Early to Bed...Early to Sweat!

This Christmas I finally received the gift I have been asking (okay, maybe pleading occasionally) for since last summer. If you are thinking a new diamond or an expensive piece of furniture guess again. What did I receive from my beloved?

A gym membership to the YMCA!!

Some of you (including my husband) think I am crazy for wanting to join a gym, especially as a Christmas present! Since I have been in college, I have enjoyed running or using the elliptical machine and toning up with weights. Occasionally, I enjoy attending a class at the gym too. In college, I went to an abs class twice a week and loved it! When I attended Southern Seminary, a friend and I went running 3x a week. We enjoyed running and exercise is always more fun with a partner.

When we left Southern, I no longer had access to a gym (or at least a "free" membership). For those of you who know my husband, you know that going to the gym is not on his top 10 list of things he must do. Last year, a new friend (whose husband was also a pastor) told me that she had a membership to the YMCA and it was half price for pastors! Immediately I was ready to join, but Josh wasn't (remember I have been asking for a year and a half).

To be fair, there was some definite reason for the delay, other than his desire not to go! I got pregnant last September and a gym membership wasn't at the top of either of our lists. Josh said that he decided that he would get a family membership in November as a Christmas present to me (and of course I hadn't been reminding him how much I would love to go since August!).

Yesterday morning I went for the first time around 6am. It was wonderful rising early to spend time with the Lord and then exercising! As a mom, it is wonderful to have an hour to myself. I was even able to come home and get ready before the kids woke up. It definitely helped me to feel ready for the day by having time with the Lord and time to do something for me.

This evening Josh and I are going together (childcare is provided). He isn't thrilled about it, but he said he would try and I think if we do it together, he will stick with it. We are beginning my New Year's goal early - to be healthier!

Giving So Others May Know

Lottie Moon's Mirror at our church Christmas 2008.

Lottie Moon is a familiar name for anyone who has ever attended a Southern Baptist Church. When I was little, I thought she was a lady the church gave money to because she was poor! Have you ever seen Lottie's picture? She looks like she could use a little more to eat - at least to a 6-year-old! For all my readers who are non-Southern Baptists, Lottie Moon is our annual offering for international missions. It is always at Christmas, which brings me to the point of this post.

Many church members would probably say that we should have the Lottie Moon offering at some other time, because Christmas is such a busy and expensive time of the year. While both of those things are true, I believe that Christmas is the best time to collect an offering for our international missionaries. As Josh explained Sunday morning before our Lottie Moon offering, "At Christmas we celebrate Christ taking on flesh and dwelling among us. Our international missionaries do the same thing as they take on the culture, language, and country of the people they are dwelling among. They illustrate with their lives how Christ came and took on our culture and language and left the glory of heaven to save us from our sin." Praise God for the over 5,000 SBC missionaries who are dwelling among a foreign people, often in dangerous circumstances, so that all people may hear the good news!

A common excuse for not giving to Lottie Moon is, "I don't have the money right now. I have to buy gifts for my family." Josh and I both know the temptation to not give (or not to give sacrificially) because you want to have enough money to give to your family or do something else, and so we decided to plan to give to Lottie Moon. At the beginning of the year, we talk about what amount of money we want to give to Lottie Moon in December, and then we budget for it every month. We have a savings account and part of what we put into savings every month is a portion of what we will give to Lottie Moon in December.

If you are Southern Baptist and don't give to Lottie Moon, I encourage you to give so that the gospel can go forth to those who have never heard. There are so many people in the world who have never heard the name of Jesus. They don't know what Christmas is or if they do, they don't know why we celebrate this holiday.

If you are Southern Baptist and do give to Lottie, but would like to give more, I encourage you to set a goal for what you would like to give next December and save for it all year. It isn't hard to give more, when you have saved all year.

Lastly, if you aren't Southern Baptist, I encourage you to find out how you can support missionaries your church or denomination sends out.

For those missionaries who read my blog, I want you to know how much I appreciate you and thank the Lord for you. While we may sacrifice a little to give to support you, you and your families sacrifice everything to go and share the gospel with those who have never heard. May the Lord bless you greatly as you continue to serve Him and share with all nations!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve has arrived and I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas! I love this time of year because not only do we take time to spend with family, but most of all to remember and meditate on the truth of the gospel: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth" John 1:14. What a magnificent and beautiful picture of Christmas that Jesus took on flesh and dwelt among us so that we could see the glory of the Father and receive grace and truth! There is no greater reason to celebrate Christmas than Jesus leaving the glory of heaven to live with us and in 33 short years, to die for his people - amazing love!

Our family has the privilege of staying at home this Christmas. We are going to Josh's parents this evening, but they live just across town. My parents are coming here for Christmas day and we are so glad! Since Thomas is a little older now we don't want to travel and we want to begin to make special traditions for our family. We are having Santa as part of our Christmas, and I know many Christians don't, but we both "believed" in Santa as children and enjoyed the experience. However, the emphasis is not on Santa, but on Jesus. Tomorrow morning when Thomas wakes up, we are going to read the Christmas story as a family before we ever open presents. As Thomas gets older, we plan to do the Advent calendar and to place the emphasis on giving to others. Josh and I believe in supporting the Lottie Moon Christmas offering sacrificially and we want to teach our children to give as well.

Something Josh said in a sermon a couple of weeks has resonated with me this year, "Don't have a Charles Dickens Christmas, but have a Christ-centered Christmas." While family, food, and gifts are a wonderful part of Christmas they are not the main thing and my prayer for our family is for our Christmas to focus on our God who came to dwell among sinful people.

Merry Christmas to you and your family!