Today and tomorrow millions of people will gather to celebrate Christmas.

Share your lives.
Share your gifts.
Share your time.
Share your stories.

Someone might ask about Jesus from Nazareth.  Please tell Jesus’ story too.

Here’s how writers began his story:

This is how Jesus the Messiah was born. His mother, Mary, was engaged to be married to Joseph. But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Joseph, her fiancé, was a good man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly.

I believe almost all mysilentscream readers want to have good friends, and be a good friend.

Last week I spent time with my two longest-term best friends, Steve and Murph. While spending time in and easy conversation with old friends I was reminded what a treasure they are to me.

I also was reminded how often I take them and our friendships for granted.

I hope that you have less regrets in your friendships. Maybe this assessment will help you evaluate how good of a friend you are. As you take it I hope that you
– Feel encouraged that you have some helpful friendship skills
– Find some strategies that aren’t helping you or your friends

Believe in people.

Yes, believe in people, but not too much.

Beware “relying on human beings”, wrote C.S. Lewis.

(They’re) going to let us down.
The best of them will make mistakes;
all of them will die.

We must be thankful to all the people who have helped us, we must honour them and love them. But never, never pin your whole faith on any human being: not if he is the best and wisest in the whole world.

There are lots of nice things you can do with sand; but do not try building a house on it.”

This Christmas week was very different. For the first time since we got married we did not travel.  We had a great time the 23rd — our Christmas — but the 24th & 25th felt a little empty and lonely.

Don’t get me wrong, we had a peaceful and blessed Christmas week, it was just different than in the past.

Perilous Presents

If our family and friends depended on me knowing their interests and needs they would never get anything.  Whether I’m being frugal or I’m ignorant, I simply don’t know what people like.

Welcome to all the new mysilentscream readers who joined us yesterday!

Here are a few holiday stress-busting suggestions:

Take a warm bath or a long relaxing shower.

Take a walk. Bundle up with a buddy and get your body moving.  Walk outside. Look around.

Take a five deep relaxing breaths. Exhale slowly.

Take a nap. Nap – not to hide from your responsibilities, but to retreat, recharge and recover.

Headlines announce the news of the day.

You a Jersey Shore fan?  Did you know that  ‘Jersey Shore’ star Snooki was hit with $7 Million lawsuit?

Maybe you love Jersey but don’t care about Jersey Shore. Did you know that, All 5 aboard a plane died when it crashed ON an interstate highway in New Jersey?  Or, maybe you heard that Jersey-born Jon Bon Jovi was dead?

We want to know accurate information.  We want to know the truth.

The Truth

No, Jon Bon Jovi is not dead.

Tazzy, known as Taz, was part of our family for almost fourteen years. A miniature schnauzer, Taz was a big dog in a little dog body. Energetic, animated and friendly Taz enjoyed playing and enjoyed people.

Taz is the one with the big smile on the far right in the photo.

Some dogs are inside dogs, other dogs are outside dogs, Taz lived in our house. When he was a puppy he slept in his dog crate; a large metal cage with one-inch square mesh. Comfortably cushioned Taz’s crate was safe place for him to sleep, to find security and to stay out of trouble.

Friday I met with one of my favorite people. For more than a decade Erica Wilson and I worked together at TreeHouse. While Erica is disinclined to gamble with her money, recently she gambled with her life. Erica left behind her job, friends and family and moved to Belize for three months.

While it was not a permanent departure from her life in Minnesota, it was a significant life transition.

I asked her, “How do you gamble losing all that?“

Erica smiled with a slight shrug, “The only thing that comes to mind is that I trusted God with it completely.”