Out with Jesus, In with Frosty the Snowman – Not in Our Home

I’m horrified…

…The 3rd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Philadelphia has upheld a school district’s ban on Christmas carols such as “Silent Night,” “Joy to the World,” “Oh, Come All Ye Faithful” and “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” – and approved “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and “Frosty the Snowman.”

What happened to free speech, free religion, free anything for that matter? Christmas is the time of year to celebrate the birth of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and has nothing, absolutely nothing to do with Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

The high school band had to rebuild its repertoire, the Martin Luther King Gospel Choir was ordered not to perform and the programmes were edited to remove any reference to Christmas, e.g. Christmas trees.

On November 24th, the Third Circuit approved the school’s ban on all religious Christmas music, and this included instrumentals. However, one parent complained, so it is now up for review. I know that this is America, but how long before Australia follows suit – definitely not in our home?

I don’t know about you, but I worship the Lord, Jesus Christ not Frosty the Snowman or Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Christmas is all about the Lord Jesus Christ, His birth, His death on the cross and what it means to us; His resurrection and our heavenly home with Him for all eternity.

Bread and Butter Pudding

9 eggs
900 ml full-cream milk
1/4 cup sugar
2 large slices multi-grain bread – buttered
2 tablespoons sultanas
cinnamon for dusting

Break 9 eggs into a large bowl, and mix well. Add milk and mix again. Butter the two slices of multi grain bread (this is home made bread – if you are using bought bread, you may need to double the amount used), and cut into 25 mm squares.

Put the buttered bread into a large Pyrex (oven-proof) bowl, and sprinkle the sugar and sultanas over evenly. Next, add the milk and egg mixture, and finally dust the top of it with cinnamon. You can substitute nutmeg, but I love the delicious cinnamon taste – sort of reminds me of French Toast.

Cook at 150C for 70 90 minutes. Our new stove cooks cooler than the last one. Serve with cream and ice-cream, or whatever you like. In our case, it was with ice-cream, as we had run out of cream.

First Day of the Holidays

Today is the first day of the holidays, and have I done anything exciting – no, but I did have a big sleep-in, which I really needed.

We did our devotions, just like we do each morning, and then came breakfast – porridge, yoghurt, banana and Apple juice – nothing unusual, yet.

After breakfast my daughter and I prepared the vegetables for a vegetable soup – nothing unusual here, either.

Then I went into the sunroom to spend my quiet time with the Lord. Yay, it’s holidays, and I don’t have a time limit on the amount of time that I spend with Him – not that I usually limit my time with God, but sometimes there just doesn’t seem to be enough time to spend the amount of time that I would like to with Him – know what I mean? Children needing help with their schoolwork etc.

After this, I really recognised today as being a holiday, although my son says that it’s not holidays until you can sleep in on a Monday.

My son helped me to design a Happy Holidays logo, as I was trying but not succeeding, and he is MUCH better at graphic design than I can ever hope to be.

Have a happy holiday!

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.

1 Corinthians 10:31

P.S. The image below is one that I made – my son’s not impressed, but at least I tried!

How is formatting a Computer like what God (through Jesus Christ) does for us?

On Easter Saturday we formatted the computer. This made me think that what we were doing with the computer was like what God does for us when we make the decision to accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour.

When we format the computer we erase all of the old files, memory etc that makes the computer run slow, and that is what God does for us when we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour. He continues to mould and change us into His glorious likeness. Unfortunately, this doesn’t happen overnight, as in formatting the computer, but it does happen.

God is still in the process of changing me, moulding me and shaping me into what He wants me to be. He continues to change the old me, removing all of my past sins by His death on the Cross at Calvary and His resurrection.

I’m not perfect, and I still make mistakes (lots of them), but one day I look forward to being just like Him. I also look forward to eternal life and to serving Him in heaven.

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18

Happy Easter