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Yes, clinging to our Lord in Blessed Hope is an awesome gift. Thank you for your prayers, we all need to pray for each other. You and your lovely wife are remembered in my daily prayers. May you have the blessings of peace, hope and love today and always.

A chap that I know used to work as a taxi driver and used to work on Christmas day because of the additional wages paid for working on the holiday. His observation was that those people he picked up to take to Christmas celebrations and functions were generally in quite a good mood and quite generous with tips and gifts and so forth. However by around 2pm he suggested that attitudes tended to change quite a bit and he would often begin pick ups at family homes where fights and arguements had broken out and people were leaving early. Often people would make remarks like "Thank G-d we don't have to see them for another 12 months" and so forth.. My suggestion is that if you are holding a Christmas gathering at your place, spare a few invites for people at church or people you know that do not have anywhere to go and embrace them into your own family Christmas gathering and share the love around a little. If you are on your own I agree with the above and would add a good selection of DVD's to the mix!

For an interesting storysee: http://www.adventistreview.org/church-news/muslim-teens-join-adventists-in-refusing-sabbath-exams

Right or wrong, this has a potential to blossom into something America hasn't seen since the 1970's. Right or wrong, people seem to be ramping for another civil rights movement (on top of all of the other latent unrest in the country/world. We live in interesting times. Hasn't been this volatile since the late 1960's.

I can agree that there are wrongs that need to be righted. I can agree that sometimes racial minorities, for whatever reason, do not always get the same level of justice that other groups receive. Disparate treatment is given on the basis of age, gender, race (whatever that means), gender preference, sexual orientation, skin color and more. In all of these cases the foundational cause should be discovered and rectified. Root causes should be addressed. Disparate treatment should not continue forever. When the root cause is criminal, it should be addressed by a criminal process. That process may include a so-called Grand Jury. Many who are outside of active involvement in law enforcement do not understand how high the bar may be to return a criminal indictment. A lack of criminal indictment does not translate to an inability to effectively address the root cause and institute changes. Speaking frankly, I can understand how it is that in the two recent cases the Grand Jury failed to return indictments against the two police officers involved. How can things be changed? Well, one way might be to change what in the military is called the Rules of Engagement. I will suggest that in both of those cases the ROE under which the police officers were operating need to be changed. Self-disclosure of a possible bias: 1I have a son who is a correctional officer at a major prison. 2) There have been multiple occasions when he has had to make a decision as to whether or not to pull the trigger on an inmate who was in the sights of his weapon. In every case, when he actually fired (He did not always fire.), his decision was to fire a non-lethal bean-bag round. 3) On one occasion he formally turned in two other correctional officers for mistreatment of a prisoner in a case that drug on for several years and ultimately resulted in disciplinary action against both.

I appreciated the account of your friend who drove a taxi and his observation. Yes I agree that inviting a few people who have no place to go is such a kind and rewarding thing to do. It seems to be just what our family has always done ... without planning. For this last Thanksgiving my family came to visit for a couple of days. I was excited about seeing my immediate family for the first time in a long time, and was surprised when a couple of neighbors showed up for Thanksgiving diner, compliments of my kids who met them in snow ball fights or building snow men. You don't have to look far to see those who need an "adopted" family for holiday times .... (or other times) Being alone was actually a good thing ... thank you for the reminder of the DVD's

Personal comment, my thought...what we see happening is a human condition, regardless of race, creed, color or religion. As a christian, I believe that it is the DNA of sin. Since the beginning of the Bible, selfishness, my definition being 'only concern for ones own self and personal desires', has been expressed in a variety of ways and quite often violence, maybe most often. Finger pointing or blame will give us no solution but a perpetuation of same. Anyone for solutions, real, everyday ones???

Don't over think it ... it you have no plans with family or friends, get a huge box of chocolates, books, videos, & comfort food. Then proceed to make plans to pamper yourself (yes, guys can to that also) Last year was the first Christmas that I was totally alone in a "strange" town ... I knew I would be alone so I went shopping for me and my pampering ... just another day ... wrote my sermon for the next Sabbath ... read...called friends and family ... took a long, hot bubble bath with nice music and candles. All my family and friends were healthy, safe and so was I ... How much better can life be. It is what we make it

I like that you have expressed the idea that God is much larger than what we have thus far experienced or explored. I remember reading a quote from Einstein to the effect that a scientist is limited by the number of questions he can come up with. That really spoke to me of his reality, how small this great man really viewed himself

Heb 10:26 For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth (i.e., the truth as it is "in Christ" - the gospel), there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a certain fearful expectation of judgment, and fiery indignation which will devour the adversaries. The willful sin here is not a sin against the law for the believer is not under law. What then is this deliberate sin? The context will reveal it: 28 Anyone who has rejected Moses’ law dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29 Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace? Notice, this deliberate sin is trampling the Son of God underfoot by which the believer was set apart (sanctified)! Heb 10:10 "By that will (by Christ's dong & dying) we have been (past tense) sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." So to persistently and ultimately reject Christ is to take upon yourself the curse...the 2nd death.

I am partial to Ethiopians .

Hi Sojourner I have never heard of a member having a weapon in a church service. I would think it very strange if they did. (I’m not sure what happens in countries where there has been violence shown towards Christians – things may be different there.) However when I have gone to the General Conference GC meeting (the 5 year conference for the worldwide SDA Church), I assume that the regular security staff that are employed by the conference center where it is held, do have weapons. I have gone to several GC meetings and have seen the center security with holsters and weapons. It didn’t make me or the rest of my party feel safer, it was a hindrance more than a help.