Kelly and I returned from our trip to Texas late on Wednesday evening. The Lord was kind to give us a flawless trip there and back (around 2200 miles of driving). We had enjoyable visits with friends and family and a relaxing Christmas weekend.

It has been a year and a half since our entire family has been together (we did miss Aaron this time though – my youngest sister’s husband) and we had a very enjoyable time together. I have two younger sisters, Jill, and Dana. Jill is a single mother (divorced) of three incredible kids, Ahston, Avery and Austin. Dana is married to Aaron and has two beautiful children, Danae and Jaden. Dana surprised us all with the announcement that she and Aaron will be having a third child in July! Christmas Eve was a fun time opening gifts together, listening to music CDs that the kids received and seeing them put on a great dance show and contest for us.

That morning, we worshiped at the church my dad pastors, Busland Baptist Church in Bushland, Texas. He has been there for about four and a half years now. I was encouraged with the number of people present (it is quite small) and the genuine kindness that they showed to Kelly and me. Jill and her daughter Avery sang a beautiful song together, “Remember Me.” Being in the Texas Panhandle, the church has a number of people connected to the farming and ranching industries. Smiley was one such individual in the church. He got up just before the message to recite a poem. Honestly, I began to cringe. Smiley is a big burley man who looks and sounds like a stereotypical Panhandle rancher (if that doesn’t make sense to you – I can’t really explain it – thick accent, and the exact opposite of the New York lawyer-intellectual type). From memory, he began to tell this poetic story of two men who had to be out on the ranch handling cattle on Christmas, while the rest of their family and friends celebrated the holiday. With perfect feeling, inflection, humor and intensity, Smiley reflected the poetic story which focused upon Christ as the center of Christmas as opposed to all of the modern holiday trappings too usually associated with the season. I was humbled and encouraged with Smiley’s worshipful offering. Dad then preached a good message on bringing Glory to God as the key to finding peace on earth and good will toward men. While the worship service details were quite different than my own personal preferences and disposition would have chosen, I found it to be an encouraging time of fellowship and worship – thankful for the opportunity to gather with God’s people and publicly give praise to Christ.

Christmas day was a more difficult day for me. Prior to coming to Texas and throughout the trip, I had been fighting a head cold. Christmas day marked the end of the fight and I was whipped. I think I sat in a chair in the living room and miserably coughed and sneezed my way through the day. Watching the Cowboys get stomped added even more misery to the day. The one area I would have enjoyed more is being more intentional in placing Christ at the center of our celebration. Kelly and I have been talking of how we are purposing to be more purposeful in our bringing honor to Christ during the holidays we celebrate as a family. That evening, before we went to sleep, Kelly read from Luke 1 and 2 (I had all but lost my voice and all energy due to the cold) and we prayed together and finished our Christmas day meditating on the Savior and the redemptive meaning of Christmas. One of my resolutions: We will be more intentionally Christ-centered in our future family holiday celebrations.

The day after Christmas, we slept in – a rarity in our lives. As I was beginning to feel better, Kelly was beginning to have the cold symptoms. We spent our final day with the family and had a joyful dinner together that night and said our good-bye’s to all the kids and my sisters and parents. Upon arriving back at our hotel, a young man from the church I pastored in Texas was there in the lobby to see me (it was about 9:15 p.m.). Clint used to show strong desires to walk with Christ but in the past ten years has run a course away from the Lord. I was encouraged to see him and we sat in the lobby and I had the opportunity to talk to him about his life and about the Lord. Clint has been and will be much in my prayers. I got back to the room some time after 11:00 p.m. and we finalized packing and got to bed around mid-night. By 6:30 am. we were on the road back to California. It was a good trip, exhausting in some ways, encouraging in many ways and created in me a greater resolve to be much more Christ-centered in the way we celebrate the holiday season.