Who is your Christmas hero ? Santa Clause or Jesus Christ

How many of you grew up believing that Santa Clause was real? I can't remember when I believed he was real suspect there was a time. I remember far more Christmases when I know Santa was simply my parents rather than a red man going down the Chimney.

Despite knowing that Santa Clause was really my parents I enjoyed the idea of getting stockings full of candy and gifts. The whole idea of some guy coming down the chimney to give you presents is a marvelous concept. And you get free stuff while you're at it who could complain at such a deal?

However, this is only part of the Santa Clause belief. The Santa Clause belief goes something like this. Throughout the year Santa makes gifts at the north pole with his elves. He also sends some elves to keep watch on all the children to see if they are good or not. If at the end of the year the children are on Santa's “Nice list” they get presents that Santa has prepared for them. If on the other hand they are on the “Naughty list” they simply get a lump of coal or maybe nothing at all.

So it would seem that if you were considered “Good” as a child you would get presents and if you were “Bad” you wouldn't. I'm not quite sure all the requirements for getting on the “Nice” list were or whether by being more “Nice” whether you would get better and more gifts. However, most people probably didn't put a lot of thought into this because by the time they were old enough to ask these questions they had typically stopped believing in Santa Clause.

Isn't it rather strange that we sing all sorts of songs and tell stories about a person who every adult knows real and yet we tell young children that he is? I think the reason we do this is that it's a fairly non-threatening way of teaching core beliefs to young children. If you are good in this life you will get rewarded, but if you're bad you'll get punished.

So while when we're older we may no longer believe in Santa Clause we still have some vague idea that it is important for us to do what is “right” so that good things will happen to us. If on the other hand we do what is “wrong” then bad things will happen to us. There are many different explanations for this belief depending on where you're coming from. An Atheist or Agnostic may explain it such that if you do nice things to other people other people will tend to do nice things back. A Hindu or Buddhist, will talk to you of the concept of Karma. An Jew, Muslim or Christian will talk about a just God who rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. So basically while we may not believe in Santa clause we do accept some of the basic fundamentals of the Santa Clause belief.

Personally, I'm not a big fan of the Santa Clause belief because it causes problems for those on both the good and bad lists. First of all those people who are on (or think they are on) the good list can become prideful and selfish. When people think they are on the Nice list they can be tempted to think they've done enough good things and they can relax and take a break and not care about anything else anymore. This is often unfortunately seen not only very religious people but also non-religious people who think they are better than everyone else. Secondly, for those who are on the bad list (or think they are at least) don't have a lot of hope. While there may be some people who actually want to be on the bad list I've met plenty of people who really want to be on the “good” list be keep on doing bad things. I've seen it various times where people try hard to do what is right and yet they manage to really mess things up in their lives. For these people the Santa Clause belief offers little hope. It is at this point I'd like to look at another belief system.

The Jesus belief goes something like this. All of us started on Santa's good list and had everything we wanted for Christmas. We got along with everyone and even God himself. But we came to a point in our life where we were given a choice. Should we follow only God's ideas or our own? On a hunch we decided to follow our own plans and chose to learn the difference between right and wrong. All of a sudden we had all these new bad ideas come to our mind and we started to do bad things. Not choosing to follow God ultimately meant that we stopped caring about God or other people and doing things that would give us short term pleasure but long term pain and harm other people as well. We ultimately got on Santa's naughty list.

Oh how we longed to get back onto the nice list but we never managed to do it. Some people lowered the standards and decided to try to get on Santa's non-existent “good enough” list. While others who were continually trying but never managing to get on Santa's nice list got depressed.

At this dark hour is when Jesus came into the world. He was and is the gift given everyone even those on Santa's “naughty” list. Jesus came to offer us something when we were going to get nothing for Christmas. He came to give us the gift we really wanted.

Jesus was the one being who was able to still get on Santa's Nice list. He offered us a chance to switch spots with him so that our names would be on the nice list and his name would be on the naughty list. This allows us to get all the good stuff from Santa for being on the Nice list. This also allows us to get along with people and to be friends with God himself the source of all goodness.

The great thing about the Jesus belief is that all people who really want to be on the nice list can access it if they want. On the other hand those who do get on the “nice” list have nothing to boast about because they didn't get there by their own efforts.

We should be asking ourselves two questions. First: which belief do we want to believe? The Santa belief or the Jesus belief. Secondly: Are either of the characters behind the beliefs true?

You'll have to decide for yourself which you prefer to believe. I've outlined why I don't like the Santa Clause belief and what I like about the Jesus belief. However, it is more important we believe what is true than simply believing in something because we want it to be true.

Are Santa or Jesus real? I know that Santa is not real as I had an opportunity to take a picture of the real Santa clause. To my shock and dismay I found it to be my parents.

I have come to the conclusion based on the evidence I've seen that Jesus is who he says he is and what he says is true. First of all I've read the bible a few times and have found it to be fairly consistent all the way through. There are no major contradictions and it seems to offer a lot of wise advice from what I've seen. Secondly I have seen Jesus in the lives of other people. John 15:4 says “Remain in me [Jesus], and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.” I have seen amazing fruit produced by certain people who claim that Christ is part of who they are. Finally I have seen Jesus work in my own life so that I have been able to do things that I would never have been able to do on my own. For me this has been sufficient for me to believe who Jesus is and what he says about himself.

However, you will need to figure out what you believe and whether you have sufficient evidence to suggest whether or not your belief is true. Who you want you're hero to be this Christmas: Jesus or Santa and are either of them real enough to help you?

Year 2007 review.

This year has been quite an exciting year. This fall I switched jobs and am now working for a startup company in Dunbar called Aegis mobility. I've wanted to try something more challenging in my work and have an opportunity to really grow in my field. Aegis mobility has provided that for me so far. Basically the company is working on a service that will limit cell phone use in cars and offer a platform to allow context specific behaviour for your cell phone. For instance you could be in a movie theater and the cell phone could be smart enough to know not to ring and interrupt people around you. This work will likely get busier in the new year and as a result It will impact my involvement with youth.

Speaking of youth, I've enjoyed working with the youth at Saint Albans and having the opportunity to see new connections form and youth growing in positions of leadership. I've also seen significant growth in the faith throughout the year of some of the youth. It has been a lot of work this year but It's been worth it to see some of the results of the work I've done. This year we had the opportunity to repaint the youth room which has been mostly done and pass off a lot of the leadership to others working with me. I will be taking a 5 month break from youth work in the new year so that I can focus more on my work at Aegis Mobility. However, I am hoping after I return to begin the preparations for a missions trip to Africa with some of the youth.

Something quite wonderful happened to me this year. I now have a girl in my life which many of you will be happy to know. Her name is Alison McKay. She is currently working with Orphans in the Ukrain through a missions organization called YWAM. She has a strong faith and a passion for youth as do I. Not only that she's kind and cute. I've been enjoying spending time with her during her vistit here during the month of December and I hope to spend more time with here in January as well. She'll be going back to the Ukraine at the end of January until the end of June at which point she'll be back in Coquitlam permanently where she grew up.

Other exciting events this year have included visiting my amish relatives in Indiana. Going on a spiritual retreat in Washington (Tierra Nueva) and helping out at the Fine Arts weekend at Camp Artaban. I also try to swing dance when I can but I've found that youth work has been taking up a lot of my life. One final exciting thing was that I had one of my youth stay at my place for a few months which has been both exciting and a challenge.

I haven't yet decided what my new years resolutions are (I'll post them on my blog http://gardion.blogspot.com) but I look forward to see what happens with the new company, see the youth continue to grow (spirtually and in number hopefully), spending more time with Alison when she gets back and catching up with friends. I'm sure other things will come up.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and a happy new year.

God bless you all,

Joel.

Valentines Day

Probably the most well known date in February is Valentines day. This is an important date because on this day 28 years ago, I was born. Now I'm a humble guy and I realize not all of you will be celebrating my birthday on that day. Rather some of you will be spending time with that special person in your life and some will treat it as a normal day. Some people enjoy Valentines day, but there are others who find it tough, a day to remind them they are alone.

So why do we make such a big deal out of Valentines day? I think it has to do with what we are taught as young children. We learn about fairy tales in which a handsome prince rescues a beautiful princess and they all live happily ever after. This story is something we want to beleive even as we grow up.

I remember in high school thinking that if I ever had the opportunity to save the life of a girl I liked surely then she would like me, and everyone else would like me as well and we would all live happily ever after. Strangely, there seemed to be a shortage of dragons, witches, evil step-mothters and/ or natural disasters from which I could save my beautiful princess. The theme of finding the right girl or guy and being happy is emphasized in many modern day movies.

The thought of meeting a beautiful princess or prince charming in your life should make everyone happy shouldn't it? The problem is at some point we grow up. At some point we realize life is not always like the fairy tales. It may come when you see a messy breakup or parents divorcing, or it may come in your own life when you realize the person you really cared about doesn't feel the same way about you. At some point we realize that not all realationships work out as they do in fairy tales and not everyone seems to live happily ever after.

So what does this have to do with Valentines day? Isn't the whole purpose of Valentines to day to to find a girl or guy to spend it with and for those of us who are alone to feel miserable? As one character in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind said. “Valentines day is a holiday invented by greeting card companies to make people feel like crap.”

Being as my birthday is on Valentines day I decided to look into a little history of the day itself. Apparently Valentines day celebrates one of at least three martyrs who most likely were killed on February 14th. Not much is really known about the lives of these saints. It was not until the Middle ages that legends came up and associated them with romantic love. So this doesn't leave us with much does it?

Well I think it does. All we really know is one of three goodly men were martyred for their faith on Valentines day. Basically these men loved Jesus so much that they were willing to die for him. You see Jesus had already died for the sins of these men and all of us. They were simply returning the favour at the cost of their lives. So Valentines day should really about returning the love to Christ that he has given us.

So what happens when we put Jesus back into Valentines day? Let's start with those of us who will be single on that day. Some of us who are alone may have come out of a messy relationship, some of us may have lost a wife or husband who passed away, or some of us may have just been alone for a very long time. If you find Valentines day tough so do I. You know how hard it is to try to have a birthday party on February 14th? By it's very nature it is almost impossible to get more than one person out for that day, that is if I had someone to spend it with. As such in the past I've often tried to ignore the day, but it's kind of hard to ignore your birthday. “Oh you're born on Valentines day that must be great”. Trust me it's not if you're alone.

What does Jesus offer to us who are alone? He offers more love than we could possibly get from any person. He knows us better than any wife or husband or girlfriend or boyfriend could possibly know us. He knows our faults and yet, still loves us enough to be willing to give up his life for us. He is even someone who can identify with our suffereing. He knows what it's like to be to be sad and alone as it says in Isaiah 53:3

He was despised and rejected by men,
a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Like one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

The amazing thing is that at the end of our lives, those of us who choose to love Jesus in this life will be a part of the one true marriage of Jesus Christ and the Church. This is the marriage of which all other marriages are just a shadow of. This is the real thing. Any earthly marriage only lasts until death do you part. However, our marriage with Christ will last forever.

So if you're alone this Valentines day why not spend it with Jesus? Talk to him in prayer, read the Bible and just have a wonderful time with him.

What about you who are dating, married or on your path to getting married? What does Valentines day offer you if you add Christ in? Be aware that life on this earth is short in compared with the eternity that we will spend with Jesus if we love him. So go and appriciate the relationship that you have, for your time on this earth is short and your relationship will last at most until you die..

For you who are married or heading to that path it is incredibly important to have Jesus in your life and to submit to him. For the relationship between a husband and wife is supposed to be like the relationship between Jesus Christ and the church. Your marriage will be on display for the world to see and you will show your faith in Jesus by how well you play your parts.

For wives this means submitting to your husbands as we the church are supposed to submit to Christ. Before any of you start complaining that this is not fair I'd like you to remember two things. First of all I'd like you to remember the scripture in proverbs 21:1 says “The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD; he directs it like a watercourse wherever he pleases.” How much more will the Lord direct the heart of your husband. Secondly remember your time on this earth is short. You're only going to be playing your part for a fairly short time so play it well.

For husbands this means that you are to love your wives like Jesus loved the church being willing to die for her if necessary, you are to build her up in her faith and make her beautiful. Quite honestly this almost seems impossible to me. The idea of loving any person the way Christ loves us. How can we possibly do it? Surely this is an impossible ideal. No it's not. Husbands if you have Jesus Christ in your life then you will be able to love your wives in the same way Jesus loved the church.

I don't think you who are married fully realize what is going on. Certainly marriage is for the two of you so you do not become lonely and have a chance to grow together in your fatih but it is a lot more than that. Ultimately, your marriage is on display for the world, for the angels and for the Father, Son and Holy Spirit to see. You are showing everyone how Christ loves the church and how the church is supposed to love Christ. I believe that at the end of time, some of you who are married will receive a standing ovation from all the angels in heaven. Jesus himself will say. “Well done man you played my part well” “Well done woman you played the part of the church well” “Come and be part of the greatest wedding of all time”

However, there are others of you who I think Jesus may come up to you and say. “Well that was a good effort but I couldn't quite tell who was supposed to be playing the my part and who was playing the part of the church.”

So whatever you're state is on Valentines day be it single, married or dating do not forget Jesus as people are so quick to do. Remember that Jesus gave up his life for us so that we could be with him in heaven. On valentines day one man returned the favour. Will we?

I found this an interesting email I got forwarded.

> Who Created Evil?
>
> As you read this, I challenge you to really let it's meaning sink in. This
> eloquently answers one of the profound questions of life.
>
> Did God Create Evil?
> The university professor challenged his students with this question:
>
> "Did God create everything that exists?"
>
> A student bravely replied "Yes, he did!"
>
> "God created everything?" the professor asked.
>
> "Yes sir," the student replied.
>
> The professor answered, "If God created everything, then God created evil
> since evil exists, and according to the principal that our works define
> who
> we are, then God is evil."
>
> The professor was quite pleased with himself and boasted to the students
> that he had proven once more th at the Christian faith was a myth.
>
> Another student raised his hand and said, "Can I ask you a question
> professor?"
>
> "Of course," replied the professor.
>
> The student stood up and asked, "Professor , does cold exist?"
>
> The professor replied "Of course it exists. Have you never been cold?"
>
> The students snickered at the young man's question.
>
> The young man replied, "In fact sir, cold does not exist. According to the
> laws of physics, what we consider cold is in reality the absence of heat."
>
> "Everybody or object is susceptible to study when it has or transmits
> energy, and heat is what makes a body, or matter, have or transmit energy.
> Absolute zero (- 460 degrees F) is the total absence of heat. Cold does
> not
> exist. We have created this word to describe how we feel if we have no
> heat."
>
> The student continued. "Professor, does darkness exist?"
>
> The professor responded, "Of course it does."
>
> The student replied, "Once again you are wrong sir. Darkness does not
> exist
> either. Darkness is in reality the absence of light. Light, we can study,
> but not darkness. In fact we can use Newton's prism to break white light
> into many colors and study the various wave lengths of each color. You
> cannot measure darkness. A simple ray of light can break into a world of
> darkness and illuminate it. How can you know how dark a certain space is?
> You measure the amount of light present. Isn't this correct? Darkness is a
> term used by man to describe what happens when there is no light present."
>
> Finally the young man asked the professor. "Sir, does evil exist?"
>
> Now uncertain, the professor responded, "Of course, as I have already
> said.
> We see it every day. It is in the daily example of man's inhumanity to
> man.
> It is in the multitude of crime and violence everywhere in the world.
> These
> manifestations are nothing else but evil."
>
> To this the student replied, "Evil does not exist sir, or at least it does
> not exist unto itself. Evil is simply the absence of God. It is just like
> darkness and cold, a word that man has created to describe the absence of
> God."
>
> "God did not create evil. Evil is the result of what happens when man does
> not have God's love present in his heart. It's like the cold that comes
> when
> there is no heat or the darkness that comes when there is no light."
>
> The professor sat down.
>
> The young man's name --- Albert Einstein

Note: appearently it wasn't Albert Einstein. None the less the argument is sound.

Vista is not a copy of OS X

I found a funny video explaining how Windows Vista is not a copy of OS X. I hope this will lighten your day.

Vista did not copy OS X

Chrismas Message 2

Rediscovering Christmas

Last year I wanted to make sure I didn't miss Christmas. I had found that often in previous years christmas would come and go so quickly that I would feel that I had missed Christmas. However, this year, I have slowed things down and have done an honest search for Christmas again.

I find you need to rediscover Christmas each year or again you may find that it has passed you by the same old Christmas you had last year. Here is what I have found in my own life.

I am certain, that there are some of you reading this message who have recently or are currently going through a tough time. Others of you may be filling up your December with so many ctivities, that if you were to slow down you would find something was missing. If you are any of these people I hope this message may be of encouragement to you.

Slightly before Jesus was born into the world the Jewish people were going through hard times. They were under an oppressive ruler named Herod, who seemed to have no issue with killing people. Not only did he kill various members of his family, but he also killed many innocent babies in Bethelem in order to get rid of Jesus (Mathew 2:16-18). The movie the Nativity showed the challenges faced by the Jews around the birth of Christ. So if you are facing difficult times this Christmas season, you are having a very authentic Christmas.

In the last few months I have gone through my own set of hardships. There have been some youth events, that haven't ended very well. There were stressful times in October and November where I was away for about three out of four weekends: For my Grandmothers funeral, a family reunion and for TEC (Teens Encounter Christ). I have also been there to support others in their sorrows.

There have also been some good things that have happened recently. Some of my youth have been totally transformed by the TEC weekend. Out of that I have had the blessing of being able to meet with some youth 3-4 times a week for prayer which is really awesome. However, I have also faced a new challenge that has come out of the weekend as well. It seems that during good times seem to also be mixed with difficult times. So as I go into this Christmas season, I go in as someone who has faced some challenges but has also had the burden over carrying other peoples hardships as well.

So what does the the birth of Christ offer to us going through difficult times? Here is the hope it offers me. Christmas shows me that God cares enough for us that he is willing to come into the world like one of us face the same problems we face. Jesus is a man who is familiar with sorrows. In fact it says

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isaiah 53:3

However, there is another important part of Christmas and that is the element of miracles. Around 2006 years ago Jesus came into the world through a virgin birth to a young teenage girl. Even as Christ was born in a miraculous way 2006 years ago, I have seen miracles happen today as well.

One of my youth had many problems including getting into drugs, dropping out of school, dealing with a hard home life, getting into trouble and depression. This youth who had messed up his life has been transformed by God. Now he is working and finishing up high school, working part time and is taking on leadership role with the youth. He is full of Joy and is using his experiences to direct other youth on the right path to God. The strange thing is that he has grown so much in his faith, and made so much progress in his life that he is now teaching other youth who seemed further ahead of him in their faith and have lived a much better life.

Personally I'd love to see something amazing happen this Christmas. I'm sure some of you would like to see something amazing happen this Christmas as well. So I challenge you this Christmas to ask God for a miracle. Go ahead. Test God. See if he does not amaze you this Christmas with something you would not beleive could happen. See for yourself whether the Christmas story is true. This Christmas I'm asking God for a miracle.

Chrismas Email 2

Hello all,

I figured I would let you know what's been going on in the last year since I sent out my last Christmas email. Sorry for the length. I'm hopping that by dividing things up into sections you can read only what interests you about me. (Which should be everything because I'm so wonderful :) ). I've sent a Christmas message as an attachment so you can read it at a latter time if you wish (This is different then this email). I've also attached a list of my favourite Christmas carols.

Life summary,

Currently I am in my third year at UTStarcom doing full-time software development on the Mobile Switching Center (MSC). I am also in my third year of part-time youth-pastoring work at St Albans a church in Burnaby. In my "spare" time I've done some swing dancing, running, soccer and connecting with friends.

Out on my own

I've been out on my own in my apartment for about a year now. I've moved up from microwaving stuff (at my parents place) to craft dinner and from craft dinner to Chinese stir fry. Most recently I've been baking banana chocolate chip muffins. I've managed to get more comfortable chairs for my apartment as well as I've unpacked all my stuff that were in boxes. I've managed to meet some of the neighbours in my apartment building and I've gotten along great with the landlord. I've really enjoyed being out on my own. Between my youth work and computer work it is nice to be able to go home and have some space to myself.

Youth

This has been a very good but challenging year to work with youth. There have been a few really crazy times dealing with the youth in particular May was challenging time as was this September and October. However, it seems recently some amazing things have been happening. One of my youth who had dropped out of school has decided to go back to school and finish it up and also work part time. I've also been having
having some youth over my apartment regularly to pray for one another and the other youth. Some of the youth are even beginning to look after me which is really cool.

I've also gotten involved with TEC (Teens Encounter Christ) which has had a huge positive influence on my youth. All in all it's been a tiring but very rewarding year with the youth. I'm looking forward to have a week vacation from my work and youth work so I can be re-energized to go back to youth work and my Computer work.

UTStarcom work

My job at UTStarcom has gone quite well. I got a fairly large raise at the start of the year. I also recently got put in charge of projects involving packaging and installing our product. This is been the area I've wanted to work in since by doing this part well it should save people a lot of time setting up our system and patching it. This should also improve other parts of the product development life cycle. I'm
quite happy with my work at the moment.

Summer

My summer has been awesome. I got plenty of opportunities to go out dancing, catch up on old friendships, get away to Roberts Creek and even head down to Denver Colorado for a wedding with my family.

Significant Events this past year in my life

- Both my Grandmothers passed away this year
- Got involved with two TEC (Teens encounter Christ) weekends
- Went to a family wedding in the summer
- Went to the Overholt Family reunion with 160 people (and that's not
all of them)
- Was in a Jury for a trial happening in February
- Got raises for both my Youth work and my work at UTStarcom
- Gave two sermons in front of the church.

What's happening next year

- I'm giving a sermon on February 4th at 8:00am and 10:00am at Saint
Albans (7717 19th Ave Burnaby B.C.). You're welcome to drop by if you
want.

New Years resolutions

God
- Take one day a week off from all regular work to spend with God (A
Sabbath)
- Spend an hour a day in the morning in Prayer and Read the Bible
- Practice the presences of God in my life
- Go on some mini-missions trip and/or help with summer camps
Youth
- Grow the prayer/Bible study group
- Encourage youth leadership
- Connect 1 on 1 with more youth
- Get a woman leader to help connect with the girls
- Connect with the youth with the Church

Work
- Learn ClearCase
- Improve patching/packaging of our software
- Improve the testing process
- Look into Eclipse
- Get better Requirements for my work

Personal
- Learn speed cleaning
- Make good use of my organizer
- Keep up to date with finances
- Get a 50 minute race time for the sun run
- Update my blog (gardion.blogspot.com)

Relationships
- Connect with People in New/West Burnaby
- Maintain friendships
- Connect with Family

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year.

Update: I changed the service times to 8:00am and 10:00am. Also the attached Christmas message in pdf is not the same as this email. Rather it contains the message above this post.

Summer's almost over

This summer has been fairly relaxing. I went down to Denver Colorado for a wedding in early July where it was raining the whole time. After comming back I went up to Roberts creek for a weekend. I've managed to get out dancing to the showboat most thursdays and caught up with some friends, playing Axis and Allies, going out for food and catching up with some people. I have also mostly organized my place so that I know where everything is.

Hopefully I'll be writting again soon :)

Christmas Email

Here is a copy of My Christmas email I sent out this year. (It's kind of late now but I figured I'd post it anyways).

Hello all,

Merry Christmas everyone. Welcome to the second annual Joel Christmas/New Years email. I hope you're all having a good time this season. I figure I'd Let people know what I've been thinking about recently (Christmas) and what's been going on in my life this past year.

This years email is rather long, sorry about that. I'll try to keep it shorter next year. In the mean time if you would rather not receive this yearly email please let me know and I'll take your name of the list.

Christmas Message

As Christmas approaches I have begun to think a little about Christmas and what it means. Christmas seems to be a really crazy time of year with many social gatherings and general busyness. Sometimes it seems to me that I get so caught up in all the activities of the season that I feel I've missed something important. It seems there is a large build up to something and then when Christmas passes by I look back and think "Did I just miss something?"

If we look back at the first Christmas if you will things were equally crazy back then. As it says in Luke 2:1 "In those days Ceaser Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world." Because of this decree, everyone had to go to their own towns which meant huge crowds of people all in one place. (Kind of reminds of you of a shopping mall around Christmas doesn't it? ) In fact there were so many people coming back to their home towns, that some of them found it hard to find a place to stay.

During all this chaos, a baby is born in a manger. I guess the response back then was, as it is often to day for many people today, "So what, Babies are born all the time why should I care?". And you know something, this is an important question even if it is sometimes asked with the wrong motives. This is the kind of question I have been asking especially at the end of the year. Why should I care about celebrating
the birth of Jesus? At Christmas people will often go through the whole life of Jesus. However, I think we should slow down and celebrate the birth of Jesus without rushing into the rest of his life.

After a child is born, it doesn't seem to do much other then cry, sleep, eat, poo and pee. Are these "activities" the kinds of things we should be celebrating? No, I think one of the greatest things that a baby offers is hope for the future even when things look difficult now. There is hope that in the future, the child will have a positive affect on the world around it. And this is especially true of Jesus. In fact when he was born the angels said to the shepherds in the fields (Luke 2:10b-11) "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news and great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

And so we have a choice. Either we can let Christmas rush by us as it did to most people in the fist century and feel like we've been cheated in some way, or we can choose to remember that Jesus was born into this world so that [we] may have life and have it to the full. (John 10:10b)

My Life

This last year has been fairly busy. Recently I spent a week down in Florida for a double wedding and hung around with cousins. I've also recently moved out into Burnaby right across the street from the church I do my part time youth Pastoring work at. All this is on top of my regular busy schedule of ull-time work at UTStarcom in software development along with part time youth pastoring work along with the occasional swing dance here and there. The work at UTStarcom is going well. I really enjoy the people there and there is a lot to learn. One of our largest customers was happy with our product. This should make things easier for the next year. Things seem fairly stable so far but sometimes things seem a little slow. I'm hopping to be a bit more challenged in the new year in terms of the work I do.

The youth work at the church is going well. We've got a youth web forum up and I've started a Bible study for youth last October which is in addtion to the by-weekly activites and Sunday School. I'm getting to know the youth a lot more and they're getting to know me more.

Moving out has had it's own set of challenges. Now there are more things to do such as cleaning and cooking. I'm also not totally unpacked nor do I have everything quite where I want it. This will probably take a little time.

I've done a fair bit of swing dancing and some ballroom dancing in the summer but I've done far less in the fall since I've got youth activities and social activities often on Saturday evenings. Saturday also happens to be the regular night here for swing dancing. Here are some new years resolutions I've been thinking about

1. Get fully settled into my place in Burnaby (stuff organized,
unpacked and cleaned)
2. Work on a larger project at work and be more focused.
3. Find ways to connect with all the youth be they new to the christian
faith or long time church goers
4. Get more help with the youth
5. Find something fun to do and do it regularly
6. Find a group of people that I can lean on for support (probably a
bible study of some sort)
7. Get connected to the Burnaby community and my neighbours.
8. Grow in my Faith in God.

I should get some sleep now but I hope that you all have a Merry
Christmas and a Happy New year. Hopefully we'll run into each other
sometime in the new year.