Pastor Don James

Christmas Majesty

I want to invite each and every one of you to let your imaginations take you to the heavenly scene that was taking place just hours before the Angel Gabriel was commissioned to engage Mary and inform her she was about to become great with child by the miraculous work of the Spirit.

Can you imagine the buzz around Heaven that something big was about to happen?  Heaven’s company had awaited this day for thousands of years.  The angels, the elders, the living creatures before the throne had been there for every prophecy given by inspiration to the prophets of old foretelling of the day when  the Messiah would appear.

The host of heaven had witnessed every failure and sin of man knowing their only hope for victory lay in the coming of the Messiah of God.  Day by day they had peeked over the balconies of Heaven and watched the sacrifices of every lamb in the temple, knowing now the day had come when the final lamb was about to appear.  

So now the word was spreading throughout Heaven that the day all of creation had longed for since the foundation of the world was now at hand.  God was about to invade earth in the person of a tiny baby.  How strange… it would happen that way… I mean a baby… how bizarre.  None the less, all of heaven rejoiced.  Soon Gabriel would be dispatched to Mary  and introduce God’s amazing plan.  Soon angelic hosts would “surprise” a band of totally baffled shepherds, and wise men from the east would be guided by a miracle star.

Amazing huh?  Soon the majesty of heaven would be manifest in the earth and take on the name Jesus.  Every time I think about it - I shake my head in wonder… because after all… isn’t that what Christmas is really all about?  Simple; amazing wonder.  Let me encourage you to spend the next couple of weeks as we continue our countdown toward Christmas to allow your self to wonder.  It’s the best thing to do this time of the year.

No Blogspiration

Well there’s a good chance no one will read this because it’s weeks since I have blogged.  There has been very little “blogspiration” going on in my head and heart.  Honestly, for those of you I don’t touch base with a lot I have just come through a time of walking pneumonia and some disc issues in my back.  Tough stuff for a man who believes in divine healing - huh?  Anyway, I think I’m back and maybe if anyone is reading there’s a few things on mind that you might find interesting.  Also check out a couple of the pics from Donna and my trip to the Galapagos Islands.  

Text in “English”

Hey gang - travel has kept me from being able to work on this blog much.  I did receive this interesting tidbit from a friend…enjoy.

The Majority of People Around the World Text in English

   If you’re one of those people who believes English should be the universal language, then I have a tip for you: Grab your cell phone and keep texting! According to a report we found in The New Yorker, there are more than three billion people on the planet who own cell phones right now and in their race to send about a trillion text messages each year, a majority of people are writing their messages in some form of English. Why? Because it’s faster to type! For one thing, the average English word is very short – only five letters long. Compare that to the average Inuit word used by the Eskimos, for example, which comes in at 14 letters long. Also, English words use fewer characters – with just 26 letters in our alphabet. By contrast, Ethiopians have more than 300 symbols in their language and the Chinese use literally thousands of written characters! Since those can’t easily be fit onto a cell phone’s keypad, texters are forced to use the English alphabet to tap out their messages. Since brevity is essential in the texting world, a majority of text messages are based on English words.

   For example, the French are known to text the English word “now” instead of the French equivalent “maintenant” – because it’s faster to type. The Dutch use “2m” as a short-cut way of saying “tomorrow” – another English word. No matter what language a person speaks, most all texters recognize universal phrases like “brb” for “be right back,” “gr8” for the word “great” or the letter “k” instead of “okay” – again, those are all English words! Of course, some purists believe all the shorthand phrases used in texting are an abomination of the English language. That’s a short-sighted view, according to texting expert David Crystal because from a cultural standpoint, he believes those abbreviations have helped spread English around the world faster than any technology in history. In other words, it doesn’t matter if a person in Slovakia types “lol” or “laugh out loud” into their cell phone. Either way, they’re still using English. 

Election musings…

Well since I have been gone for awhile; I just have to think some of you out there might be wondering about my thoughts concerning last week’s election. 

Let me start here… on Thursday night; Sam Huddleston the Ass’t Supt. of Northern Cal/Nevada spoke to us and it was super.  First, you need to know Sam and his lovely wife Linda are African American so that made his comments even more interesting and meaningful. 

Actually his opening line said it all and expressed my feelings pretty well.  Sam simply said the following as he started his message…” I am not looking for a Savior”…. (Obama; McCain; Palin or anyone else)… “because I already have a Savior and his name is Jesus”.

Sam went on to express his concern that many people - even Christians have mistaken the fact that there is really only one person who can fix the mess our nation and our world finds itself in… again that’s Jesus.

Now we all have our personal feelings on the election - some overjoyed at the results - others like myself - very disappointed. HOWEVER,  the results have not shaken my resolve that God is ultimately in control.  That’s it - that’s the bottom line.  I have to trust that God’s hand is in this election - even if some of us don’t like the results.  The Bible makes it clear that God raises up leaders and God can bring them down as well.

So my posture is simple - I am now called to pray, and that means I am to pray perhaps as never before.  I am to pray for our new leaders and pray they allow their hearts to bent toward God and specifically his Son, Jesus.  I am to pray for our congress - and believe me do they ever need it.  And I am to pray for Christ’s church that we don’t lose focus on our real purpose here on this planet and that’s to see the kingdom of God prevail and the lost pointed toward our savior.

This will be a time when it’s very important for our new president to feel like the church and Christians everywhere are praying for him; and not opposing him.  His job will be huge to say the least and he already has a couple of wars to deal with - he doesn’t need another one.  That will not serve him or this nation well.

So does that mean I’m happy about all of this?  uhhhh, no, but it is what it is and as a Bible believing person I will now pray for those who are over me in our government, and I will rejoice that God is still in control and always will be in control!

I’m Back… did you miss me?

Well you may or may not have  known that Donna and I were traveling over the past week - so I’ve been away from an internet connection for the past week.  Actually we were at sea with the Assistant Superintendents of the A/G on a little conference cruise.  Pretty good idea actually - no trouble finding a restaurant that could seat a lot of people.  To be honest I think we only went a few miles off the coast - but we were on the water none-the-less.  It was good to see friends… and of course talk about church business and the election -which for the most part we were a little uninformed with limited TV coverage on the ship.

So anyway I am back. 

A media and money election?

I wanted to weigh in on a couple of things about the election that I think are important.  First of all I am saddened that our democratic system has now ABSOLUTELY been turned over to the media and money and not the general population.

It’s quite obvious our presidency is now following the way of the political trends we have seen here in NJ over the past few years.  In our state we had both a Senator and Governor buy an election - in this case the same guy and amazing enough most of it his own money.  He literally flooded the media in every aspect with commercials; ads; etc.

In the case of one of the candidates, guess who… he has now outspent his opponent 8-1.  Further he has now bought 30 minutes on all prime time TV networks to address the American people as a whole.  This has never been done before - nor would the networks have ever allowed such a thing to happen… but now $$$ is the driving force… not fairness; equal access - nothing.  So I am horrified that our political system has finally arrived at the place of no return… the main thing is the bucks… not the issues; not valid and honorable debate; not a system that believes in fairness concerning the voters.  It started a long time ago… what a shame - now we MAY have arrived.  

This commentary is not a commentary on one candidate or the other - it’s on a system now seriously broken… it’s a sad day when elections are bought… just ask some of the former communist nations… those leaders where just not as smooth in their political ambition as politicians today.