As I was reading in II Chronicles something caught my attention.  It is a description of the decision the people of Israel had made in serving God.  II Chronicles 31:18, “for in their faithfulness they sanctified themselves in holiness.”

Many people are faithful to church, tithing and many other religious practices, but does your faithfulness include holiness?  The Bible records here that in their faithfulness, they set themselves apart to be holy.  It is easier to do many of the religious practices, but it requires immense discipline to live a holy life.  To give up the entanglements of this world and be separate.  Evaluate your faithfulness and see if it leads to holiness.

For the first time in a long time we didn’t go anywhere for Christmas.  We had a lot of invites to spend Christmas with the church family but we stayed home.  You might say it was a lazy Christmas.  Hannah took a late nap, so it prevented us from going anywhere in the late afternoon.  Therefore we just hung out around the house and enjoyed each other’s company.  We watched some old movies, ate, talked, napped (or at least Hannah and me did) and later went to look at Christmas lights.

I believe looking at Christmas lights with Hannah was the highlight of the evening.  She was our commentator as we drove around. 

Some of her favorite phrases (remember she is only 2 yrs old):

“Holy Moly”
“Holy Cow”
“That’s pretty cool”
“Lookie here, guys”
‘”C’mon let’s look at more lights”
“Oh, pretty”

Those were only some of the phrases but overall it was an enjoyable, lazy Christmas.  Hope all of you had a wonderful day also.

Today we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  The day when God became flesh and dwelt among us.  He became a man that He might identify with the plight of humanity and that He might be able to conquer all things.

Hebrews 4 :14-16, “14 Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

Whatever you need this Christmas, Jesus has already provided it.  As the song says, “He came from Heaven to earth to show the way, from the earth to the cross my debt to pay, from the cross to the grave, the grave to the sky, Lord I lift your name on high.”

Christmas Eve Candlelight service was really good.  There is something about a service with the lights dim, candles lit with soft music and Scripture reading.  It really gives a great atmosphere.  We had an excellent crowd with alot of guests.

After service, we came home and let the kids open the rest of their presents.  It does my heart good to see my kids happy and receive gifts that they love.  I know Christmas is not about the presents but as parents we love to see our kids happy.

I have always wondered what turkeys must experience around the holidays.  Finally someone depicted the revenge of the turkey.

It is Christmas Eve here in Northwest Arkansas and I am excited for the evening.  The Cheney tradition is to go to candlelight service, then home for snacks and opening the presents.  Christmas eve service is my favorite for the year.  There is something special about a candlelight communion service in honor of Christ’s birth.  I have always been amazed at the crowds that come for this special service.  If you are not attending, please make sure you try to come.  It will be a very meaningful time.  Merry Christmas to all!

Today we picked up Josh’s new dog, Sam.  He is a Shetland Sheepdog (Sheltie).  He is cute but still trying to get used to our family.  We had to drive to Nevada to get Sam.  Nevada, Missouri that is:)  Josh was really excited to finally get a dog.  Hannah likes him too, although she tells us his name is Dog, not Sam.  It is a nice addition to the Cheney household.  I am anxious to see how well Josh’s 2 year intense dog study pays off.  Especially when it comes to potty training (the dog not Hannah:).

Josh and Sam

Hannah and Sam

Al Gore was right.  We are in danger of global warming.  It was 7 degrees this morning when I woke up and it has warmed up to 18 degrees.  I honestly am glad for this warming trend.  It might have been 15 degrees right now instead of 18. :)