Jesus: Personality and All

Have you ever thought of Jesus with personality?  Have you ever considered Him telling jokes, hanging out with the boys, enjoying playing with children, and so much more?  It is so easy to read the Bible and view Jesus from a special, separated, holy, deity perspective.  We can easily miss his personality.   We can easily forget that He was human just like us.

I am reading a new book by John Eldredge called Beautiful Outlaw .  I am only five chapters into the book but I enjoying the new perspectives of scripture I have read many times.  It is such a comfort to me to know that Jesus truly does understand me.  He has lived like me.  He has experienced joy, anger, pain, love, friendship, struggles, and life.

If you do not know Him today, I hope you will try Him.  Jesus is like no other god this world has to offer.  He is real.  He wants to truly know you.  He loved you so much that He choose to live, die, and raise again to allow a way you could be saved from your sin.  You will never regret getting to know Jesus.

For those who already know Him as their Savior and Lord, I hope that you will learn to know Him as a friend and brother.  He always intended to have a close and real relationship with us.  He always intended for us to know Him through the Gospel accounts and this is evidenced by His giving us the Holy Spirit.  Through the Holy Spirit we can have Him directly in our heart.  I pray you would begin to truly know Him personality and all today.

Blessings,

Greg

Sprained Knees and Christmas Quizzes

Today, I spent the better part of my day at home doing nothing.  Yesterday, I apparently strained/sprained my knee while dragging file cabinets up two flights of stairs to the new office at my work.  I knew something was wrong the moment I twisted it.  I still did some work after I hurt it hoping that I had just stepped wrong and that the pain would go away as quickly as it came.  The pain continued to escalate throughout the evening and by the morning walking was quite a chore.  As I slowly made my way in to work this morning, I did not want to tell my boss that I needed to get the knee checked out but I knew that I couldn't do another day of work like I had the day before on such an unstable knee.

My boss sent me to the doctor where I had the opportunity to wear a lovely hospital gown.  A sweet old lady came to take a picture of my knee and after that I was given the wonderful prognosis of a common knee sprain from the doctor.  The doctor was kind enough to give me work restrictions that touched on every duty I perform at my job.  As I went back to my boss and he saw that I couldn't do much, he sent me home for the day in hopes that I would feel better tomorrow.

So that is how I ended up cooped up in my house today.  I have to admit that being at home wasn't all bad since I was able to complete some rebates I had been meaning to finish, pay some bills, and work on the music selection for church on Sunday.  All in all it turned out to be a pretty decent day.  I tried to be as kind to my knee as  possible and am really hoping that it will feel significantly better in the morning.

This evening Mel and I led our young adult group.  We decided to talk with them about common family traditions they perform.  Our young adults told us about many traditions their families do including: getting together, eating ham and other wonderful foods, going to candle light christmas eve service, giving white elephant gifts, hiding a special ornament in the tree, alternating who reads the Christmas story each year, and more.  As they went on and on about the many things they do around Christmas time, it was easy to identify with many of the traditions they shared.  Some of their traditions reminded me of when I was young, others are traditions that I still continue today, and some where traditions I had never thought of.

We decided to finish the night off with a Christmas quiz that tested how well people know the scriptural account of Christmas.  I have to say that it is alarming how many things we think are true that we received from tradition and children's stories.  Many of the questions were quite difficult and I have to be honest and say that I did not do as well as I would've liked.  I was tripped up by both past tradition and a few trick questions.  I highly suggest giving the quiz an honest try and seeing how you fair.  I hope you get them all right but if you don't, there are scriptures to go with each answer so you can be better prepared next year or even for an upcoming Christmas party this year. ;D Here is the link for the quiz, A Christmas Quiz: Is it scripture or is it tradition?

Blessings,

Greg