Children search the windows
For the toys they want this year
Lights are spread across the cities
Even strangers offer a smile, in hopes of spreading some Christmas cheer

Santa's supposed to be
Here tonight with his reindeer and his sleight
The gifts, the food, the pleasant conversation
After all it's Christmas Day

Chorus:
The greatest gift I have received
Was the day in Christ I believed

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Change is the law of life, those who look to the past and present are certain to miss the future."- John F. Kennedy

We live in changing times and a changing world. Our lives are changing with every passing moment. Change occurs so often that it’s sometimes all we can do to keep our eyes focused. Some of us deal with change better than others. I'd always wished life would stand still. So I could spend more time just enjoying the moments I was in. Or that time travel was possible so that I could change the past. I wished I could undo the mistakes I've said or say something or say something that I should of. I don't like change, I am downright fearful of it especially when it all seems to come at once. I don't deal well with change. I want to make myself believe that we are better off without it.

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For century’s scholars, philosophers, religious leaders have wondered who the man Jesus was supposed to be. Many said he was a great prophet, others the greatest man who ever lived and some say he was the Son of God, dying for the sins of the world.
During our lives we spend so much time exploring religion trying to finding answers. We've looked to evolution to explain how the human world came into existence. We use religion as a way of trying to find meaning in our lives. Yet each individual still may have there very own personal reasons for what they seek. Even the most brilliant minds cannot explain death, why there is suffering or why a rainbow appears after every storm.

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I long to hold in my arms
To hear your small voice cry
But God is calling you home
He must need you more than I
For now I must say goodbye
I've never saw your face
But I could feel you move inside
Now it is the time
That I must say goodbye
Release you to the angels
With your own wings to fly
I hold you close to my heart
And whisper another gentle goodbye
Goodbye to the moments we will never have

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By human standards Horatio Spafford was a success. He owned a thriving business, a home and had a beautiful family (wife, four daughters and infant son. He was a devout Christian with a deep rotted faith.

Tragedy and heartbreak did not surpass Spafford or his family. He lost his only son to illness in infancy. He lost his thriving businesses and properties were destroyed in the Great Chicago fire. A short time later Spafford and his family planned to set sail on vacation to England. However, business matters kept him from traveling with his family. His wife and four daughters set sail ahead of him.

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I cried.

Outside the rain poured as heavy as my tears. Lighting struck in the distance, etching streaks of yellow in the sky. Beautiful, my eyes scanned the darkness outside from the living room window.

Crack! Snap! My heart stopped as I quickly backed away from the window. As a large tree branch fell to the ground from several feet above.

My attention was diverted once again from a whiff of a beautiful fragrance. My eyes drifted to a small, glass table in the middle of the room. An array of pinks, whites and yellows poked through a large vase.

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Pain, peace, hatred, love, death, life, hope, despair. Too many words fill the endless void in which we live. Days pass in moments, our lives pass in years, eventually ending. Leaving us to wonder what is the meaning to it all. To question why we're born if we're only meant to die. Why must the innocent suffer and guilty don’t seem to suffer at all? Why must we have moments of joy just to endure a years of pain? What determines our sense of morality, who determines right and wrong?

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I'm a natural people pleaser. I've never learned to say no. I seek approval from the family and friends in my life. I fear rejection and disapproval. I try at all costs to make everyone happy. Sadly, I am still a failure at pleasing people. In the process it has cost me relationships, evoked criticism and made me a welcome mat to step on. I am miserable, depressed and stressed reminding myself of all the wasted time trying to please the unappeasable individuals. Life is difficult enough I just wished I learned sooner that I will never be able to make everyone happy. The harder you try, the more people expect from you and you never learn to say no.

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Israel and the Middle East are quickly becoming headline news over an escalating war. However, in the US it seems we only hear about it because the war is driving up oil prices. Christians are looking for something else entirely: the soon return of Christ. As I watch the escalating conflict my mind is drawn to the bible, particularly Ezekiel 38&39. These passages are refereed to the battle of Gog and Magog.

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We're taught at a young age to accept responsibility for our actions. To admit to our mistakes, apologize for our lack to concern and to demonstrate responsibility for our choices. I was always told when you can do that you're truly becoming an adult.

But I must ask, how much responsibility is one supposed to take? Responsibility for our mistakes and choices and is everyone else's included? When do we learn to pull back from the blame for other's choices? When do you question how much blame is an individual meant to bear?

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I've learned through the few short years of traipsing around Earth the blood you may share with others, does not make you family and neither do the genes you were given. I came from a family of six adopted children, three sets of sibling from three different homes. My mom had a gift for loving and dealing with difficult children. For us difficult was an understatement, we came from broken homes and parents who couldn’t or wouldn’t love us.

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I've heard it said that blood is thicker than water. Sometimes it's true most times its not. Family is not always those that stake their claim or have your blood type coursing through their veins. They're not always the people who give who life or raise you as there own. Family is found in the people who love you just as you are. They don't hold grudges; they forgive and learn to let it go. After all we're human; we are bound to make mistakes. Family isn't about using people for their own means. Family isn't taking advantage of a good heart and a good person. Family admits to their own mistakes, instead of blaming others. Family isn't about all you consuming selfishness but all other consuming selflessness. It isn't about always being right, it's admitting when you're wrong. It's seeking forgiveness when it's needed. It's an open heart that loves others instead of just themselves. It isn't about self pity but empathy for others.

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I've been driving for a year, I've had my license for about five months but I am still hesitant behind the wheel. I am known as being an overtly cautious driver. It's not a bad thing but not always good either. My caution sways with traffic, weather or stupid drivers. I cling to the seat when you don't have enough room to brake, even though you don't hit the car. I remain a backseat driver as you swerve and cut through traffic, barely miss a running a red light. Needless, to say you really don't want me as a passenger. I would just make you to nervous, I already do my fiancée.

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I don't always know what to tell you when you ask me what's wrong. I can't answer if I don't know myself. My emotions can sometimes be a complicated matter. One moment everything at least seems fine, the next moment I just simply want to cry. A smile may be plastered on my face but it doesn't mean I am happy. Sometimes I find it's easier to hide behind a mask because I just can't explain. Emotions are a sensitive issue; it's difficult to say how you’re feeling when you're not completely.

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I'm familiar with the saying about 'drowning your sorrows.' Most people drown themselves with alcohol, drugs or just something that makes the feel good. It's an easy way of facing life at least for the moment. We run, we cower in a corner crying because life isn't fair. We didn't get that promotion we thought we deserved; we caught our significant other cheating. Simple fact is life is not fair, good things seem to happen more to bad people than they do to us. We revel in the day justice is finally served, when we no longer have to drown in the sorrows, frustrations and disappointments of our own lives and sometimes our own making. We choose to take the easy road, rather than the high road. Our expectations of others and us just don't seem to match up. We can lie and cheat but if someone else’s does too, the whistles blown and all eyes on them. What does it really matter if we added a few extra hours to our time card or "borrowed money" from a friend's wallet? I mean you deserve the extra money and your friend won't even know it's missing. We only care enough not to get ourselves caught or have our feelings hurt.

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