By Mike Peek

I do not believe that I am like Ebenezer Scrooge in his greed, nor do I believe Christmas a bah humbug; however, like Scrooge, I am haunted by the ghost of Christmas past, the ghost of Christmas present, and the ghost of Christmas future.  I have several fond memories of Christmases past, and I know, like Scrooge, the stories of Christmases past have taken part in shaping Christmas present, and Christmas present will take part in shaping Christmas future.  I have fond memories of Christmases past, my last post was such a story.  One story, that I have thought about, often this week, occurred on Christmas morning 1976. My father was a Dallas firefighter-paramedic. While growing up in his household, I occasionally spent the night with him at the fire station. Christmas Eve 1976 was such an occasion.  I don’t remember this particular instance at the fire station; however, I do know, when I spent the day with him, at the fire station, the men included me in the daily cho...

A few days before Christmas, the year 1989, a young man went on a road trip, with a single woman and her infant child.  They were both, in the Army, stationed at Ft. Knox in Kentucky, a field hospital unit, she a surgical technologist, and he, a radio and telephone operator. His family lived in Garland, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, and her’s, in the village of Stanley, Louisiana, several miles south of Shreveport. The plan was for someone from her family, meet them in Shreveport, and he would continue on to his boyhood home in Garland. He had a new truck, and she had an older, less reliable, small car. Since it was on his way, they traveled together.  He dropped her off, her sister meet them in a Shreveport parking lot, and he drove the rest of the way to his parent’s home in Garland. It was a very very cold Christmas, especially for the south. His automobile, which was suppose to be the reliable one, broke down while in Garland, this extended the stay and left her without a rid...

Are we anything or are we nothing at all? Day to day we walk the earth but for what purpose? We are born, we grow, we live and we die. Generation after generation, very few live in historical memory, but most are forgotten. If not to be remembered, for what purpose do we walk the earth and for this specific time?  The scripture says that God created man, male and female in his own image, yet all have sinned and fall short of his glory.  It is the Christmas season but this season has different meaning, to do different individuals. Are we all the creators of our own meaning or is this part of our falling short of God’s glory? If we all fall short, then the meaning that we think is true is faulty in someway. I suppose that some are closer to the truth than others, just as some are more wicked, but we are all wicked, so we all must fall short of the true meaning of Christmas. I believe that I have lost the meaning of Christmas, or did I lose what was faulty to begin with. I had al...

There is a podcast of a radio program  The Ramsey Show , that I enjoy listening to on my way to work. I was listening to this program the morning after Thanksgiving Day, when the host told a story that I had never heard, reading a historical document that I really needed to hear. I was lead to believe that Thanksgiving Day was started by the pilgrims, the people and congregation that made up the Plymouth, Massachusetts colony. I enjoy history because it helps me to understand why things are the way that they are. I have done some extensive reading on the Plymouth, Massachusetts colony and had read that they did have a feast, on a certain spring day, with some local Indians that had befriended them. However, this does not account for the Thanksgiving Day feast that I came to understand from my childhood. I had come to understand Thanksgiving Day as a family feast, a holiday for extended family members together. In the past few years, our family has lost members, the remaining member...

It has been a difficult few years. I have struggled a great deal in heart and mind. Everyday I get older and cannot go back to the days of my youth. Why do things happen or not happen for that matter? Why is the world such that it is? Trouble and anguish have overtaken me and there is nothing that I can do about it.  Should I worry all the day long? I have worried but worry has not changed anything. Should I desire? I have desired but desire has not changed anything.  When I say to others that I am defeated, they do not understand, and tell me that I am not defeated, when I know that I am. To whom or were do I turn? I turn to the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord promises good for those who trust in his Word and defeat of the enemy. The enemy is as strong as a hurricane but the Lord is my shelter. He has promised good to those who trust in him. The good that he promises is not in this world but the world that is to come. I believe, may he help my unbelief. May he transfor...