the humility of Jesus

just thinking this morning about Christmas, and what it says about the nature and character of God...thinking about what Paul said about Jesus to the pridefully Roman church in Philippi...

"let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, who, though He was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness, and being found in human form He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross."

What a God we serve. The reality of Christmas is this, that our God, who rules the universe, and who spoke it all into existence, wrapped Himself in human flesh and washed the feet of his disciples, even those who would betray Him. There is no greater example of humility. Our God really is an awesome God...and Christmas speaks to that in the biggest way. The story of Christmas elevates Jesus far beyond simply being a good teacher, or a good example to follow. If we are to believe the claims he made about himself, and the testimony of his early followers, then he can be nothing less than THE HUMBLE KING of the universe, who exemplified humility in a way none of us could ever emulate. The reality of Christmas calls forth in me this morning one main response....worshipful gratitude.

she looks like my mom...

ESBS Christmas party

we had a great time celebrating together. lots of good food, christmas carols, gift exchange, and an awesome gingerbread house competition...(which my team won...yeah!

fear the lion

Anna at the beach over Thanksgiving

Ross and Jennifer get the credit for taking and editing this awesome photo!

Bike trip in WVA

In October we took a 4 day bike trip in West Virginia on the Greenbriar river trail. It's a rails to trail conversion that stretches across about a 80 mile swath of beautiful countryside near snowshoe mtn wva. We took four days to ride just over 100 miles on it, camping along the way. Anna rode in her custom bike carrier...snug as a bug, and happy as could be. We all had a great time, and we're looking forward to tackling the New river trail next, before Anna gets too heavy to pull.

thanksgiving in Florida

We had a great time in Florida for thanksgiving visiting Julia's grandparents in Ponte Vedra beach. The whole family was there. Julia's parents, Ross and Jen, the uncles...it was a great time. Tom had to come home earlier than Julia, and he made the mistake of driving on Sunday after Thanksgiving (oops)...it took him 10 hours to do what otherwise would have been a 7 hour drive...taking backroads all over Georgia to avoid I 95.

Dispite the trip home, our time in Ponte Vedra was wonderful as always.