Christmas Eve Service was so special!

I finally got my wife to share her incredible voice!

Brittany Mohrman played the violin and signed to a beautiful song!

Nathaniel adorably tackled 'happy birthday Jesus'!

I shared some amazing words from Lucado, lead some carols and communion and...

Ok I'll stop gooshing now...

Happy Birthday, Jesus! Sung by Nathaniel West

THIS IS SO GOOD!

I AM THE LORD'S SERVANT by Nancy Guthrie

It’s hard to imagine how frightening it must have been for teenage Mary to see an angel and hear him speaking to her. The Bible says that “Gabriel appeared to her and said, ‘Greetings, favored women! The Lord is with you!’ Confused and disturbed, Mary tried to think what the angel could mean. ‘Don’t be afraid, Mary,’ the angel told her, ‘for you have found favor with God!’” (Luke 1:28-30). We can’t help but wonder what the angel looked like and what he sounded like.

As frightening as it must have been to see and hear an angel speaking to her, it must have been even more frightening for Mary to process what the angel was telling her–that she was going to become pregnant, even though she had never been intimate with a man. This would be a scandal in her village. Everyone would whisper about her. She would be shunned and perhaps sent away by her fiance, Joseph, because he would think she had been unfaithful to him. And yet, even though she probably had a million questions and concerns, Mary responded to the angel by welcoming whatever God wanted to do. She said, “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true” (Luke 1:38). In a sense she said to God, “I’m yours. You can do anything you want with me,” even though she must have known that this situation would be very hard for her, for Joseph, and for her whole family.

It’s easy to label what we consider “good things” in our lives as gifts from God and to welcome them with gratitude. But when difficult things happen, we don’t look at them as part of God’s good plan for us. Mary’s example shows us we can also welcome those things we would not necessarily label “good,” confident that God’s gifts sometimes come in perplexing and even painful packages. When we belong to God, we know he will use whatever he allows into our lives for good. Somehow, in God’s hands, these things also become gifts of his grace toward us.

It takes faith—faith to rest in who God is and his love for us; faith to be confident that he is doing something good in and through our difficult circumstances—to see the hard things in our lives as gifts of God’s grace.

What a special night!

So many beautiful people graced our home this evening for our Christmas Open House! And my wifey made quite the amazing spread (don't worry I helped)! I am blessed!

The whole day was amazing! There was something extra special about this morning's service! Maybe it was the great start with the 'blessing session' or Angie's amazing singing or the new sermon series or Carie's wonderfully transparent leading or...what a privilege to pastor this amazing, loving church!!

These preachers know how to party!

The AG ministers of western NE got together for some Christmasing!

I really like these people!

Hark how the bells, Sweet silver bells, All seem to say, Throw cares away, Ding dong ding dong, That is their song, With joyful ring, All caroling...

Christmas Manure

A family had twin boys whose only resemblance to each other was their looks. If one felt it was too hot, the other thought it was too cold. If one said the TV was too loud, the other claimed the volume needed to be turned up. Opposite in every way, one was an eternal optimist, the other a doom and gloom pessimist.

Just to see what would happen, on Christmas

their father loaded the pessimist's room with every imaginable toy and game. The optimist's room he loaded with horse manure.

That night the father passed by the pessimist's room and found him sitting amid his new gifts crying bitterly.

"Why are you crying?" the father asked.

"Because my friends will be jealous, I'll have to read all these instructions before I can do anything with this stuff, I'll constantly need batteries, and my toys will eventually get broken," answered the pessimist twin.

Passing the optimist twin's room, the father found him dancing for joy in the pile of manure. "What are you so happy about?" he asked.

To which his optimist twin replied, "There's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"

Nate and the Presidents

I have taken my family on several short trips to Mt. Rushmore since becoming your pastor (actually that's an understatement we've been 4x in the last year, it's so fun being so close)...this is what has become of our son's President fetish, HE'S SUCH A SMARTY PANTS AND ONLY 2 YRS OLD!!!

I know your December calender is getting fuller and fuller...BUT don't forget to do some of your Christmasing with Cornerstone!

(click on the image to make it large enough to read)