His Name

Don’t look for your dreams to come true; look to become true to your dreams. 

                                                     ~ Michael Beckwith (Hi, Kelli)

Jesus said, “I am the Road, also the Truth, also the Life. No one gets to the Father apart from me. If you really knew me, you would know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him. You’ve even seen him!”

 

                                                      ~ John 14:6

 

     My dad always said, “Your name is the most precious thing you have.  People know you by it, they will measure you by it.  It is how your reputation is built.”

     Over and over, going into the town where he was born, the one thing I always heard about my father was that his name meant honesty, integrity, truth.  His dream was always to have is family around the piano at Christmas, together singing the songs of the season.  He lived his life in a way that made folks want to be around him, want to believe him, want to do things for him.  He was a good neighbor, a good friend, a good son (even though that part hurt most within the family.)  

     He saw himself as George Bailey, but not always in the best way.  God was a quest, a study, a way he chose, converting to marry my mother and living and studying as he got older. He went out of his way to do good, see both sides of an argument, arguing both sides to see how it felt.  If he had been a politician, he would have been a statesman, loved on both sides of the aisle.

    My father was human.

    How much more can we trust God? His dream came true a couple of times in his life time.  We celebrated it with him.

     My dream is for my family to be fulfilled, following the Lord, for their names to also be associated with goodness, truth, honesty integrity.  Following Jesus makes for some lonely times, but oh the richness in that fellowship!

     Today, let the Lord show you how your dreams have been fulfilled, as you have stayed true to him.  His name is trustworthy, wonderful counselor, Prince of Peace…you get the picture.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPpd-6X3tEo

I Will Follow Him – Sister Act (You knew it, right?)

     Because of Him,

      Linda

May the lights of Hanukkah usher in a better world for all humankind.  ~Author Unknown

 

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

John 14:6

If you have never read Hershel and the Channukah Goblins by Eric Kimmel, you have missed a great story. It is the tale of a traveler who comes upon a town called Ostropol,  the eve before Hanukkah begins, only to find the people with no candles lit, and no hope of lighting them as the local goblins have been blowing them out for years.  Hershel asks what he must do to get the lights to return and his instructions are simple, he must spend eight nights in the old synagogue. Each night he must kindle and bless the Channukah lights. On the eighth night, the King of the Goblins, himself, must kindle the lights. It is the only way to break their power. He takes on the challenge, and tricks each of the goblins into lighting the candles.  The night before the last night of Channukah, the head of the Goblins himself announces his coming in order to frighten Hershel, but to no avail.  When all is said and done, the temple is destroyed, but the light stands…the menorah blazing against the night sky.

 

This year as I read the story to my classes, the image of Hershel standing on the hillside where the temple once stood, in front of the lit candles, moved me in a different way.  We are the candles.  Jesus lights us each against anything that would come to destroy us, and we enter in to His Father through Jesus, the door.

My fear of being alone in a group of people I know has really wreaked havoc with me this season.  My daughter has helped me to remember where the door is.

As we approach the creche this year, let us bring our selves as lights, under the star that comes out of Jacob.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHZ5O1rZ6T4

There Shall a Star Come Out of Jacob

Lord, take my fears and turn them into lights that others might see you shining brightly.

 

Because of Him,

Linda