Operation Arrival

For the longest time I didn’t understand the new-car industry. I had always thought it worked like this. When a guy wanted a car, he dropped by the local dealership, kicked a few tires, slammed some doors, and fiddled around with radios, hoods, and trunk lids.

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One Long Extended Gift

It’s not too late to give some things away this Christmas. Not just on Christmas Day, but during the days after December 25. We could call these daily gifts “our Christmas projects.” Maybe one per day from now ’til the end of the year.

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I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

There once lived a farmer who became jaded about Christmas and all things “Christian.” Late one raw winter night, he sat alone in the house, reading. In the quiet he heard an irregular thumping against the back porch door.

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Bring Him Incense, Gold, and Myrrh

What do you give a young king? The magi, after traveling more than five hundred miles away to see the child Jesus, brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh with them. Why those gifts?

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Hail the Incarnate Deity

On that still winter’s night, something was up . . . something extraordinary . . . something supernatural. The shepherds raced to the City of David and found their Savior, just as the angel had said . . . swaddled and lying in a feeding trough.

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The Wonder of It All

When Mary and Joseph began their journey southward to Bethlehem, they probably thought they had time to make the trip, register for the census, and then return home to Nazareth before the baby would be born.

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Sovereign Father, Heavenly King

That first Christmas, all eyes were on Augustus—the cynical Caesar who demanded a census so as to determine a measurement to enlarge taxes even further. At such a time, who was interested in a young couple making an 80-mile trip south from Nazareth?

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The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came

Take a trip out of time and space. With the help of your imagination, let yourself be pulled from the gravity of this planet and move into the space beyond the earth’s dimension—that mysterious realm where angels dwell.

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The Real Reason for the Season

YOU’VE SEEN IT. SO HAVE I. The phrase is on bumper stickers, it appears on coffee mugs, it often finds its way onto greeting cards, billboards, and church signs. It has become almost synonymous with Christ. What is that expression? Jesus is the reason for the season. Catchy, isn’t it? Sure makes sense on the surface. In fact, an entire retail industry has been practically erected around this singular notion.

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The Gift That Lives On

“WHAT IN THE WORLD can I give to ______ this Christmas?” Sound familiar? Sure, it’s probably the most frequently asked question every Yuletide season. In our pocket of society where pampered affluence is rampant, we are often at a loss to know which gift to buy. For some people (especially those who “have everything”) the standard type of gift won’t cut it. Nothing in the shopping mall catches our fancy.

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