Pre-Chrismas Ramblings

I have a few unfinished threads that I need to complete, but I don’t feel like it. Next week should be fairly quiet, so I hope to do some serious blogging. For tonight, I think I’ll just free-float some thoughts:

• How ‘bout them Oilers? That was a wild and woolly game with Vancouver last night (December 21, 7 to 6 for us). I haven’t followed hockey closely for years, but my son became a fan this fall, so we listen to as many games as possible (no TV, but we enjoy hearing them).


• The media is on again this year about the debate regarding political correctness, i.e. ‘Merry Christmas,’ or ‘Happy Holidays. I think the whole media debate is a reflection of slow news this time of year. If I wish someone Merry Christmas and they are offended, they need to lighten up. I would be happy to have a civil discussion with them and let them agree to disagree with me. Conversely, if I am wished, ‘Happy Holidays,’ I just smile and say, ‘Thanks, and Merry Christmas to you too.’       We Christians ought to quietly live as Christians before our pagan society so that they ask the reason for the hope that we have. By all means, we should be thankful for the opportunities we may be given to talk about Christ at Christmas, and we need to capitalize upon them. However, we’re not doing the cause of Christ any favors by making cultural mountains out of molehills. Christians are too quick to cry out as victims in our pagan society. We are not going to win back any ground by bleating about how misunderstood and abused we are in relation to our world at large. Time spent in bemoaning our losses in the ‘culture war’ would be better spent positively working for the Kingdom in God-ordained ways. End of rant – for now.


• We heard a story on the radio yesterday which claimed that Albertans spend an average of $1200-1300 per person on Christmas. Yikes! I guess we’re really out of the loop. Our poor children! We only spend about a 100xs more than my parents did (and we did very nicely, thank you very much, mom!).


• I am going to enter the cessation / continuation debate regarding spiritual gifts soon. I’m going to begin with a personal story about how God has spoken to me. People who know me well have heard me say that the three most dangerous words in the church are, ‘God told me.’ I’ll leave the tension unresolved for now.


• We’re going to Edmonton for Christmas. My mom was going to come here, but since she broke her hip, we’re going there after church on Sunday (no, we’re not mega, no, we didn’t cancel).


• We’re planning to see The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe on Boxing Day with another family (13 of us total – we bought our tickets ahead of time). I’ll post my thoughts when I get a chance.


• We finally bought a photo editing program. Once I learn it, I could be dangerous. You’ve been warned.

Time to head for bed. It’s almost 10 pm.