"I should tell you," he warned, "that my initials are J. C., and I was born on Christmas Day."

"Oh", she said, unimpressed. "Then you will not be looking forward to Easter, will you?"

For probably the only time in his life, James was speechless.

The waitress was right. There is no Christmas without Easter, no manger without the cross, and no holy Child without the resurrection.

For thousands of people, the only Jesus they know is a child in a manger, but like everyone else in the nativity scene, Bethlehem was just one stop on His return trip. Thousands more believe that He completed His return trip when He returned with Mary and Joseph to Nazareth. But they are wrong.

His return trip began and ended in glory.

John 1:1,14a – In the beginning the Word [Jesus] already existed. The Word was with God and was God. So the Word became human and made his home among us. (NLT)

"Became human!" What an astounding claim. That He would take on our form, then endure unbelievable pain for us is almost beyond belief. But not quite. Not when we reach out to Him and invite Him into our hearts. Then we know that He conquered death and returned to paradise, that He will be coming again, and that in the meantime, His Spirit lives within us and will never leave us nor forsake us.

All this, and more, is in the Christmas story.

Prayer: Dear Lord and heavenly Father, as we celebrate the birth of Your Son, our Redeemer, may we also remember the full story, even as we enjoy the holidays, the reunions, the gifts, the food. "O Holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray. Cast out our sin and enter in. Be born in us today." In the name of Jesus Christ our Saviour, we pray. Amen.

I still have the outline of a sermon my father preached some 80 or so years ago based on Ephesians 3:18. On reading this verse in the New International Version, it occurred to me that if my dad were still preaching, he would probably not have used the same sermon today. Why? Because he and the congregation would most likely be reading from a modern translation, whereas 80 years ago, he would undoubtedly have been reading from the King James Version. What is the difference?

Ephesians 3:17b-19a (NIV) – And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge.

Ephesians 3:17b-19a (KJV) – That ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.

Note that the third and fourth dimensions are switched.

No, it doesn't change anything, but as my dad pointed out, the version with which he was familiar fitted in perfectly with the best known of all Scripture verses, John 3:16.

For God so loved the world – That is the width of His love – it takes in the whole suffering, sinful, struggling world.

that he gave his only begotten Son – That is the length to which God went. Jesus gave His life. And God the Father watched that terrible deed, when He had but to say a word to save His Son from such an ordeal. They both suffered beyond our imagining. Why?

that whosoever believeth in him – Whosoever! You cannot sink so low as to be beyond the reach of the love of Christ. That is the depth of His love.

should not perish, but have eternal life – That is the height – the ultimate – eternal life with our Saviour.

The sermon expanded on each "dimension", then added a warning. In stressing the dimensions, we might overlook what is perhaps the most important word of all: whosoever believeth.

We need not wait to begin an eternal life with Him. The moment we repent and believe, His immeasurable love enfolds us with patience and understanding, and in all the uncertainties of life, "we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28 NIV)

Prayer: Dear Lord and heavenly Father, Your love for us was at a cost to You and Your Son that is beyond our imagining. Help us, Lord, to do our best to be worthy, to live every moment with the knowledge that we are Yours. May we, in the words of the hymn, "be closer drawn to Thee". In the name of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.

Job 38:41 – Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for the lack of food? (NIV)

Every day, we enjoy the beauties of nature from our deck overlooking the Westport Pond and beyond it, Foley "Mountain". We watch God's creatures and note especially how they care for family: On the pond a string of mergansers, with the mother (or is it the father?) leading a string of babies, with the mate bringing up the rear like a caboose, then breaking up the formation to start diving lessons. A mother robin feeding her voracious young in her nest above our door. Turtles digging into the embankment to prepare homes for the next generation. A pair of rabbits, the female digging a home out of the embankment, then lining it with grass while the male keeps watch — then proudly showing off six, seven, eight — we lose count — tiny bundles of fur — on Mother's Day! A mother groundhog carrying her babies in her mouth from one threatened home to a hopefully safer one. A doe keeping watch over two lively fawns in the adjacent field. The list goes on.

But one day, we witnessed something that we could scarcely believe. An evidently ailing robin was huddled on a place where an angled fence post joined a vertical one. And the robin was being fed… by a grackle!

Three times the black bird flew in and put something into the gaping mouth of the robin!

We are not students of the habits of birds, and perhaps those who are could tell us that this is not so unusual. To us, it was a reminder of how God has cared for us over the years, how He has done so sometimes in the most unexpected ways, through the most unexpected people.

Matthew 10:29 – Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from the will of your father. And even the very hairs of your head are numbered. So don't be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. (NIV)

Another thought: Does God occasionally give us a glimpse of what life was like in the Garden of Eden before man's disobedience, and will be again when Christ returns, when "The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together, and a little child shall lead them"? (Isaiah 11:6 NIV)

Prayer: Lord God and heavenly Father, we are amazed and humbled as we see the variety, the wisdom, and the examples of Your caring that You have built into your creation, letting us know that we are "worth more than many sparrows" to You. We look forward to Christ's return, when Your world will be restored to the Eden it was meant to be. In His holy name, we pray. Amen.

But of course, it isn't finished at all.

It still has to go under the editor's "blue pencil", waiting to correct my typos, to slash away mercilessly at what I considered my best writing, perhaps to eliminate some of it altogether. In fact, I cannot say it is finished until I receive the final, published book with my name on the cover.

John 19:30 – When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (NIV)

"It is finished." Christ cried out these greatest words of triumph and completion ever spoken. He had completed the work of God He had come to do. The redemption of a lost world had been fully accomplished. Moments before, when "the Lord [had] laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isaiah 53:6b NIV), He had cried out in anguish, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me" (Matthew 27:46b NIV) Now that He was dying, knowing that it was finished, "Jesus called out with a loud voice, 'Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.' When he had said this, he breathed his last." (Luke 23:46 NIV) Because of His sacrificial death, our sins are obliterated. Because He could say, "It is finished", our relationship with the Father is healed and restored.

"It is finished." Redemption is fully and everlastingly completed. It is like a book, fresh from the publisher, with your name and my name on the cover.

Prayer: Dear Lord, thank You that "It is finished". Father, we can never know the anguish our Redeemer suffered for us, but we can know that because He finished the work He came to earth to accomplish, we, too, can commend our spirits into Your loving hands, freed forever from the bonds of sin. In His holy name, we pray. Amen.

I was stationed at the Canadian Navy base in Scotland, waiting to join a new aircraft carrier destined for the Pacific, when the war came to an end with VJ day. I was scheduled for return to Canada and demob (demobilization), but having recently met a special girl in Glasgow, I volunteered to stay while the base went through the lengthy process of closing down.

As a mere Able Seaman (one automatic step up, with the requisite sea time, from Ordinary Seaman), I was given the job of swabbing the deck (the floor) and cleaning the heads (the toilets) on the quarterdeck. This being the nerve centre of the establishment, it was often crawling with high-ranking officers.

One day, I was summoned before the Commanding Officer. Not knowing what to expect, but fearing the worst, I snapped to attention before his desk and waited. When he finally looked up from his paperwork, his first question startled me.

"You were brought up on a farm, weren't you?" he asked.

"No, sir," I admitted. Actually I was brought up in a manse.

"Oh." That seemed to confuse him momentarily. "It has been my experience," he said at last, "that only farm boys do the 'joe jobs' as conscientiously and as cheerfully as you have been doing. I have another job for you, if you would like to take it."

And that job? Taking the mail between Glasgow and London on the train, with my own compartment, just me and the mail bags, travelling overnight, being relieved of the mail at Euston station, having all day off in London, returning with mail overnight to Glasgow, being relieved of the mail at St. Enoch's station, having all day off in Glasgow, doing this every night but Saturday, being paid extra (for a total of $3.20 per day), having relatives at both ends, seeing battered London this time without fear of the doodle bugs (flying bombs), and most importantly, having time with the special girl in Glasgow. (We recently celebrated our sixtieth anniversary.) I accepted a job with more responsibility but with far greater rewards.

Someday, we will be surprised when our Great Commanding Officer reviews how we have performed the "joe jobs", the little things, the necessary but perhaps unpleasant things, that are a part of life. What will be His verdict? Have we done them with grumbling and with as little effort as possible, or with a song in our hearts, doing all to the glory of God? The rewards are beyond our imagining.

Colossians 3:23 – Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men. (NIV)

Prayer: Dear Lord and Father, help us to make You such an important part of each day that even the little, unpleasant chores are accepted not as nuisances but as opportunities to know Your presence with us and to praise You in everything we do. In Jesus' name, we pray, Amen.

Though I was a very young, inexperienced sailor with the Royal Canadian Navy in World War II, I took my turn at steering the ship on which I served — an escort vessel. The duty of such a ship was not simply to go from A to B, or even to hunt out the enemy U-boats. It was "to ensure the safe and timely arrival of the convoy". This often meant acting like a sheep dog, rounding up ships scattered by storms or enemy action, keeping the precious convoy intact. I controlled not only the direction, but also the speed of the ship. The steering wheel and the engine room telegraph were both in my hands. But I couldn't see where we were going! There was a solid bulkhead right across in front of me. Time of day and weather permitting, I could — through a porthole — see where we were, and even where we had been — but I could not see ahead.

The answer, of course, was that only inches from my mouth was a speaking tube, and on the other end of that tube was the Officer of the Watch. He was up on the bridge, out in the open, without even a roof over his head. He could see all around, in every direction; there were lookouts at every corner of the ship in constant touch with him; he had radar to see beyond the horizon and asdic to "see" into the depths of the ocean beneath. He had signalmen keeping him in touch with the convoy, and the wireless to keep him in touch with the Admiralty. And he had years of experience. But there were two things he did not have. He had no control over the direction or speed of the ship. For these, he depended on an inexperienced nineteen-year-old. In spite of the difference in experience, I and the Officer of the Watch were mutually dependent. I depended on him to give the right orders; he depended on me to carry them out.

In life, we know what is going on around us and what has happened before, but we cannot see ahead. We have control of the direction and speed of our lives, but we do not know what is going to happen even within the next few seconds. And our purpose is not just to get to heaven, but also to love and to care for our fellow men and women. God sees into the future; He has experienced this life. God has given us control of our lives; through His Word, He has given us direction; He has provided the speaking tube of prayer; but He depends on us to carry out His will. We can depend on Him to give us the right directions. Can He depend on us to carry them out?

Prayer: Gracious God, You see and know all things. You call us to carry out Your directions to preserve life, to fulfil Your will, and to aid in establishing Christ's kingdom on earth. You call us to rely on Your insight and understanding of the situations in which we find ourselves, and to act, even in our darkness, fog, and confusion, based on Your instructions. Help us to be faithful. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.