Blessings of living in the Valley

The morning brought some relief from the back pain. I was able to move around the house and even went to the HEB for some flowers to give Evelyn for Christmas. I got some other things too. I came home and worked on a sermon for January 8 and continued to rest. In the late afternoon we went to the vespers service at the park hall. The choir does this every year. I thought I would participate this year but did not take time to learn when the rehearsals were. After the cantata, there is a finger food lunch put on by the ladies in the park. We had hoped to take someone to church with us this evening and then entertain them after. We could find no one who was able to go with us. We went anyway and sang three songs with the Immanuel choir. We came home and began watching a video of the Nutcracker. Neither of us had ever seen it but could not make it through. We will try to finish it tomorrow or at least sometime soon. We plan to have Christmas dinner with our friends Bonny and Joe. It rarely seems like Christmas due to the warm, 70 degree weather. Christmas is a state of mind and heart anyway, not a place in the weather. As I was watching the 10:00 news, I was really moved to think what a wonderful place this is to live. There are many commercials on both radio and television that exalt Christ and remind the audience of the “reason for the season”. The people here in the Valley are not afraid to verbally commit themselves as Christians regardless of the tenor of the rest of the country in its obsession of trying to eradicate Christ from any part of the celebrations. It is, however, the gift of a Savior that makes us realize how much God loves us and wants us to have a truly wonderful life knowing that we are forgiven out sin because He was willing to come to earth and be the perfect sacrifice. What an unbelievable gift that is.