Stephen De La Vega

    Christmas may be a little different this year. The Christmas season may always be hard for some of us, but this year that may be true for many more because 2020 was a difficult year, and Christmas may not seem so merry. Can we still “gather around” in joyful celebration, or will peace on earth fall short this year? This will be the first time in about 12 years my family will not enjoy a white Christmas…     Spending Christmastime in the snow, at a place fondly named God’s playground, has become a family tradition with us. Whatever we could do in the snow, we’ve done it over the years. We’ve also spent Christmas Sundays in our home church away from home, and Christmas Eves singing carols by candlelight in another favorite church. We’ve grown used to recalling the Christmas story while overlooking snow-capped trees and snow-covered mountains. This year COVID infections and the lack of available hospital beds forced us to shelter in place. We can’t leave the...

Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Psalms 51:7b Many of us love snow, at least visiting and enjoying it for a while. It offers a variety of good, clean fun. I enjoy a white Christmas every year. To me, the more snow, the better. It makes me smile. So I hope you enjoy this post about what snow is and how God wants to make every one of us "whiter than snow." (What follows can be read aloud to a group. It is a gospel presentation and a celebration of the cleansing blood of Jesus Christ, our Savior. If you want to share this with a group, you have my permission to read it. That’s why I wrote it. Or, feel free to make it more interactive.  Ask questions. Solicit thoughts to get listeners engaged. And pray that they will understand, appreciate, and accept the cleansing blood of Christ and His gospel.) Whiter than Snow Fresh snow on a calm day brightens us with a special purity. Its as white as we can imagine, and it captivates us as it dances f...