Stephen De La Vega

Hi friends. Enjoy this short poem. Jesus deserves the best gifts. Share your thoughts in the comments below. A Gift for Jesus What gift will we bring For Jesus the King? What gift will we lay ‘neath the tree? Our gifts are in spots A few, maybe lots But none are for Christ, can we see? We care for those near For those we hold dear But He is most dear, let’s agree He’s done much for us Gave life, love, and thus We’re dear to Him, though without plea We owe Him our all Oh, hear the King’s call Ourselves in return, let it be So, what will we give? How then will we live? What gift will we lay ‘neath the tree? Find all of my Christmas posts  here . If you want to know more about Jesus and His gift that He offers freely to all, please email me at authordlv@att.net. Read more blog posts here .

Sometimes I get distracted in my service to God. He placed me in some clearly-defined ministries during this phase in my life, but I negotiate plenty of competing priorities and distractions. Many times, the ministries take second place. I lead 2 Bible study groups, I’m a faith blogger, and I write Bible study guides for small groups. My primary spiritual gift is teaching and these ministries make up the road God paved for me. Besides the typical daily distractions, even other ministries could steer me away from the path God laid out for me. I can do other things that He may not have reserved for me. I could teach in other ways, like helping out in Sunday School. Or, in lieu of direct teaching, I could support leaders of a variety of care ministries. I could also join the choir and participate in church musicals. I’d really enjoy that. I can do these other things in self-sacrifice for God and people, but they may not be what God wants me to do. They would be parenthetical – th

God didn't simply create water. He created water that expands and contracts when the temperature changes, and sometimes it boils and freezes. He created water with surface tension such that small insects can walk and skim across it. He created water that climbs and moves along various materials through capillary action. God didn’t simply create light. He created light that carries color to our eyes. He created light with velocity and it physically travels from one point to another. He created light that can reflect off shiny surfaces, refract around objects, bend through glass and water, and offer a rainbow that delivers the promise of God to never again judge mankind with a worldwide flood. And God didn't simply create the stars of this post: the puffer fish.* He created them wtih the instinct to produce visually stunning topography on the sea floor. It's an intentional, precise topography with long term, beneficial ramifications. [Use these links to

I took a few major road trips with family this year which included visits to 21 different National Parks in 8 different states. That’s a lot of nature and far too many miles. We spotted a variety of wildlife: grizzly and black bears, moose, elk, a fox, bison, bighorn sheep, pronghorns, deer, prairie dogs, jack rabbits, chipmunks, squirrels, and scores of flying animals, including, an owl, turkey vultures, quail, and even a bat. We had our share of adventures, too! We hung from cables to hike a rock slab mountain. We navigated snow cover in search of marked trails. And, possibly the most rewarding, we began a hike in the rain to see one of the most photographed natural arches in the world. And, on a typical day, there are tens and sometimes hundreds of people surrounding the arch, but we managed to get sun-shiny pictures without anyone else in the frame! But that hike to the arch was not for the faint of heart, and some of the other trails and trail heads were anyth