The Christmas Letter

Never enough time and too much distance…

When I think of all the dear friends we have made over the years and the miles between us I am filled with a desire to transcend time and space. The ability to move from home to home – to spend time, as much time as desired, visit, laugh, cry, give and receive those wonderful hugs is the desire of my heart.

That’s why I take time to write my Christmas letter. I try to make it a conversation between myself and my willing reader. I hear the question “So, what have you been up to this year?” and I picture fifty or sixty of my closest friends having coffee, enjoying a fresh baked cinnamon roll and listening to Christmas music as we catch up.

Relationship! Relationships filled with love.

I guess I’m like my Father in that regard. From the beginning all He ever wanted to do was to walk and talk with us. He wanted to share our lives, filling them with good things and giving us His ability to overcome and make it through adversity in victory.

And then one starry night Jesus transcended time and space. He came, born to a virgin in a small town called Bethlehem. He clothed Himself in flesh and came to live among us. He limited Himself by his humanity.

But then at His resurrection He was released from limitation. Before He was Emmanuel, God WITH us and now He is Christ IN us the hope of glory. He dwells in each and everyone of us who open our hearts to Him.

RELATIONSHIP RESTORED!

Over half of the books in the New Testament are letters. Letters inspired by God and written to encourage, instruct, correct and strengthened us in our relationship with the Lord.

“May God give you every good thing you need so you can do what He wants. May He do in us what pleases Him through Jesus Christ. May Christ have all the shining-greatness forever! Let it be so. ²² Christian brothers, I beg of you to listen to these words that will help you. This has been a short letter. ” Hebrews 13:21-22 NLV

How I look forward to heaven, to seeing my Father face to face. Being in eternity with no limits of time, no limits of distance. There we will continually sing His praises… O, come let us adore Him. O, come let us adore Him. O, come let us adore Him. Christ the Lord.

And there we will have unlimited time to visit with you dear friends. To hug your necks, to see your faces, to thank you for your prayers and to tell you how dear you are – to share glory with you. Until then, please accept this feeble attempt of passing through the miles as our way of saying we love you, we wish we could be with you and we thank you for being a part of our lives and making them better.

“Every time I think of you, I thank my God.” Philippians 1:3 CEV

Merry Christmas from our house to yours, Kristi and Dave