Christmas Comfort

By Robin J. Steinweg –

“Okay, Mom, when do we get to open our Christmas Eve pajamas?”

“What do you mean, ‘Christmas Eve pajamas’? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Our tall sons nudge each other and eyeball the presents under the tree. It’s tradition: Go to church, open one gift, sing carols together; drink cocoa, gobble cookies, pray together, then hit the sack.

“You know. What we get every Christmas Eve. What color are they this year?”

“I am clueless. Enlighten me.”

Son number two rolls his eyes. “We’re on to you, Mom.”

I am all innocence. “I can’t imagine why you think you’re getting pajamas.”

“It might have something to do with the fact that we’ve gotten them every Christmas Eve for eighteen years.”

“That was pure coincidence. I’m sure you’ll be surprised this year.”

Son number one pats my head. “Right, Mom. It’ll be a surprise to find out if they match or not.”

I hand them and their father packages marked “Christmas Eve.” I make them open them simultaneously. They each pull out dark green lounge pants printed with bright-colored strings of lights, and T-shirts, each a different color. “Surprise!” I holler. They laugh and go to put them on.

Traditions and rituals are not only fun, but comforting. Like knowing that Girl Scouts will appear at the door in the fall selling cookies; Mr. Rogers will don a sweater and canvas shoes on every rerun; It’s A Wonderful Life will be on TV several times each Christmas season; and bell-ringers for the Salvation Army kettles have been out in force.

The first Christmas did not offer any traditions. Conquering Romans forced the Hebrews to travel to the towns of their birth for a census, regardless of the hardship it placed on them. A woman in labor, turned away from crowded inns, found small comfort in giving birth to her firstborn in a stable. Angels appeared and terrified some shepherds. A star, never seen before, lit the way for magi to travel from the east to find a Child, the prophesied King of the Jews.

Even so, God’s Word rings true: “Comfort, comfort My people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that…her sin has been paid for.” (Isaiah 40:1-2). Now there’s comfort to last from Christmas to eternity!

QUOTE: “…remember, Christ our Savior was born on Christmas Day to save us all from Satan’s power when we were gone astray. O, tidings of comfort and joy; comfort and joy! O, tidings of comfort and joy!” (Traditional English carol)

“I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow” (Jeremiah 31:13c NIV).

Today’s devotional is by Robin J. Steinweg. Robin’s life might be described using the game Twister: the colored dots are all occupied, limbs intertwine (hopefully not to the point of tangling), and you never know which dot the arrow will point to next, but it sure is fun getting there!

Enjoy the Season

By Cami Checketts –

Tis the season to enjoy time with loved ones, reflect on the marvelous gift of our Savior’s birth, reach out a helping hand to those in need, and cuddle in front of the tree with hot cocoa and cookies. Christmas is a wonderful time of year filled with joyful moments, but often I find myself overindulging on treats and being lazy; and instead of feeling gleeful, I feel sick.

A few tips to keep us all happy and energized throughout the season:
1. Only eat something if it is truly a Christmas treat. Just because they make Oreos with red and green filling does not mean they’re an exclusive Christmas treat, but Aunt Abbie’s peppermint dessert? That’s worth savoring.
2. Turn on Christmas music and dance. My boys think Mom spinning to the Nutcracker is hilarious.
3. Go ice-skating, sledding, snow-shoeing or cross-country skiing. Try out a new sport. The variety is great for improving physical fitness and the challenge is wonderful for your mind.
4. Go for a walk outside. When the temperature is below 50 you burn more calories. It’s worth it to freeze the tip of your nose but if it’s so cold your eyelashes crystallize you’d better take it to the treadmill!
5. Bake your favorite treats, have a sample, then take them to all the neighbors. The visits will be more fun than the baked goods.
6. Enjoy your family and forget about everything else. Play with your kids. Read Christmas stories and thrive on their childlike joy. Snuggle up with your sweetheart and burn some calories kissing in front of the tree.
7. Focus on the Savior and following his example of love and service, the real reason we celebrate this blessed holiday, and the joy will continue throughout the new year.

Merry Christmas!

Cami Checketts is a wife, mother of four boys, author, and exercise scientist. Her latest novel, The Sister Pact, is in stores now. www.camichecketts.com

Book Review: Medical Error

Written by Richard L. Mabry, M.D.
Reviewed by Nora St. Laurent –

Back Cover:
Dr. Anna McIntyre’s life was going along just fine until someone else started living it. Her patient died because of an identity mix-up, her medical career is in jeopardy because of forged prescriptions, and her credit is in ruins. She thought things couldn’t t get worse, but that was before she opened the envelope and saw a positive HIV test with her name on it. Her allies are two men who are also competing for her affection. Dr. Nick Valentine is a cynic who carries a load of guilt. Attorney Ross Donovan is a recovering alcoholic. The deeper Anna digs to discover who’s behind the identity thefts, the higher the stakes. Finally, when her life is on the line, Anna finds that her determination to clear her name might have been a prescription for trouble.

Review:
I’m so thrilled to have received a review copy of such suspenseful medical thriller that reminded me of the movie, The Net with Sandra Bullock, but taken to a whole new level.

This book opens with Dr. Anna McIntyre performing emergency surgery on Eric Hatley. It was descriptive and I wasn’t sure where the author was leading the reader. But then the pace picks up and Dr. Anna McIntryre discovers her credit cards have been maxed out and it wasn’t by her. This was not a great way to end her horrible day!

On the same day Anna discovers someone has stolen her identity she also finds out she’s is being sued for malpractice. Could things get worse? Dare she ask the question? She had to find out who stole her identity—the police weren’t making her a priority. “Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty? It all seemed unfair?” in Anna’s way of thinking, she wanted answers and she wanted them now.

Why had things gone so wrong, all Dr. Anna McIntyre wanted to do was be a surgeon and help people, she hadn’t signed up for all this. I quickly felt for Anna and her situation. The author’s casts of characters are colorful, likable and believable. I was quickly drawn in by how the author takes the reader to places they haven’t gone before. Dr. Richard Mabry’s experience in hospitals and the system makes this medical mystery scary and believable and has you look at the ER, doctors and the hospital in a whole new way.

This author shows the non-glamorous side of being a doctor along with all the red tape they go through and how it can be horrific at times. Doctors don’t have lots of time and information to go on when a patient arrives in the ER unconscious! They have to depend on their medical experience, information in the computer of their patience and what they are told about the situation the patients got  into before they arrived.

Richard Mabry did a great job of pacing of the events that unfold, allowing me to experience this story to the fullest. Richard’s plot twists and turns definitely kept me up late wanting to know what happened next. I enjoyed and was surprised at the wit and humor used by this author. He had masterfully woven well timed humor into the suspenseful parts of his book. I didn’t expect to laugh out loud while reading a medical mystery. I loved it.

Dr. Anna McIntyre is forced to take a look at her life and tries to figure out what she holds dear. She worked so much she hadn’t stopped long enough to have this thought before. I was intrigued with her journey through this process and beyond. I thoroughly enjoyed every page of this medical suspense thriller with heart. It’s made me want to check out Richards’ first book Code Blue. I’m also looking forward to reading the next book in this series, Diagnosis Death. This is one author I’ll be keeping an eye out for. You will too.

Nora St. Laurent
The Book Club Network
www.bookfun.org

The Cattle Were Sneezing

By Cynthia Ruchti –

“But, those people…”

The complaint took on a decidedly whiny tone.

“What about them, Sharla?”

“They’re…germy. Dirty. Smelly.”

Karen sighed. “And they’re needy, which is why our small group is reaching out to the homeless. They need to know someone cares so they’ll understand that Jesus cares.”

Sharla checked her BlackBerry. “Oh. I just realized I have an office Christmas party that night.”

“Not a problem. We’re serving holiday lunch at the shelter, not supper. You’ll have plenty of time to get changed for your party.”

“But, I’ll have to…”

“To what, Sharla? Take a shower? Disinfect?”

Sharla pressed her lips together, nostrils flaring as she breathed.

“Jesus was born in a stable.”

“Well, I know that.”

“He probably had cows sneezing on Him. Or worse. Jesus—a fragile newborn. The Son of God. And we’re having an issue with reaching out to humans in His Name?”

Every time we whine about how difficult or unpleasant it is to serve others, what must that communicate to the God who gave His Son, to the Son who left the splendors of heaven to be born in a stable and laid in a manger, to the One who was beaten beyond recognition and died on a crude cross—for us?

PRAYER: Lord, I’m ashamed of the times I’ve complained about some meaningless unpleasantry, about the inconvenience of the homeless man on the street corner and the foul odor of the pile of tennis shoes at the entrance to the youth room at church, of the runny noses of the kids in the nursery. Forgive me, Lord, for forgetting all the ugliness You endured for my sake, including the foul odor of my sin. Help me lose myself in loving like You loved.

VERSE: “Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love” (Ephesians 4:2 NIV).

Today’s devotional is by Cynthia Ruchti, writer and producer of the radio ministry The Heartbeat of the Home and current president of American Christian Fiction Writers. Cynthia’s debut novel—They Almost Always Come Home—released from Abingdon Press in Spring 2010 and A Door County Christmas novella collection (Barbour Publishing) released Fall 2010. Cynthia writes stories of hope that glows in the dark. www.cynthiaruchti.com.

Wrapping up the Holiday

By Emily Parke Chase –

Shopping for Christmas gifts can be an exhausting task that involves dashing through the malls in a one-horse open sleigh, selecting gifts for that hard-to-please elf, and fighting the traffic on rooftops. Thus when it comes to wrapping gifts to put under the tree, some of us, and perhaps even Santa, run out of gas.

Wrapping packages probably dates back to prehistoric times when cavemen used wooly mammoth skins as gift wrap. As soon as less odorific alternatives were invented, people turned to papyrus, parchment, and finally paper. For many years, sheets of newspaper, especially the Sunday comics, worked fine. Of course, it took a few more years to invent cellophane tape. As a result, my friend’s gifts tend to resemble Egyptian mummies, using tape in place of gauze.

Next came bows. An enormous shiny bow on top of a package is like melted cheese on top of a church potluck casserole: It can hide a multitude of sins. In not-so-long ago times, believe it or not, people actually tied ribbons on their packages without help from professionals. Now we  pay others to fold, bend, and mutilate ribbons into complex shapes that rival my worst bad-hair day.

Boxes come in assorted sizes and shapes. They hide awkward bumps and lumps. Plain brown boxes worked fine until one day someone discovered they could shape them into unique sizes for specific items and thus let the whole world know that Dad was receiving a tie for Christmas. The next logical step was gift bags. These offered the perfect solution for last minute gifts. You could open the front door and receive a fruit cake from a neighbor, plop it in a bag as you walk through the house, and then open the back door and pass the cake along to the next deliveryman. Like boxes, these bags once came in various shades of brown, beige and ecru (a French word, meaning “brown”). Now they come decorated with holiday hues.

Still there is room for creativity. When my father asked for new cans of tennis balls for Christmas one year, my brothers and I wrapped each ball individually in Christmas wrap and tied them on a small Christmas tree. Dad tried very hard to thank us even as he grieved over the fact that the vacuum seals of the cans were destroyed in this process. (He experienced enormous relief when he discovered that the individually wrapped balls were actually used ones; with the new ones still safely stored in their air-tight cans under the tree.)

Is this painful ritual of wrapping Christmas gifts truly necessary? Is there any theological basis in scripture for this annual rite? Just one: Long before holiday wrapping paper, bows, boxes and gift bags became popular, God Himself took time to wrap up all His love in a bundle of  swaddling clothes. Then He placed His gift in a manger for us to find on Christmas morning.

Thank God for His Son, a gift too wonderful for words! (2 Cor. 9:15 NLT)

The author of this article is busy wrapping her gifts, but feel free to visit her at emilychase.com.

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