GLENN'S PODCASTS!

CHRISTMAS DECORATIONS

There's no need to spiritualize Christmas trees, ribbons and bows or mistletoe or a zillion other things related to celebration of the Lord's birth which followers of the Christ-child have done for over a thousand years. Some think it quite ungodly, worldly and pagan to put out special candles and etc. over Christmas. We neither worship nor condemn Christmas trees! I'm frankly convinced Jesus could either care less or in fact even enjoys our decorating. Why? It's all about heart and motive folks...

I suppose I could go into a discussion about the wise men and all the amazing "stuff" they laid before Him and some would feel better due to the symbolism we attribute to the gold, frankincense and myrrh... but that's too easy and of course when we decorate we do it largely for ourselves, family and friends over the holidays. Beauty- true beauty honors God. If you don't get that I don't know what more to say- as ALL beauty reflects the glory of God on earth. If it does not, whom or what would you say it reflects?!

But getting to why I think Jesus is even blessed by our beautifying of homes, workplaces and church meeting houses during this season: though He had (as far as we know from Scripture) nothing more of materialism than the one full-length garment He wore and a pair of sandals on His feet, no home, no pillow for His head, He said generally little to others about "stuff" except that they should sell it and give the money to the poor and follow Him. He -did- day we should "forsake all" but if the only correct interpretation of that meant that if we REALLY followed Him we'd all literally choose to only have one full-length outfit there isn't a person reading this except the poorest of the poor who is glorifying God by their lack of material things!

The fact is that Jesus wasn't born on December 25th, Scotch pine trees and snow on that date (or any other) aren't exactly common in Galilee and by all reasonable considerations there were no decorations of any sort in the cowshed where He entered our world.

Yet He is KING, and no king, especially the holy, sinless, sacrificial Lamb Who is the Eternal King of glory- should be offered merely dirt, old straw and the scent of animal excrement. One might make an argument that this would "truly" be the offering Christians might bring Jesus if we were more biblical... but I think not.

I sometimes ask myself "If I was sweeping Jesus' floor, doing Jesus' dishes, taking out Jesus' garbage would I do it like I am or would I put more love, heart, effort and thought into it?" Believe me, this sort of thinking means that at times we must get extravagant in our labor and in our consideration of Him and those He loves. I don't mean we need to spend loads of money doing it but we do need to spend more thought, effort and creativity for the beauty we seek to reflect.

My wife has tallied some 37 years of holiday cooking and decorating for our marriage and family including children, grandchildren, extended family and friends. It's absolutely a labor of love and she knows how to do it in a BIG way!

She totally loves Jesus and has taught me the value not only of brilliant cooking (as Southerner this lady can cook!!) but also presentation of the meal. Therefore our Thanksgivings and Christmas celebration meals have been frankly amazing for many years. All the cool brown ware plates, cups and such come out. Special platters, candles, candle holders, linen tablecloths, linen napkins, silverware, cool glasses and various other table settings, lighting, the whole deal happens around here at Thanksgiving and Christmas as well. It's a LOT of work but I can tell you it's memorable. She does it out of love- truly.

Years ago we realized her allergies and breathing couldn't take real Christmas trees so we moved to an artificial tree and some years back went beyond that- Wendi and I don't do a tree at all- rather we decorate our entire room- like, 80 percent of it- with Christmas villages, churches, houses, little kids, Christmas and winter snow scenes, bows, balls, birds, lights, wreathes... you'd have to see it to understand. Our grand kids and other little kids on our floor here at JPUSA love it and some of the stuff such as a really cool carousel and also a village with horse-drawn sleigh (etc.) play Christmas hymns and carols. All I can say is that it takes about 3 full days just to put it all up, about 1 to take it all down and pack up until the following Christmas and every year she adds a few new bits... but the girl makes the place full of light, life, joy and beauty.

Over Advent we of course read a great deal of God's Word together as a couple, family and church. We have an incredible Christmas celebration of prayer, song and food where Wendi and several other excellent cooks make exceptional chili, clam chowder and matzoball soup, also various breads and treats (low-carb is getting she and I fit so we have other options) and it's just a feast... and the presents- especially for the kids- are stacked pretty high. We are indeed Americans- and though we live very simply from day-to-day, live in one room, don't own a car, and neither of us gets a salary... though we live a rather basic lifestyle for the sake of mission and calling- and though I'm typing this on a 128 meg laptop (with a wonderful free version of DSL Linux on it) that most people would toss into a landfill due to it's age and lack of "sauce"- we do Christmas and all the decorations because we love Jesus, one another and deeply enjoy the color, lights and joy, yes, even the work of making memories that our grand kids, children and friends will never forget.

It's about love, tradition and family. It's a lot of work- but it's -not- about pharisees, Grinch's or false spirituality denying the beauty we are capable of accenting as we wait for the coming of the Christ-child.

Tonight I sit surrounded by the sights, sounds and soon, smells of Christmas. It's all about nurturing family, creating community, sharing, brightening lives and offering a love and joy that makes the unspoken statement:

Jesus -and those we love- are worth decorating for.

Merry CHRISTmas to you and yours!
-Glenn

THANKSGIVING
(a looooong update here... you've been warned :)

I'm so thankful for Jesus, for my incredible wife Wendi, my sweet family,
pastors and friends at JPUSA and Project 12! Also thankful for safety and
just a blast on our recent vacation. Wendi and I had a lot of restful and
fun time together, she also worked on several cool sewing projects and I
spent some wonderful hours in the woods at Cornerstone Farm, some
successful hunting, prayer and just enjoying seeing all the autumn colors,
deer, squirrels, gorgeous red foxes, waddling groundhogs, turkeys moving
down a hillside and more! These days were just beautiful, peaceful and restful.

At night we'd ride up to re-fill fresh drinking water, take out the trash
and just ride around the property deer-watching, often seeing as many as
16 deer in various spots all over the Fest grounds. During Cstone I'm sure
they just hide out in the woods... heh!

Our first weekend out there we had a Saturday trip to Pekin, IL where a
young bro. named Kyle was presented the exquisite guitar our friend and
brilliant luthier Rod (J. R.) Mc Clellan created soley for him. A deal had
been struck between Rod and Cstone Fest to do a raffle at the festival,
rather cheap tickets but the proceeds would help defray the enormous cost
of doing the fest each year. Rod donated his services and all other parts
needed to complete the guitar. The winner would tell him exactly what sort
of guitar- down to the smallest detail- he or she would like in the
instrument made specifically for them.

Rod, Cornerstone Festival director John Herrin, Wendi and I gathered at
Kyle's and with his kind parents were blessed to see it placed in his
hands. A very cool moment!

Rod also books Josiah's Place, a Coffeehouse outreach of Overflowing Cup
in Beloit, Wisconsin. They're old friends and REZ, myself and GKB have
partnered with 'em in concerts, prayer and other ways since the early
seventies... I get to do a solo blues set there Dec. 2nd. The amazing Bob
Bennett and also amazing Rex Carroll with do sets on the night, all to help
benefit the many ministries they do in the area. Hope to see some of you
there.

Wendi and I also visited our friends Pastor Bill and Don over at Peoria
Outreach Center/City Church and they gave us the grand tour! A great time
of fellowship with some wonderful brothers who really care and serve those
in addiction, poverty and overall need. A great visit.

We then headed back to Cstone for continuing vacation until the next
weekend where I was blessed to do a show at the 7th anniversary of the
Jesus House in Bloomington. Bonnie and Tom are sweet and good friends who
do a wonderful service to needy folks much like City Church in Peoria,
there in Bloomington. Ashley Cleveland (brilliant singer-songwriter) and I
provided music and ministry on the evening to a kind, packed audience.
Many of our Project 12 discipleship group drove down from Chicago to
attend, and I personally had great chats and prayer with a number of
people at the end of the night.

After two more days of vacation we headed home to Chicago and now I have a
zillion things to chip away at re. online writing, podcasts and other
stuff related to the new GKB project, Project 12 teaching and web
posting... so hopefully I can get some of that done in the next week.

After thanksgiving I get a couple more days in the woods to hunt, then
to the Beloit show, then into work on the new GKB project in earnest. I
think we have a great group of songs from Roy and a few of mine to work
with and I'll be really looking into the lyrical side of things in those
first several days.

I also plan to do some vidcasting for YouTube (that'll be posted when
some are done and up there) including an interview with our talented and
serious-about-Jesus sis Maron, fellow label-mate on Grrr Records. I want
people to hear this lady's heart. Maron and band will be hitting a number
of festivals and other dates in '08, but her heart is as serious about God
as her voice and songs are powerful.

A little bit about Thanksgiving-

For those outside the U.S., Thanksgiving is in short, a time when families
gather for a huge meal and fellowship, often watching American football on
tv, etc.. It's a reflection on the first Europeans who settled on the East
coast (Massachusetts) who reportedly gave thanks to God on a particular
day due to His provision for their new colony in America. Native Americans
were a large part of both how and why they survived that first difficult
winter as these (true, original Americans) taught them about corn, squash
and in general helped bail them out of starvation. For all this, the
English settlers gave thanks and had a dinner together.

Today it's mostly family and parties and God is forgotten or only slightly
acknowledged as The Provider... but not in our house! He is THE Provider
and brings us daily grace from cradle to grave and for those who follow
Jesus Christ, forever! So we indeed have family, a huge meal and lots of
close fellowship... and yep, watch a bit of American football, but also
give thanks.

Canadians have their own Thanksgiving Day, earlier, in October.

I think it's more than a good tradition, but that our heavenly Father
deserves Thanks from ALL His children for His incredible love and grace,
of course, daily, not only one day each year. But it's good to stop,
pause, "count our blessings" and that is indeed what we'll do.

Thanks for your prayers, kind emails and continued support on so many
levels. Myself and Wendi, JPUSA and all our many ministries to the poor,
homeless, widows and orphans, fringe kids, seniors and minority people and
of course our discpleship work at Project 12 depend on so many servants,
so much prayer and deeply appreciate it!

Remebmer that our loving God, our Provider Who "gives us all things to
richly enjoy" commands us- "in everything give thanks, for this is the
will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you."

With Love and Grateful Thanks, -Glenn

VACATION NOTES-

Yep, Wendi and I got a vacation this year- and each year for two weeks... but we're able to spend it this year, right when all the autumn colors have been changing, the deer and other wildlife are all over C'stone Farm, the nights are cool and good for cuddling, and the cook (Wendi!) is both beautiful and incredibly good at low-carb meals. Let's just say It's been a REALLY good vaca. for us so far.

I've spent as much time in the woods as I've wanted to, and mostly spent time with my best girl. We miss our kids, grandkids and Project 12 staff and students but I gotta tell ya, with the travel schedule this year we were both quite ready for the break.

At the end of our vacation I'm pleased to do a show along with Ashley Cleveland with some great friends at the Jesus Coffeehouse in Bloomington, IL, so that'll be cool!

I'm mostly offline out here but have enjoyed a load of encouraging emails and will try to respond as much as I'm able in about a week and a half.

Rest. Like all other good things from God, it's quite a good gift!

Thanks for your prayers and for stopping by- and again, Happy Thanksgiving to all in the U.S., we've a great deal to thank God for.

Hugs,
-Glenn