Yesterday, Karen and I joined many others in celebrating the life of Nick Roussakis, who went to be with the Lord last week. It was a wonderful time of remembering how Nick blessed his family and friends by encouraging them to trust the Lord. I always looked forward to hearing Nick play the guitar and singing praises to the Lord. Please pray for his family as they grieve his passing.
In talking with friends after the funeral, many memories of times together years ago came into our minds. Retreats were times of learning more of God’s Word and getting to know brothers in Christ better. One brother in Christ that I had not seen in several years told me that his mother (aged 101) and his best friend died within a week of each other. Please pray for him at this difficult time.
In the current issue of “Faith Today” magazine, Thomas Froese writes: “I believe there’s a connection between fear and gratitude, a sort of inverse relationship. It’s hard to hold both at once. The more you have of one, the less you have of the other … And I wonder if as a culture, while fears and anxieties increase, we’re losing a measure of gratitude.
In the holiday season, when life’s highs and lows are magnified, it’s all the easier to crave more and more, even of Christmas itself … Into all this comes the corrective of the first Christmas. We don’t need to dress it up as much as just let it come around and be what it is – a story, first, of common people overcoming fear. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ Gabriel told Mary while she stood bewildered over her assignment. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ Gabriel told the shepherds who wondered about the mystery breaking through the night sky. ‘Don’t be afraid,’ again in the darkness, an angel telling Joseph to run with his family from a mad king hell-bent on killing the young Jesus.”
Froese goes on to examine the words of Isaiah (please see ‘Scripture for the weekend’) and Mary, who said ‘Here I am. Let it be to me as you say.’ He also notes that “while Christianity is declining in North America and Europe, it’s very much on the move elsewhere, certainly in Africa. In 1900 the continent had about 10 million believers. Now? Incredibly about 600 million. They’re among about 2.4 billion Christians celebrating Christmas worldwide.” You can read the entire article at: https://www.faithtoday.ca/Magazines/2023-Nov-Dec/Don%E2%80%99t-be-AFRAID.
By His grace,
Steve