Living Unfiltered for God

If I were to ask you what percentage of Americans believe that Jesus was born of a virgin, what would you say? Would you be optimistic and say nearly 100%? Or would you be pessimistic and say something like, less than half, or 50%? What number would make you feel "good" about our country?  The actual number, or at least the one determined by a new Pew Research study , is 73%. Roughly three out four individuals believe this part of the Christmas story. Does that surprise you? Does that number encourage you or discourage you? Or does it motivate you? When I first saw this yesterday I thought, " Wow, that's great! That's a lot higher than I thought it would be! " But then I thought about it for a minute... We live in arguably the most Christian nation in the world and there are still one in four folks that don't believe in a core, foundational belief of the Christian faith. When you dig into the numbers (which, of course I did given that's what...

One of the things that makes Christmas such a special time of year, at least for me anyway, is that it is a very nostalgic and sentimental time. For many people, Christmas was such a big deal when they were a child that for the rest of their lives, they remember certain things from childhood Christmases. One of the reasons it's easier to remember is because of Christmas traditions. Most families have certain things that they do every year as part of their celebration. Because it's done every year, it makes it easier to recall when you get older and it makes you sentimental - remembering "the good old days". I have fond memories of several things that our family did at Christmas when I was a child. On Christmas Eve, my dad would always read the "Christmas story" to us from the Bible. After all of the other Christmas Eve festivities were over, right before we would go to bed, he would read Luke 2:1-20 . When I was really little, it seemed to take forever,...