There is something about this mystical, wonderful time of the year that makes you want to make your way home to be with people you love. I remember the Christmas Dad came home from South Vietnam. I was just a little boy and my tiny heart so longed for my Dad. We were all so eager to be together again. And years later there was a bus ride home for Christmas from Chicago to Greenville, Ohio. I had just completed my first semester of study at Moody Bible Institute. It was my first experience away from home.
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Hug the Boy
I’m not sure who said this but I believe there is truth in it; “Someday, after we have mastered the winds, the waves, the tide and gravity, we shall harness for God the energies of love. Then, for the second time in the history of the world, man will have discovered fire.”
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The Hazards of Christmas Shopping
Buying Christmas gifts is not as easy as it looks on TV. Christmas shopping can actually be dangerous. Just getting a parking space at Wal-Mart can be a life-threatening experience. You circle the lot over and over and watch the shoppers leaving the store so you can get their parking space when they leave. Just as the car pulls out and you start to pull in a big rusty van darts into the space ahead of you. You think about expressing a cheerful holiday sentiment to him until he gets out and he has tattoos and chains and black leather clothing. The next customer whose space you covet doesn’t leave he just slumps over the wheel from exhaustion.
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I Brake for Christmas
December days are whizzing by like a run-away sled.
Did you ever find yourself going lots faster than you felt comfortable …right on the edge of being out of control? My first skiing experience was like that. I courageously pushed-off and concentrating on keeping my balance overlooked the importance of keeping my speed under control. At 200 pounds plus (and I do mean plus), it’s important to keep zig-zagging back and forth to keep your speed under control. Three quarters of the way down the slope it occurred to me that no one had ever taught me how to stop gracefully.
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Hope Is Alive. (Christmas)
“Daddy, are all these people Christians?” Holly was Oooing and Aaahing at all the Christmas lights in the neighborhood. “No, honey, I’m sure they’re not.”
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Christmas Poems
Mile after Mile
By Kenneth L. Pierpont
Mile after dark mile
The head-lights cut a path through the night
All around a million multi-colored stand-in stars light the way.
Mile after frigid mile
Cold presses against the cabin of the family car.
Big flakes gather on the windshield the way they should at Christmas time.
Mile after anxious mile
Past a thousand other home- none of them will do
We’re looking for a little house on that’s welcomed us so many times before.
The green house on Auten Road that smells of fresh brewed coffee and love.
Mile after weary mile crawling across parts of two or three states
Until, turning the last corner into the drive, light spills out from within
And dear, familiar faces and warm hugs all around
Remind you why you made the trip,
Mile after dark, fridgid, anxious, weary mile–
–to Grandma’s house for Christmas.
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This Is Our Christmas Prayer for You
By Kenneth L. Pierpont
As the fire on the hearth glows in the night
So may the love of Christ warm your home and bring you light
As the bells in the chapel tower ring
So my the joy of Christ fill your heart and make you sing.
As the snow gently falls to the ground
So may the peace of Christ enfold you all around
This is a Christmas prayer from our home to yours
This is our Christmas prayer for you.
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Snowfall
By Kenneth L. Pierpont
Silently falling through the air the snow
Blankets the bareness of the earth below.
Branches of trees once black are white
With crystals pure and glistening with light.
The hardy venture boldly out into the street
Exchanging cheerful greetings with everyone they meet.
From wherever winters weary wanderers roam
Muffled footsteps make their way toward home.
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Hope Is Alive
By Kenneth L. Pierpont
Hope is alive in the world tonight
It’s Christmas time again,
The bell tower rings
the organ sings
and hope takes wings,
It’s Christmas time again.
Hope is alive in the world tonight
It’s Christmas time again,
The home-fires glow
joys overflow
and hope can grow,
It’s Christmas time again.
Hope is alive in the world tonight
It’s Christmas time again,
Though much is wrong
We have a song
and hope is strong,
It’s Christmas time again.
Hope is alive in the world tonight
It’s Christmas time again,
When there’s no cure
you can be sure
hope will endure,
It’s Christmas time again.
Hope is alive in the world tonight
It’s Christmas time again,
When heartaches wane,
the King will reign
hope will remain,
It’s Christmas time again.
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A Christmas Gift From Heaven
By Kenneth L. Pierpont
Our snow-enshrouded home was nestled
neath God’s providential care
Anticipating the arrival
of a special package there.
Then as if dispatched from heaven
borne on angel-wings
A parcel came to rest among
our festive fashionings
What a priceless little bundle
of life and dreams and love
Came into our home last Christmas
like a present from above.
Yuletide night my eyes were misty
if I must tell the truth
For the Christmas gift from heaven
of our precious Hannah Ruth.
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Christmas At the Farm
By Kenneth L. Pierpont
The trip was long to Grandpa’s farm
But it had a certain nostalgic charm.
On the farmhouse side of the old spring-run
Stood a weathered pine but a lovely one,
And at Christmas time its colored lights
would trigger Certain sibling fights
“I saw it first.” “You did not.”
parents would become distraught
But not for long: these were special times,
When cakes and cookies and Christmas chimes
Drove any trace of gloom away
In anticipation of the sacred day,
Upon which our families would gather in,
It was sure to make my grandma grin.
And the men would imbibe in a football game,
What a family tradition this became,
While the women would gather in the kitchen where,
Holiday delights they would prepare.
The kids gobbled down so many sweets
They ‘d be sick near death of the Christmas treats.
The dinner table took every leaf
And heavy-laden, moaned in grief,
‘Til with appetites insatiable,
We were the ones who were over-full.
After dinner to the Christmas tree
We would gather to with shouts of glee.
The men would open after-shave
(That’s what my grandma always gave).
Annually I would forbear
To open my pack of underwear
But after the handkerchiefs and socks
would always come some trucks or blocks
Or other treasures that let us know,
That we were loved and cherished so,
And that throughout the entire year
This day would remain a memory dear.
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