Still Time for Christmas - dinner and... a play

Well, this week has been busy, but relaxed compared to usual. I've actually taken time to just be at home, relax a bit, clean, cook, do groceries, and all of life's nitty-gritty things... Pretty cool. It all sounds a bit mundane, but really, when you go a few weeks without having time to do those things, it becomes a real joy to do them...

Then, tonight, I took my friend Melissa, from work, out to see the 'Still time for Christmas' play that Trinity Church put on. But not until we'd filled ourselves up with yummy homemade nachos topped with the works. We were supposed to make chocolate fondue afterward... but after we left the nachos with still 3/4 untouched, we voted out of that idea.

The play was very good: the story line sometimes a little hard to follow, but the actors very well practiced, even the kids did an excellent job, and the singing - wow - beautiful harmony layering and lovely solos. The sound was also of excellent quality. Melissa really enjoyed it. The only thing we both questioned was the comic-relief insert of a star wars introed scene where 3 "monks", who were Batman, Robin and Superman in disguise, fought the bad guys, and then went on to dancing disco and break dancing... ???????? huh?

But altogether, it was a fun evening. Here is Melissa (the little Philippino girl) and I posed with Supasta' Jordan and his lovely wife Jen after their outstanding performance in the play. Like my new haircut?



Christmas time is coming soom. For many people. it's just some nice time with the family, or an opportunity to give gifts, or a time to try to survive the holiday stress. Yet, I must say that Christmas is a time where most people feel more generous, more loving... The reason for that, in my opinion, is the fact that it celebrates the greatest generosity ever: a gift from God. See, man is seperated from God by nature because of sin. Nothing that has sin can survive in God's presence. But because He loved us, and wanted to give us a chance to come closer to Him, He sent us a gift. And that's Jesus - a man who was perfect enough to not have to die for his own sins (he had none, because his nature was 100% God as well as 100% man - don't try to figure that one out mathematically...). The plan was that Jesus would take on all the sins of mankind. Like a judge who both pronounces judgment and takes on the penalty. So what do we need to do? Accept His forgiveness, repent (that's doing a 180 degree turn, from walking far away from God to walking toward Him) and then He gives us His nature, like a new nature... that's His gift. The gift of a new nature, where we live under God's grace rather than His judgement, because when God looks at us, He sees Jesus' sacrifice, and our penalty paid - and that new nature. Not that we become perfect, but we become a new person, able to live with the purpose of serving God. It's free, but it costs us everything - yet it also cost God everything. And the truth is, anything worth living for has a high price...