A Christmas story I wrote several years ago, but added this video by Laura Daigle

It was the night before Christmas Eve when the outdoor thermostat kept rising and the few snowflakes we got were drastically disappearing as fast as one's 401 K account. We turned on the TV in hopes of finding one Meteorologist with some glimmer of hope that snow was on its way. With each channel, we continued to get bad news and more of the same. On one channel Paul kept reporting and showing pictures of Salvation Army kettle collectors dressed in short sleeve shirts and shorts and drinking a cold drink while ringing the bell. On another station, Dave offered us balmy weather and even suggested it might be a good plan to turn on the gas grill and barb-cue that turkey this year and better yet have Christmas Eve dinner around your patio table outdoors.


We got more bad news when Cam the news guy from CCO reported that ice fisherman was losing their newly planted ice houses when the ice began shifting and new cracks sank their sheds. One guy even lost his brand new Chevy Eldorado when the ice gave in.


Things were getting so bad that a group of fellows from the VFW Lodge had banded together to go snow chasing much like some go storm chasing. The kids in our neighborhood were also sad when they heard that good ole Saint Nick may not be able to land his sleigh in Minnesota if there were no snow. Parents were trying to come up with contingency plans in case the unthinkable did occur and Santa could not land his sleigh in the land of no snow.


Parents with means were hiring look-alike Santa’s and were having them fill their kid's stockings on Christmas eve. Kids of lesser means were not as fortunate until someone from the local charitable organization had the idea to send their volunteers dressed as Santa’s to fill their stockings. There was no joy in the land of no snow until that is when one of the parents received a teleprompter from the north pole saying that Santa would bring out his Christmas Harley to make the trek to the land of no snow All the children began jumping up and down with excitement when they heard the news.


The true diehard old-timers were equally gloating when one of their snowbird friends called them expecting to rub it in with the great weather and after learning that they were having incredibly nice weather while they were shut in by the high snowdrifts in New Mexico of all places. It suddenly occurred to them that they could have just as well saved their money and stayed home.


There were a few families in the land of no snow that refused to be saddened by the news of no Santa. Each of these families had a small decorative shelter in their front yard with what looked like a mom and a dad with a little baby wrapped in a blanket. These were plastic life-size figurines with a glow of light. There were many of them from a small cow, a couple of sheep, and a camel. There were a shepherd and two other guys that were wise men. Over this scene was a lit-up star.


As I gazed at this scene and listening to several of these families singing ‘away in the manger’ I was reminded that Christmas isn’t about who gets what from someone’s great uncle Will or aunt Kathy or finding something Santa stuffed in your stocking Christmas morning. The real meaning of Christmas is what God did over 2000 years ago when he came to earth in the humble form of a baby just so he could become a man and tell us how much he loved us and wants us to spend all of eternity with him. The birth of Jesus wasn’t dependent on how much snow we got, or if we would get snow. The birth was a reminder of how much God loved you and how he desires to be part of each of our lives.


As far as temperature and no snow is concerned this Christmas is one for the record books. On the other hand, the true meaning of Christmas isn’t dependent on how much snow we would get, but the time God came to earth to show us how much he loved us.


I wish everyone a very merry and wonderful Christmas. Please take the time to thank God for sending his son Jesus to show us the way to spending an eternity of Christmas in heaven.


Todd Gabrielson

Unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace

For to us, a child is born, to us, a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6 

There is so much suffering in the world, so many downtrodden and hurting people that need to find hope for their lives. I look far and wide and I see people in pain. People close to me and people I've never met. Starving people, people who are well-fed. people of all economic statuses all searching for hope for their lives.

 Isaiah was a major prophet before Christ was born and God spoke those words of hope to give a generation the hope they needed to hear. 

 Just as He used Isaiah, he spoke words of prophecy through King David (Psalm 16:10) (Acts 2:24-3). King David also predicted Jesus’ resurrection, prophesying that God would not let His “Holy One see decay” Another Old Testament writer who foresaw Jesus’ death and resurrection was the prophet, Isaiah. Isaiah explained that God’s servant would suffer for the sins of God’s people and then rise to life again (Isaiah 53; cf. 1 Peter 2:24)and that this good news of salvation would spread beyond Israel “to the ends of the earth” (Isaiah 49:6

I can attest to the realities of this living Christ in my own life beginning in spring 1974 when I accepted Jesus Christ into my heart after hearing several personal testimonies through the Minnetonka Christian coffee house. Just before Christ made his final ascension into heaven came these words from Acts 1:8 8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts1&version=ESV

Jesus is ALIVE!  He continues to give hope to those who cry out for Him.
Regardless of your present worldview, Jesus Christ died for you. He is the living Christ who wants to be your guide in this hopeless world.  I encourage you to do what I did in that Spring 1974 and invite Christ into your heart. I assure you that Christ will give you peace and hope to face tomorrow.

Trust in the Lord after loss and he will make your paths straight

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
6 in all your ways submit to him,
and he will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the Lord with all your heart.

Not an easy thing to do after tragedy strikes one's family. Why God becomes the rallying cry in such circumstances. If you're good then why are we hurting so much? For some, we would rather distrust God while stop going to Church while having a beer on the couch in front of a Packer football game. For others, our lack of trust turns us to drugs to numb our pain without realizing those drugs are doing more harm to one's body.

Lean not on your own understanding.
For many who have been educated in the public colleges, we've had our faith shattered simply by taking philosophy classes. If we're so unlucky, we take this class with the notorious instructor known for his atheism. When grief strikes us at our very core of our being there isn't a single human philosophy that can heal us. The Buddist statue can't help us with our pain. Karma can't help us. The only one who can help us is the living Christ if only we can trust Him.

In all your ways submit to him.

Every breathing moment we should count our blessings for being here and as it says in the book of James, "1James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes of the Dispersion: Greetings. 2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, when you encounter trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. We have the living and breathing Christ that gives us this pure joy when things happen to us that are beyond our control.

And He will make your paths straight.

When we're on this crazy twists and turns of grief we may not think we will ever find the right path. But consider this my friend. This same Jesus who brought your loved one home to heaven is the same Jesus who wants to walk with you on your grief journey. Trust in Him and eventually, like a long carpet being shaken, he will help you straighten your path.

Our God is indeed an awesome God, even when we hurt after a loss.

The winds of Change, the gift of God's Holy Spirit to help you navigate through the perils of this life.

"But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you."John 14:26

You can imagine that when his disciples saw that Jesus was leaving them how disappointed they felt to see him leave. They no longer had Christ in their presence and for some, they thought the show must be over and now it's time to go home. Before Jesus made his final ascension to heaven he promised them and to all believers the gift of His holy spirit as explained in John 14:26.

Imagine, if you will, you're sitting in your sailboat in the middle of Lake Minnetonka, but you're not moving. You decided not to bother with the work of cranking that sail up and so you just sit there feeling the gentle movement of the water below. Then a friend in another boat that is moving swiftly across the water tells you to put the sail up. Your first thought was, " not sure what this will do, but alright I'll do the work to put it up. Just as you cranked the sail to the top you noticed the boat moving. With exhilaration, you steer your boat into the wind and to your surprise, your boat is gliding along the water like your friend's boat. At this moment, you are more alive and enjoying life than you were just moments before when your sail was down.

The holy spirit is like that wind. Until you find a way of capturing the power source you will be like the one sitting in that boat going nowhere. Sadly, many people would rather trust eastern religions of gods that have no power than the one who has fulfilled the promise of the holy spirit to all who believe in Him. But, the moment they put their sail up to capture the winds of God they will realize they are more alive than they were before.

God not only sent his son to die for all of us, but he also gave us the instructional manual called the Bible to guide you through the perils of this life and the gift of his holy spirit to understand what was written.
So when grief suddenly comes out of nowhere, trust the gift of God's holy spirit to get your through the emotional pain of grief.

A re-purposed life following loss.

Grief is like a long valley, a winding valley where any bend may reveal a totally new landscape.   CS Lewis

At our final grief share meeting, we had a discussion around this new normal they were talking about in the video.  A couple of individuals could not wrap their minds around the new normal when they hurt so bad from their loss.  

Then there was a holy spirit moment when one of our participants with a heart for giving brought out this clay pitcher and sat it at the center of the table.  He said after his wife passed away his daughter, who was a talented pottery maker asked her dad if she could take the statue of a man and woman off of the mantle to create a new use for it.  She broke this statue and placed it into a kiln and shaped the now formless clay on a potters wheel to create the clay pitcher out of what once was a clay decoration.

 He held up this pitcher and said the new normal is taking the pitcher and pouring blessings into other's lives as they go through their own pain and suffering. We were taught that evening how peace and pain co-exist

 The pain we will sometimes feel is because of the memories we had when our loved ones were alive.  This clay pitcher had a new purpose of helping others to navigate life's undesirable paths. God understood clearly man's need for a Savior after countless attempts to speak through the minor and major prophets of old. He sent angels to Mary and Joseph to tell them to not be afraid when young Mary would bear the salvation of the world with a baby boy who would be blessed with wisdom beyond the wisdom of the highest educated Rabbi. God would call the unlikeliness men and women to spread God's message.

 Many of them were witness to his return to life after he rose from the dead and many witnessed Christ ascending into heaven, but not before the promise that Christ would give the power of the holy spirit into the lives of those who believe Him.

Like the clay pitcher that was re-purposed out of a statue of a man and woman, the new normal after Jesus's ascension was God's gift of the holy spirit to encourage you through life's hardest moments and be a blessing so others will see Jesus through you. 

In other words. Jesus had to die on the cross of calvary so that you can experience a repurposed life of pouring encouragement and blessings into a world that is suffering.

The Lutefisk Lament

I was reminiscing yesterday's holidays when I came upon this Boone and Erickson 'The Lutefisk Lament'  It brought back memories of sitting around the dinner table with my parents serving us Swedish meatballs, mashed potatoes and that watery fish better known as Lutefisk.  Mom would say to put lots of butter on that fish and it will taste better going down. I begged to differ as I felt the lump of Lutefisk in my throat want to exit in a violent upchuck. I grabbed the water and forced it back down because as kids weren't going to be allowed to open up our gifts unless we ate our Lutefisk. Mom and dad have gone to heaven and sadly I have to say the Lutefisk tradition died with them.

Oh, what have I done but to deny my own children to experience the fish soaked in lye and prepared once a year at Christmas time?    Instead, we introduce to them a codfish as a poor second best.  Christmas time just isn't the same when we tell them to eat their cod before opening Christmas gifts. Oh, the memories of Christmas yesteryears.  The Lutefisk Lament is one way of reliving them.