Don't be a scrooge!!

I love Christmas so much. It is such a wonderful celebration. The birth of our wonderful Lord and Savior. The birth of our hope. The birth of our eternal future. I love the spirit of Christmas. Most people have it. Give or take the few scrooges. I love gift giving (and receiving :). I love family traditions. Charles and I started a tradition last year. We buy each other a pair of pajamas and exchange them on Christmas Eve. Then we wear them that night. I love seeing all my family together. I love all the parties and I LOVE all the good food :) Even though we are still preparing to go to Africa and haven't actually made it there yet, I am already gaining a greater appreciation for my family, knowing that we won't be here next year to share the holidays with them. We do really look forward to spending them with the children in Africa though. What an amazing gift for ourselves to spend the holidays giving the kids some of the happiest moments of their lives. Well I know that wherever we are, we will always celebrate the true meaning of Christmas. And we will always be with everyone we love in spirit. Be happy this season and remember what it is really all about.

24-7 365

This word has been on my heart for a very long time. Most people think of vacation as getting awat from their problems and everydaylife, but I think of vacation as a place where people are running from their problems of everyday life. God really laid it on my heart that we dont ever need to take a vacation because on vacation people are dying and hurting also.
I remember when I went on my honeymoon me and my wife were walking down the strip coming back to the hotel from eating at Outback steakhouse. I remember thinking to myself man this is great. I'm on my honeymoon with my wife, at the beach and away from everything, when all the sudden we walk up on a homless family. Their was a women and her child digging in the garbage can trying to find something to eat. I was thinking to myself man I just got finished stuffing myself and could barely make it back to the resort I was staying at, when this family was digging through the garbage and probably was staying on the streets. So my wife and I went over to them started talking to them and gave them the rest of the food and some money.
I dont know why Ive been thinking about this for so long but Im glad that God has laid it on my heart. We need to live our lives with the 24-7 365 mentality because everywhere we go their will be someone who is hurting. So all our lives we need to walk like christ did and that was serving the people 24-7 365.