Vol 1, Issue 2

Christmas has such a different feel for me now that I am twenty six. I know that the real reason for the season is the birth of our savior. Jesus Christ came to bring completion to a work that was started even before there was a beginning. I am eternally grateful for the sacrifice that God made when Jesus was born, only to be out done by the sacrifice Jesus made when he died. The truth is that with out the birth of our savior, there is no reason for Santa’s existence.

I like to think of Christmas as two separate holidays. One is the glorious celebration of the Messiah’s birth. And the other is a family holiday of glad tidings and joy, albeit overly commercialized, that focuses on giving gifts of love and goodwill to all men regardless of station or rank.

When thinking about the second holiday that I have enjoyed since I got my Tonka dump truck at age 5, I am saddened to think of the difference in a five-year-old Christmas and a twenty-six-year-old Christmas. I was still able to get the gift that I wanted. But it wasn’t the same because the 12-gauge shotgun that I got was something that I could have gotten by myself if I had wanted. At five years old I was unable to go and get my coveted Tonka truck on my own. There was so much anticipation and surprise with the Tonka truck. But with the shotgun, I had already resigned myself to: “If I don’t get the shotgun, I would just save enough money and then buy it at a later date.”

I suppose this is a great reflection of the real Christmas holiday. The gift of Jesus Christ is so wonderful, so profound that it has to be given and not earned. We can never earn or possess on our own the salvation of Jesus Christ. He has to be given. He has to be accepted with the knowledge there is nothing we can do or say that will influence the love that God gives us. He loves us fully as adopted and chosen children.

The hope is that everyone clings to and accepts that gift of salvation with the same fervor and intensity that a five-year-old boy embraces his first bright yellow Tonka truck.

Vol 1, Issue 1

The question becomes, "what will be your legacy for the world?" I have always seen myself as the thoughtful and serious type. The truth is that I sit here in the reality that legacy is something undefined until people see it in retrospect. With a super-sexy wife and and a baby on the way, I find myself thinking long and hard about my legacy.

My hope is that my legacy hasn't been completed. You see, up to this point, I haven't had the best of histories for introspection. There are things that I would be happy to forget if not erase. But the best part is the unfinished page. I suppose right know, even as I contemplate young Parker floating around in Erin's belly, I am comforted by the unfinished business. To know that my life has so much left to go through. What an encouraging thought, Life is a plethora of opportunity.

People always say that today is the first day of the rest of your life. I always think it is a dumb saying. Of course the rest of each person's life starts over each day. The real saying should be "What are you going to do with the rest of your life?"

So for me, life begins new today. I see my future, my legacy with a great deal of optimism. Not just because my wife is hot, or because my son is just weeks from being here. But because a lifetime can be started new with each day. My choices will have consequences of course, but I get a chance to put behind me the things that weigh me down or even the mistakes I make.

I hope that the choices I make today can have the impact that colors in my legacy with hope, grace and love.