by the love of God, our heavenly Father this Christmas.

The Reason For Today...

The following song explains all...

Hallelujah (Light Has Come)

Hmmm my Baby

Heaven sent you to me

All the worlds been praying

Who will Save?

But who am I

That here tonight

I hold the one

Who’ll Bring us life

Hallelujah,

We’ve been found

A child is born

To save us now

Hallelujah light has come

A Savior who will set us free

A Promise for those who believe

Do you hear the Angels

Sing for you my baby

Men and kings have come to

Bow to you

But here in my arms

So close to me

The son of God

Now all can see

Hallelujah We’ve been found

A child is born to save us now

Jesus Halleluiah light has come

A savior set us free

So praise to God on high

He has heard our cry

Merry Christmas everyone!

God Is Here!

The family get-togethers and ornaments and presents are all very nice at this time of year, but let's not allow them to obscure the reason why we celebrate Christmas - the reason for the season.

How awesome it must have been to be alive at time Jesus was born, and be able to say, "You're the Saviour we've been praying for". Now 2000+ years later we can still proclaim those same words as they are still very relevant, "You're the Saviour we've been praying for".

God IS with us, Hallelujah!

God Is With Us
The skies don't seem to be as dark as usual
The stars seem brighter then they've been before
Deep within I feel my soul a stirring
As though my hope has been restored
The shepherds say they've heard the voice of angels
Confirming rumors spread across the land
That a child protected well from Herod's anger
Is our Father's Son, and the son of man

Love is raining down on the world tonight
There's a presence here I can tell
God is in us, God is for us, God is with us, Emmanuel
He's the Saviour we have been praying for
In our humble hearts He will dwell
God is in us, God is for us, God is with us, Emmanuel

I feel compelled to tell all who will listen
That peace on earth is not so out of reach
If we can find grace, mercy and forgiveness
He has come to save, He is all of these

You're the Saviour we have been praying for
In our humble hearts You will dwell
You are in us, You are for us, You are with us, Emmanuel

Checkout the Casting Crowns website: http://www.castingcrowns.com/

Do They Know?

Christmas 1984 saw the release of the single Do They Know It's Christmas to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. The single was made by the supergroup Band Aid which was founded by Sir Bob Geldof and was comprised of many pop stars of the time.

We are now 15 years on from the release of that single so I'd ask you to take a few minutes out of your busy day and consider this - Has famine been eradicated from our world?

The answer to this is quite obviously NO! Not only has famine not been eradicated in Ethiopia, there are still hundreds of people starving in our very own countries, countries that are supposedly amongst the richest (yes even in these debit ridden times!) and most educated.

This Christmas you can help by donating to the Salvation Army Christmas Appeal 2009.

YOU can make a difference in someone's life this Christmas!

Do They Know It's Christmas Time
It's Christmas time, there's no need to be afraid
At Christmas time, we let in light and we banish shade
And in our world of plenty, we can spread a smile of joy!
Throw your arms around the world at Christmas time
But say a prayer - pray for the other ones
At Christmas time
it's hard, but when you're having fun
There's a world outside your window
And it's a world of dreaded fear
Where the only water flowing is a bitter sting of tears
And the Christmas bells that ring there are the clanging chimes of doom
Well tonight thank God it's them instead of you

And there won't be snow in Africa this Christmas time
The greatest gift they'll get this year is life
Where nothing ever grows
No rain or rivers flow
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

Here's to you
Raise your glass for everyone
Here's to them
Underneath that burning sun
Do they know it's Christmas time at all?

Feed the world
Feed the world
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time and
Feed the world
Let them know it's Christmas time

Struggling At Christmas

I make no apology for share the above song with you today, as it although Christmas should be a time a great joy for Christians around the world, as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, it is also a time when traditionally we spend time with our families. So please don't get so caught up in Christmas that you forget those struggling to pull themselves though each day of this Christmas period when all can seem so very bleak for some.

So today I'd ask that you take some time out from the build up to Christmas to think about and pray for those who might be finding Christmas difficult this year for family reasons:

• Those with no family;
• Those whose family are hundreds or thousands of miles away;
• Those who have loved ones in hospital;
• Those who have loved ones for whom this may be their last Christmas due to serious illness or age;
• Those who themselves are ill and unable to share with their family on Christmas.

For those in any of these situations, Christmas can be a very depressing time, a very lonely time, when it seems you are forgotten and alone. But these are times when we need to remember God is with us at all times and can make the darkest of times bright again.

Please pray for those struggling this Christmas and if you are one of those struggling, turn to God, He can give you the strength to face Christmas as without Him there wouldn't be any Christmas.

Can't Live Without You
You found me here
I'm barely breathing
You picked me up
But I'm still wanting more

You're the ocean deep
I'm in up to my knees
Wanting desperately to drown
You're the one bright part
Of my languid heart
You're the love I cannot live without
I cannot live without

Please hold me close
I can't stop shaking
It's not for fear
My walls are breaking down

You're the ocean deep
I'm in up to my knees
Wanting desperately to drown
You're the one bright part
Of my languid heart
You're the love I cannot live without
I can't live without

I can't live without you
I can't live without you
And I cannot live without you
Can you hold on, can you hold on
Can you hold on, because you hold everything

You're the ocean deep
I'm in up to my knees
Wanting desperately to drown
You're the one bright part
Of my languid heart
You're the love I cannot live without
I can't live without you
I can't live without you

Please checkout Bebo Norman's website: http://www.bebonorman.com/index.html

It's What Time of Year?

How do we know it's getting near Christmas? Well when the carolling season starts and the Salvation Army bands start playing Christmas carols in our streets and shopping centres, the weather always seems to be much colder...or is that just my imagination when I've been out carolling in the past!?

The other thing I've noticed that always starts around the same time is all the debates and predictions of whether we will have a white Christmas or not.Certainly if the weather this last week as been anything to go by it could well be a white Christmas this year.
One of my favourite carols is In the Bleak Midwinter as the words talk about many aspects of Christmas, from the weather, the birth of Jesus, to our own personal gift to Christ. The last verse of this carol says:
What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
yet what I can I give him: give my heart.

It is so easy to say we have no talent and nothing to offer God, but each one of has the one thing He desires most...our heart.I find it hard to comprehend how someone so awesome and mighty can ask just one thing of me in return for His love, but it's true, give God your heart this Christmas and accept His unconditional love in return.

In The Bleak Midwinter
In the bleak midwinter, frost wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign.
In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there,
cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
but his mother only, in her maiden bliss,
worshiped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part;
yet what I can I give him: give my heart.

Gift Suggestions

Still trying to decide what to get someone for Christmas? Well here are a few suggestions:

To your enemy, forgiveness.
To an opponent, tolerance.
To a friend, your heart.
To all, charity.
(by Oren Arnold)

OK so I know they are not Christmas presents in the standard sense, however they are very applicable ones which we should each strive to give this Christmas.

Make a promise to yourself and to God to try to give these gifts this year.

It's Called Christmas!

Why oh why do people insist on not calling this time of year by it's real name CHRISTMAS!

There is one thing that annoys me more than anything else these days, it's Christmas being called by some other name...Winterval, Festivus, Chrismukkah, Yule, Yuletide...
...and then there are my all time most annoying ones: Xmas and Crimbo!

It's almost as if Christ is deliberately being taken out of Christmas! It's hardly surprising that so few people know and understand what the true meaning of Christmas is when they don't even know it's called Christmas anymore.

Help keep Christ in Christmas, don't abbreviate or use alternative names for it, just call it as it is...Christmas!

The Christ In Christmas

Everywhere we turn at the moment we're remind that it'll soon be Christmas - There's Christmas decorations going up in people's houses and in the street. Then there's all the pre-Christmas sales urging us to spend our money on "fantastic bargains" or "huge reductions".

Phew! It's exhausting just thinking about it all!

Well I've just spend today Christmas shopping with my Mum, buying the remainder of my presents. I quickly remembered when I got to the shops why Christmas is not my favourite time of year...I hate the shops being so busy and having to join endless queues to pay for one item. Bah Humbug I hear you say, but please be assured I like buying my family and friends presents, I simply dislike the commercialism that has overtaken all things Christmas.

Do you think the people in your community actually know and understand why we celebrate Christmas, and what it's really all about? I would be very surprised if many know what Christmas is really about. The standard answers would probably be "giving and receiving presents", "spending time with family" or "Santa". In other words they have taken Christ out of Christmas!

We as Christians have a great responsibility, particularly at this time of year, to make sure we tell the world about Jesus.

We must remind everyone that without Christ there would be no Christmas!

What Child Is This by Michael W Smith...

Checkout Michael W Smith's website: http://www.michaelwsmith.com

P.S. I just about managed to finish all my Christmas shopping today, I hope your Christmas shopping expeditions are as successful.

What Easter Means To Me

This will probably sound daft to non believers, but I've been feeling God has been telling me to start writing a blog, so I can share a bit of my life with the world. Before I alienate many of you, this blog will not just be me informing you of my Christian beliefs and experiences, but will simply be me writing about what I know...me - my thoughts, observations and experiences of life.


So having decides to start this blog, I faced what to me was a difficult decision, what to write about in this very first post! The decision was difficult for me until it came to today, Good Friday, one of the most important days in the christian calendar. This might sound odd, but while I know many say Christmas is the most important time of year to them, I have always found Easter to be more special to me.


"Why?" I hear you ask. Well Christmas is so commericially orientated that many simply know Christmas as a time when they spend days with family, get lots of presents and eat too much and don't ever spare a thought for what Christmas is really about. I realise Easter to is becoming far more commercial these days too, but not nearly to the same extent as Christmas.



For me Easter is all about sacrifice, the sacrifice that Jesus made for each one of us on the cross when he bled and died, just so we can all be forgiven of our sins. Wow, it's impossible to truly understand the pain/agony Jesus suffered when he was crusified. Can you imagine how God felt, giving up his one and only son, just so the world could be forgiven of every sin. I struggle to truely comprehend how this must have felt, but am forever in God's debt because He did allow Christ to die on the cross.


So here we are at another Easter, another time when I feel so inadeqate and so unworthly of God's love, and also so thankful that God's does love me unconditionally and is always by my side guiding me and supporting me through each minute of every day.


What does Easter mean to you? If all you've ever know is 2 days off school or work and Easter eggs, I hope this blog has given you food for thought this Easter.


Easter is all about "The Cross" and the sacrifice God gave for you and for me.