Christmas Eve 2009

Today started as most of mine do. That means getting up, getting dressed and heading out to the office. I made my normal stop at McDonald's for a cup of coffee. Yes, I do get the "senior citizens" price of $.56. Hey, it's a benefit to being the insurance agent for the owner.

Anyway after working until lunch Donna, Will and I headed to T-town to spend time with Donna's mom and sister. This is all good, but let me tell you why today has been so much fun. Yep, fun. No, it wasn't the heavy rain or 30mph winds we had. It was the view of Christmas through my sons eyes.

My six year old, Will has been so excited. Folks, I mean excited. Oh, he knows that Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of Christ. He realizes (and even help me deliver toys to 100 +/- kids on Wed) that helping others is the spirit of this season. However, he is 6. That means he can't wait to wake up on Christmas morning and see what he got from Santa. That's ok..

We tracked Santa tonight on the computer. Will loved it! When Santa got to Peru he decided that he better try to go to sleep. What excitement. It takes me back to days long ago. When things seemed so much simpler. Your biggest worry was which toy to play with first. Those kind of days.

It was nice to see. For a moment he took me away from the grind of our daily lives where paying bills and meeting obligations rule. Thanks Will. Thanks for being a wonderful little boy who still has the innocence that all 6 year olds should display.

See you tomorrow morning!

Tiger Woods

I want to reference you back to my June 18, 2008, post where I got on Tiger for using the Lord's name in vain on multiple occasions during a big tournament. I referenced the fact that the commentators kept talking about his "self-control." I took opposition to it due to his foul language and thought he should use more self-control over his mouth.

Well, it's not just his mouth that he needs to use self-control with. Ok, I will not go there. But give me a break. 5, 6, 7, 8, etc...affairs. You have to be kidding. He has only been married a few years.

Ok, before you get on me let say that 1) we are all sinners that depend on the grace of Christ for forgiveness and 2) we still sin daily. However, making a mistake or transgression is one thing (certainly not recommended in my home if you want to live), but 8 or 9 is another thing. Folks, there is a problem here for this married father of 2 little ones.

What got him to this position? Well, lets talk about that. Here are a few on my list:

1. Not looking to Christ, but buddah for guidance. Holy Spirit convicts me regularly for mistakes. Does anyone know what ol' buddah does?

2. Love of power. It's a seductive mistress that leads you to believe you are entitled to certain things.

3. Love of money. Scripture warns us about the difficulties many have with the $. Again, nothing is out of your reach.

4. Maybe he should be surrounded by people that care for him and not just what he can do for them. Hey, a true friend would pull you aside and try to knock sense into you. Wouldn't they?

5. Travel with your family. Be the family man you want to seem to be.

No, not judging. Just stating facts folks. This young man needs some guidance from someone other than those that have been giving him an example thus far. Wouldn't you agree? Bet he wishes tonight he had never met any of those women.

Can he be forgiven? Absolutely! All he has to do is humble himself before the Lord and ask. Christ still forgives. I'm one that needs it daily.

What an influence he could be if he got to this point. Pray for him.

Oh, I'm still a Phil fan.

Christmas 2009

Christmas is a special time at our house. It is special for many reasons. First, and most important is that we celebrate the birth of Christ. We feel like Christ is the most special gift that will ever be given and although December 25 may not be the exact birth date, it is the day that we set aside to worship and celebrate His coming to us as a human. A day that forever changed us all, whether you accept him or not.

We as a family believe the God man did come to give us a path to eternal life.

As a family we do enjoy many other aspects of Christmas (as man-made as they may be). Some of these others reasons we enjoy the season are:

1) Time with family and friends.

2) Colorful lightning on many homes (Will absolutely loves them. He just wishes Pop would slow down a little when driving by the homes).

3) Nativity scenes (Donna and Will both really enjoy the scene depicting the manger scene).

4) Christmas trees and greenery in our home.

5) Presents (I know, this is bad. However, when you have a 6 year old this is big.).

I don't know how you will spend your Christmas. You may make the choice to ignore the obvious (as alot of our society tries to do) that this holiday is built around the Christ-child. However, what a glorious time when you realize that Christ came to give us life, a life filled with a peace that only he can give. He also gives us joy. Joy that allows you to enjoy all the other things I have listed that go along with this time of year.

Tonight our church adult choir had the annual Christmas Cantata. It was awesome! Beautiful music that reminded me just how special this time of year can be. Although each of us to some extent gets caught up in the materialism of Christmas we can still have those moments where we just reflect and realize what blessings we have been given. No, not trampolines, basketball goals or diamond rings. The blessings of seeing a 6 month old play baby Jesus. Seeing your mom and dad holding your son as they hear the songs of this season. The realization that someone needed to hear these offerings of praise through song really bad.

You get the picture.

Hey, this year just stop for a few moments. Realize that life was designed by God the Father to worship the Son. Other than the obvious how can we worship? Well, scripture tells us to feed the hungry and clothe the naked. In other words, just love your fellow man. Give our of your abundance to those that need help. This time of year, if no other, should be when we realize that Christ has called us to that duty.

From the Brown's we wish you a very merry CHRISTmas and a wonderful 2010.

Happy 6th Birthday Will

I know these pics are not big enough for you to see this truck real good. However, take a second look. Look real close. Folks, this is a cake! You heard me correctly, a cake.

Will still loves Monster Jam, so we were able to convince Tina Long to create this original creation. Isn't it absolutely awesome? You should have seen Wills eyes when we went to pick it up before his party. They were like silver dollars. The only problem is that Will didn't want to cut the cake. We had to convince him that you must cut the cake. I must admit it was hard to let anyone cut the cake.

Tina is absolutely the most talented person you will meet. She can paint, draw and obviously make anything into the shape of a cake. Oh, let me give a shout out to Breck (her husband). I think he was her understudy/assistant.

We did actually have a skating party on Saturday. It was great. We had alot of fun. Will's birthday was actually Friday, but we spent the whole weekend celebrating.

Happy Birthday baby boy. I love you.