Use the links to download the PDF version of the resources. Using a windows computer, right-click on the link and choose "Save Target As..", then select where you would like to save the file. You will need Adobe Acrobat Reader in order to view these files. If you do not have this program use the link below. It is a free download.
December 2008 Newsletter
CHRISTMAS TIME 2008
I want to pause together with my family to send greetings to all of you at this special time of year. I hope that you are all enjoying the blessings that this special time brings as we share the blessings of family and fellowship in the joy of our celebration.
This morning the temperatures were in the teens and dawn brightened early as there was total snow cover outside; all of the right ingredients to setting the mood for the Christmas season. After spending so many Christmas seasons in Colombia and in the tropical heat, it is a special treat to have cold weather and snow for the Christmas season. I am thankful for that as it is a blessing for those of us who have spent much time in the tropics. I am also thankful at this time of year for the gifts you give all year for the work in Colombia. Yes, it is truly a time of thanksgiving and rejoicing.
But there are other things that set the mood for Christmas as well. This week I just listened to a reading of the inspiring prophesies of Isaiah about the Prince of Peace and the Suffering Servant who would come to take away the sins of God’s people. Certainly the real motivation for getting ready for Christmas is the special awareness of God’s gift of grace and salvation that it brings to all believers.
It is a time of year when I pause to recall all of the times I fell short of the goals I set for myself; things I could have done better. I realize how often I fail in my efforts to be like Christ in thoughts, in words, and in deeds. I am thankful that we are saved by grace and that I can claim redemption, not because I have met some specific goal in law-keeping, but in simply claiming God’s great love for me.
In fact, that is the very reason we preach and teach in Colombia. If Jesus paid the price of our redemption and gave us salvation, even while we were yet in sin, should we not then give so much more in our efforts to preach Christ in Colombia and around the world? It is the least we can do as we express our thanks to God for such a rich gift of salvation through the gift of His Son.
This Christmas, I can be thankful for the cold and the snow while perhaps others think a tropical beach might be better. But we can all be thankful for the advent; the coming of Jesus into this world as the ultimate gift of love and salvation. So join all of us here at the Meade household in singing praises to God and in rejoicing in the birth of Jesus as the means of our hope and salvation.
May God richly bless each and every one of you at this special time of year as just as we have all been blessed by Jesus’ birth.
With the peace and joy of Christmas
from our family to you and yours,
Dale R Meade
To see the family Christmas photos download the PDF version of this newsletter.
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Christmas 2008 Newsletter PDF.pdf | 891.86 KB |