Peace on Earth, and Good Will Toward Men

I spend the whole month of December prior to the 25th thinking about a little baby in a manger, his too-young mom overwhelmed at the thought of raising God, his not-so dad wondering if he'll ever be able to teach him anything, the wise men making a trek across hundreds of miles in the hopes of finding something greater than themselves and the shepherds who will never forget that night, but who will also never fully know its significance.

But then it comes to the actual day, and I think about a crown of thorns. I think about that baby all grown up and being beaten and nailed to a cross because He loves us so much, despite everything we have done, are doing and will continue to do against Him. He left all the majesty and glory of Heaven to take on flesh - disgusting, bloody, disease-prone humanity.

He died that we might live.

I urge you this Christmas to think beyond the manger. The story doesn't stop at Luke 2.

(Incidentally, neither do most of the great Christmas hymns. They are always looking ahead.)

1. It came upon the midnight clear,
that glorious song of old,
from angels bending near the earth
to touch their harps of gold:
"Peace on the earth, good will to men,
from heaven's all-gracious King."
The world in solemn stillness lay,
to hear the angels sing.

2. Still through the cloven skies they come
with peaceful wings unfurled,
and still their heavenly music floats
o'er all the weary world;
above its sad and lowly plains,
they bend on hovering wing,
and ever o'er its Babel sounds
the blessed angels sing.

3. And ye, beneath life's crushing load,
whose forms are bending low,
who toil along the climbing way
with painful steps and slow,
look now! for glad and golden hours
come swiftly on the wing.
O rest beside the weary road,
and hear the angels sing!

4. For lo! the days are hastening on,
by prophet seen of old,
when with the ever-circling years
shall come the time foretold
when peace shall over all the earth
its ancient splendors fling,
and the whole world send back the song
which now the angels sing.

Merry Christmas.

Then there were three...

We are few today.


I felt compelled to document that fact.

Lori threatened to take my camera away.

So I took a picture of myself.



Yeah. Vacation is just around the corner.

This seems like a good time to announce my (insanely ambitious and possibly quite stupid) goal for this next year. Well, one of them. Are you ready?

I want to take at least one awesome photo every day in 2012.

It's daunting, I know. I am daunted by the prospect of this. I don't know if I'll succeed. I don't know if I'll even remember come January 1. But I'm going to try. And if I only have 30-40 awesome photos by next December, that's okay. That's 30-40 more than I had before.

Getting into the Christmas spirit...

I was going to post this yesterday, but I was absolutely wrecked. Truthfully, most people in the office were, which is kinda sad when you know that the reason for this widespread fatigue is the office Christmas party that lasted until (gasp!) 8:30. I know. We'll have to figure out something different for next year. Maybe start at 4.

Anyway, I mention the party because I had a starring role in it as the Innkeeper!


Wait, what?! No, no, no. Silly me. Wrong photo.




Ain't we pretty? (In case you're wondering, it's a very modern interpretation of the Innkeeper.)

And you're probably wondering about that whole Santa Clause thing up there. To be honest, I'm still not sure how it happened. All I know is that it either solidifies my candidacy for President, or it knocks me completely out of the running. I'll just have to run at a time when Santa is in vogue. But then there's the whole Christian thing. That could be problematic. Oh well.

I was having a rough day all around yesterday. I had to apologize a couple different times for the thoughts running around in my head. It got so bad, I nearly apologized to the entire nation of France. Fortunately, I recovered before it got that far. (See, still having this problem...)

I think everyone in the office is going a little stir-crazy. We know the end is near. We can see it. We can just detect that first whiff of fresh air and freedom. As soon as I start tasting it, I'm headed for the door, regardless of what is left on my desk.

I shouldn't make it sound so bad. Things have slowed down quite a bit for me. Instead of 9,000 letters like last week, I'm down to 4,750. I'm also done sending out Christmas cards. I think. Every time I think I'm done, I think of new people to send them to. It would be funny if the people I had forgotten to send them to weren't my family.

I get stuck in a bit of a destructive pattern at this time of year. What am I destroying, you ask? My bank account. I like buying gifts for people. I like buying gifts for myself. There are a ton of sales right now. All of these things combine to be very bad for my fiscal future. Not to mention, Christmas is coming up, and the fear of duplicates should keep me from parting with hard-earned greenbacks.

I can't stop talking like this. It's like my stream-of-consciousness Christmas letter all over again. Nothing of substance passes from my fingertips. I may actually start telling deep, dark secrets if I don't end this no-

December 3

Last night, in my dreams, I packed a complete bag for Africa. I was at the airport, about to board the plane when I woke up.

I wish I knew when a cigar was just a cigar.

In other news...



Favorite Christmas song.

The End (of November) Is Nigh!

I totally intended to post today so I could have bookended posts in November. Really.

Oops.

You can rest assured that (this time) I have not been not posting because of a lack of things about which to write. It has, alas, been an incredibly busy month, fraught with deadlines and projects and prayer cards and printing and then, to top it all off, Thanksgiving.

I trust yours was excellent.

Mine also excelled. It is (mostly) always a pleasure to take some time out to visit my parents and not have to worry about work for a bit. Plus, my mom makes awesome food, and always has enough for an army. This is good, because it means I get to bring the leftovers back to my apartment.

So, November.

I spoke at a WMF meeting in Ohio and had a lovely time with the ladies. I first spoke there when I was just starting to fund, and they have been faithful supporters since, so it was nice to be able to update them on life at OMS. I haven't been speaking much lately, which makes me sad because I actually really like to talk about what God is doing around the world. (Hint Hint) I am in Communications for a reason.

Please ignore the fact that I hated Speech class in high school. I liked it much more in college. I'm practically a pro, now.

Or not.

But I really would be happy to talk to you one on one about my missionary life. I don't post even half of it all on here or write about everything in my letters. And trust me, a lot of weird stuff goes on around here.

Moving on.

Remember that whole waiting thing I posted at the beginning of the month? Turns out that's really hard to do. I'm not that patient, and I like having everything set and secure and ready. I guess it's a good lesson in patience and faith.

What else happened in November?

Oh! We had our second Crockpot and Craft night for the ladies at OMS. Actually, they would probably allow guys, but I don't know many guys who craft. Of course, I don't really do crafts either. I made jewelry the first night. This time, I colored. With crayons and everything. It was very relaxing.

Almost forgot - I went to a seminar on setting goals. It was actually very informative, but a little over my head. As in, most of the people attending were the jefes around here, and my goals usually end up being whatever they need to be to support their goals. It's very interesting, though, to see how things trickle down from an organizational level to the very lowest level of bottom feeders. (My words.) I've always had very different perspectives on organizations in general.

I don't know why I'm telling you this. Oh well.

The next big thing was Thanksgiving. I've already kinda talked about that. I did get to see my nephew, which was lovely. I haven't seen him in quite awhile. We were supposed to go to PA for his birthday in September, but then the Bloomsburg Fair flooded and was cancelled. I just can't believe how tall he is now! Crazy.

And that's it. The rest of the month was spent printing and preparing to print and putting together prayer cards and editing and cleaning and recording radio ads and writing bios for the Christmas party and probably a couple other things I'm forgetting.

I'm looking forward to my long Christmas break. I'm tired. I need the sleep.

November 1

Okay. So you need some backstory.

I've been printing non-stop for a couple days now. Like, two printers going, plus the cutting machine, plus the folding machine. I'm going deaf from all the clacking and clattering. I don't even technically have time to be writing this. But that's not important.

What is important is that for one of the print jobs, I have to be physically present to keep feeding paper into the machine. This means standing (or sitting) in a small room with a bunch of machines and no other source of entertainment. This has caused me to go slightly nuts.

Except... Directly adjacent to the printing room is the book room where we store the books we are selling. As I didn't bring any other entertainment with me, I have taken to reading from these books while I wait to feed more paper.

Which brings us to today.

Today's selection came from Streams in the Desert, which, if you didn't know (but you really should), was written by Lettie Cowman, co-founder of The Oriental Missionary Society, now known as One Mission Society. Yeah, that's right.

Anyway.

It's a 366-day devotional (I don't get it, either), so rather than start at the beginning, I decided to read the entry for November 1. This turned out to be an excellent selection.

An hour of waiting!
Yet there seems such need
To reach that spot sublime!
I long to reach them--but I long far more
To trust His time!

"Sit still, My children"--
Yet the heathen die,
They perish while I stay!
I long to reach them--but I long far more
To trust His way!

It's good to get,
It's good indeed to give!
Yet it is better still--
O'er breadth, through length, down depth, up height,
To trust His will.

F.M.N.




Yeah, 'cause this isn't what I've been thinking and praying about for months now.

Sunday

I try to keep my Sundays as low-key as possible. It's a day of rest, and I keep to that as much as possible.

I've been attending Greenwood Christian Church for about two months, now. I changed churches a while back because I wasn't really connecting. I'm hoping that things are different here, but I've been gone so many weekends that it's hard to keep track of things. My experience has been ... rocky, thus far. But I have high hopes for the future.

So yeah. I try to hit the earliest service because, as much as I like my sleep, I like having a full day to just chill. It also gives me a chance to catch up on my online shows. I try not to get caught up in too many, but as it turns out, all the ones I watch have been going on for a freakishly long time. I can't just stop now.



And that's my week. It varies occasionally, but I keep a pretty tight routine. I don't know if that makes me boring or pathetic. I don't really care, either. It's life.

I do hope you're all considering the interaction I proposed. I really would like to hear from you.