To Santa or Not to Santa? That is the Question.

To tell the kids that Santa is real or not has long been a dilemma for parents, especially true Christian parents. Santa is part of the culture of the world we live in. Stores are geared toward a Santa theme in their decor. From pre-school to high school Santa is seen in the decorations, plays, in "Secret Santa," and "Kris Kringle," gift giving celebrations. Some parents leave out Christmas cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve. Some dress up as Santa delivering gifts. You can see Santa at the mall starting Thanksgiving Day. You can see him at every department store ringing a bell. How can that be? Can he be everywhere at that same time? Even the myths concerning Santa juxtapose that somehow Santa shares some attributes of God to see everything, know everything we do, judge us as good or bad, and be at so many places at once. There are so many things about carrying on these myths that are so damaging to children.

The foremost thing is that when children find out that Santa does not exist after so many years of indoctrination by their parents that trust is destroyed. The child is in disbelief. What they believe about Santa was all a lie all that time and Mom and Dad were the ones who said it was all true. It is statistically proven that children who grow up believing in Santa and then find it's not true have more difficulty in life believing their parents when they insist something is true. Children who grow up knowing Santa is not real fair much better in trusting their parents. Children who grow up believing Santa is real and find out he is not, deal with unintended humiliation at the hands of their parents. They feel like a sucker played out through their parents. There's an immediate traumatic scar that helps build a defensive wall around their heart and emotions. In severe cases some children have needed counseling to work through trust issues with their parents and the humiliation they felt at the instance they found out the truth. Think of how humiliated a child might be who finds out Santa does not exist from kids at school who ridicule the child for believing in Santa. That's a tough situation for the child. Peers gain more respect of their words than parents. Should they trust peers or their parents? This is a tough dilemma for the child. What else can their parents be telling them that isn't true? Even if the parents are telling the truth about everything else, the damage is done. Peers now have a stronger hold than parents do/will. The pattern is set.

Statistics don't lie. New York Magazine (February 2008) recently had an article in which showed that when children lie, they are copying what they see their parents do. The study showed that the number source of where children learn to lie is from their parents! A study was done by Family Central (July 2007) on parents lying to their children. 67% of parents surveyed said they lied to their children growing up. Out of the 67% who lied, 52% of those children had trust and relationship issues. 9% of those children had juvenile criminal records. Be careful parents. The values you model before your children are the ones they will adopt.

Am I being overly dramatic? That depends on your perception of truth and how much you value truth. Deuteronomy 4 is very descriptive in commanding us to teach our children God's truths. Proverbs 11:15 tells us, "the godly are directed by honesty (New Living Translation)." Psalm 26:3 intimates that followers of Jesus Christ are to live according to God's truth.

Believe it or not, it can all start with Santa as innocent as that myth may seem.

Truth is everything. "Be careful little ears what you hear. Be careful little eyes what you see."

Have a blessed Christmas everyone.

The Greatest

There's a verse I've been meditating on for over a month now. It's 1 Corinthians 13:13- "Three things will last forever- faith, hope, and love- and the greatest of these is love (The New Living Translation)." The three are all interrelated, but I kept wondering why love would be the greatest. Another translation, the New International Version, uses the word remain instead of the words, last forever. Either way these three things will endure throughout all eternity. That's pretty awesome to think about. Then I wondered why will faith be needed in heaven? Perhaps we will be interceding for those still living. Perhaps we will need faith just to get over the fact we made it to heaven as unworthy of receiving it as we are. Perhaps hope will be needed too because when you have faith in something there is a hopeful expectation tied to it. Having faith in God gives us the hopeful expectation of seeing Him face to face. There's the hopeful expectation of answered prayers we laid before the Lord in faith. For instance, my wife and I are praying in faith for children, so we have a hopeful expectation of the pattering of little feet around the house.

What does love have to do with this, you ask? I think love is the goal of the first two, faith and hope. Faith brings hopeful expectation. Hopeful expectation fires love up. It stokes the flame of love. When the expectation of something is fulfilled, there is a deeper love and appreciation for the one who fulfilled it. I think of it as a child who has faith in their parent to get them a birthday gift they wanted. They have hope the parent they love will do it. Upon receiving the gift, the child has a greater love and appreciation for the parent.

How does love prevail over faith and hope? Well, this thought just occurred to me recently through a recent event. Sometimes we may not have much faith in God. Sometimes we may not have much hope in anything. Combined, these faith and hope deficits lead us to give into those sins that so easily besets us (Hebrews 12:1) and thus we may even hurt those we love most by our actions, even God. But love endures.

Love remains. God still loves us. In spite of what we have done, nothing can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38-39). The enduring love of a mother hurt by a child she loves and continues in faith to pray for their salvation. The hopeful expectation that God will hear and answer her prayer. The love and adoration of God who saves the child in answer to her prayers. Love prevails over faith and hope and faith and hope deepen and enliven love.

I am so thankful that nothing can separate me from God's unconditional love. I am thankful for my wife's enduring love. I am thankful for the love of my family and friends. I am so blessed. The greatest of these is LOVE!

Thanks for What?

Gobble. gobble, gobble. Loads of tryptophan flooding our systems and making us sleepy after enjoying some turkey. Bellies that are full but still have a little room for something else. Meals shared with family and friends. Conversations in every part of the house. Football games on TV all day long. Snoring men on the couch holding their stomachs. Women sharing recipes and chatting away. Long parades in large cities with marching bands and giant balloon characters. The aromas of food, food and more food filling the house. Laughter at familiar stories we've heard around the table often throughout the years. Cameras clicking as bribery photos are taken. Some people playing dominoes, spades, monopoly, chess, or video games. Some planning their early morning visits to the stores in Black Friday.

What is this day of Thanksgiving all about? Is it about spending time with loved ones and sharing some good food together? Yes. Is it about socializing? Yes. Is it about football games? This one really depends on who you ask. But for many it is a tradition, while for some it is utter nonsense. Is it about big balloons of cartoon characters and marching bands? Not really, but for many this too is a traditional thing to watch or partake in. Is it about making a plan of attack for getting up at 3am in the morning to be at the stores when they open up at 4am for Black Friday? No. But for many this is their best chance to get everyone affordable Christmas presents, it's become a tradition as well for many.

Many can't really tell you much about this holiday other than the traditions they uphold and maybe mention the pilgrims without much more detail given. When was the last time you thought about all the things you're thankful for? Are you breathing? You can be thankful for that. Do you have fresh drinking water? can you think clearly? Can you see and hear? Do you have a bed to sleep in at night and a roof over your head? Do you live in a country where you are free? Do you have a job? Do you have a comb or brush for your hair? Do you know that more than a third of the world don't have combs or hair brushes? More than half the world does not have a mattress to sleep on. More than 40 percent of the world does not have fresh water to drink. More than half the world is not able to bathe every day. More than a third of the world does not know what a tooth brush is. More than 35 percent of the world does not have a regular home to live in. Tens of millions of people live in countries where they have no freedom or security.

We have an awful lot to be thankful here in America. Those who are devoted followers of Jesus Christ have so much more to be thankful for. Yet we forget because we are blinded to how blessed we are. God forgive us.

I am thankful for: salvation, for God's mercy and grace, for the gift of the Holy Spirit in my life, for the gifts and talents the Lord has given me, for my wife, for my family, for my friends, that I can read the Bible in my home, car, and a public place; I can eat, read, run, hear, see; I have a roof over my head, a bed to sleep on, fresh drinking water, a shower, tooth brush, soap, deodorant, clothing, shoes, electricity, a car; I can preach the Good News of salvation through Jesus Christ anywhere without getting arrested or imprisoned! I can go to school. I am thankful for air; the stars; the moon; the oceans; for laughter, tears; I can share my emotions with others; I can feel the emotions of others; I can write whatever I feel like writing; I have a cell phone. There is so much I am thankful for that I could keep writing this blog post for the next dozen years or more. God is so good and I love Him. If He were to never do another thing for me again, I still have so much to be thankful for.

I want to take a second and encourage all devoted followers of Jesus Christ with these two verses from Colossians 2:6-7:

"And now, just as you received Jesus Christ as your Lord, you must continue to follow Him. Let your roots grow down into Him, and let your lives be built on Him. Then, your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness."
-New Living Translation

These verses beg the question, what is the condition of your faith? If it is not growing, then there will be little thankfulness and probably more bitterness. Faith that grows will always bear the fruit of thankfulness.

Many years ago I listened to the Christian rock group Petra and fell in love with one of their songs. The title is, "Thankful Heart." Here are the lyrics. Let it be your prayer.

Thankful Heart:

I have a thankful heart that You have given me
And it can only come from You

There is no way to begin to tell you how I feel
There are no words to express how you've become so real
Jesus, You've given me so much I can't repay
I have no offering

There is no way to begin to tell you how I feel
There's nothing more I can say, and now way to repay
Your warming touch that melts my heart of stone
Your steadfast love - I'll never be alone

I have a thankful heart that You have given me
And it can only come from You
I have a thankful heart - Words don't come easily
But I am sure you can see my thankful heart

Help me be a man of God
A man who's after Your own heart
Help me show my gratitude
And keep in me a thankful heart 

Is the Potter Creating or has He Created Everything Already?

Not long ago I was in class my good friend was teaching. We were talking about God and creation. During the course of our time together we talked about God having created everything already that will ever exist. Good points were made supporting that theory. However, a verse came to my mind about God being a Potter. Isaiah 64:8 says, "Yet, O Lord, You are our father. We are the clay, You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand." I began thinking about a potter as an artist, which they are. I'll share my thoughts with you.

I've actually taken a few pottery classes earlier in my life. Yes, it's true. though a potter works with clay, the potter is always creating, just like an artist. An artist never paints or creates the same thing over and over again. Where would we be if all Michaelangelo painted over and over again was the Sistine Chapel?How boring it would be if all Leonardo Da Vinci painted everywhere was Mona Lisa? What if all we saw around us were Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night?" How boring and redundant that would be. Its splendor and magnificence would be lost.

If very person from the past, present and future were all alike, what would that be like? There would be no individuality. We'd all be the same height, weight and color. We'd all sound the same. We'd all have the same personalities and mannerisms. All our clothes would be the same in style, color, and size. There would probably be only a few types of perfumes and colognes. There would be nothing to distinguish us from one another. But yet, we're all different.

What if, like the movie "Groundhog Day," every day was exactly the same? What if each sunrise and sunset were exactly the same every day? What if every single moment of every day was exactly the same as the previous one? Some people like predictability, but even that would drive the sanest person crazy. Think about the Tom Hanks movie, "Cast Away," where he was isolated and alone on an island after a plane crash. Every day the same. Boredom everywhere you look. Mundane life. Unhappiness. Melancholy.

Could you picture God bored? If He is the Creator God, then He must be always creating. The universe is ever expanding, even scientists agree on that one. How is that possible? Simple, there must be a Creator. No two sunsets or sunrises are the same. No two people are exactly the same, even identical twins are the same. Their DNA is similar but distinctly different. Their fingerprints are different. People from Africa are different in language than British people are. There are various sizes, colors, and shapes of all peoples from the same country and even from other countries. Unborn babies will look different from anyone ever born before. Tomorrow's day will go much differently from today for all of us. We'll see someone new in our day as we travel. A child may walk for the first time. We might see a sunset we've never seen before. Perhaps a star will fall from the sky, which might not have happened today. Perhaps a woman will get pregnant for the first time. Perhaps a doctor will perform a routine surgery in a new and revised way.

God is always creating because He never slumbers or sleeps (Psalm 121:3-4). He's always working. A Creator creates just as a painter paints. Never the same thing created the same way twice. God doesn't use molds, He makes everything fresh.