The Joy

My beautiful granddaughter Reese and her mom, Lindsay - leaving a note and some candy for Santa and his reindeer - the beauty of childlike wonder and joy! (Reese has wonderful parents in Linds and Niles!)


This is the true beauty of Christmas!

Family, faith, joy and Santa Claus...

Saint Nick of Myra - (check it - Bishop in Turkey, well known as surprise giver of gifts, all year...300AD...the true Saint Nick - I think God has no problem with Santa- giver of gifts.)

What a joy - the Bible says, the greatest joy is to see your children following Christ...and this is that.

Have a wonderful and special Christmas! Let it be about new beginnings...2009 is going to be amazing!

grace/peace
paul

Christmas - about family, church, friends.

Amazing Christmas celebration at Hope Church on Sunday.


Tuesday - wonderful family time at the mall...


God has blessed you and I so abundantly.
To Him be all our gratitude and praise.


be blessed!

paul

thinkin...

Sitting at Barnes/Noble - reading, thinking - 'pondering' is a great word, friend Tom Dooley said, if people ask him question and want a weighty response of some sort, for which he may not be fully prepared, he can say he was 'pondering' - doesnt sound like un-spiritual 'thinking', and he may not have actually 'prayed' over it...but, he was 'pondering' - now, that's wisdom and I pass it on.

check out twitter.com - daily, sometimes hourly updates on your best friends... including me - join for free... put in my name and follow on... can show up on your phone... I follow some great guys (including Shaq) and get updates from family I might not have otherwise seen or known... very cool, very new.

photo of me and my fabulous wife Judi - at dinner with friends...

be blessed.
stop and ponder a bit... think, pray, read, rest in His grace.

crankin' it strong
paul

Juarez, Mexico

Wow...what a rush last week was... and then, a powerful Sunday...

The kids at this center in Juarez have all been sheltered because of drugs, poverty or abuse...
Got back from Peru and Ecuador - from Manila to South America and home, did over 35,000 miles in 10 days...!
Home on Tuesday night - then did a wonderful little private wedding on Wednesday - then on Thursday (Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.)

We drove to Juarez, Mexico with over $15,000 of shoes for the little kids of the wartorn border town -
Drug cartels are fighting over billions of dollars of the drug trade, over 1300 people have been killed in Juarez this year... a top official with Homeland Security told us to not set foot in Juarez...
So, we slipped over the border, across the main bridge, and met church pastors and elders...did a transfer of shoes into pickup trucks, prayed over them... and that afternoon they did the first of the parties handing out shoes to the kids!
It was 10 hrs. down, a little sleep, then meeting with the churches, then 10 hours driving back...

Then - Sunday was a great word - listen to it at www.hopechurch.tv - it's titled "The Christmas Gap" and it's not about a place to shop... already hearing of great results...God is so good to us!

"The measure of a man is based upon the dimensions of what he is willing to give his life for"

go for it.
lovya!
paul