Joseph and Jesus Video

What must it have been like for Joseph to welcome the baby Jesus into his life and world? It cost Joseph so much -- scandal in his community for apparently fathering an illegitimate son -- a hard trip to Bethlehem and a birth in a stable -- life on the run from Herod for several years. Something of life and truth so engaged Joseph's heart that he was willing to make the sacrifice and so he got to hold the Son of God in his arms and raise him in his carpenter's shop. Michael Card recorded a song a few years ago that tried to capture Joseph's heart as he looked at his newborn son. I put some pictures to that song.

My prayer is that this Christmas season you will wonder what it means that God invites you to welcome His very own Son to come and capture your heart and your imagination this Christmas. God loves us. God chooses us. God loves to be with us and to do life with us, whatever life is for us at that moment. How can it be?

Thursday Evening Meeting With Santa Claus

We do have fun! Christmas is a time to share joy -- for some of us it might be the first time we've dared to let this kind of joy touch us. Someone was telling me on Sunday how they didn't know how to have a good time at a party without lots of alcohol. That person wasn't at our meeting on Thursday evening when Santa Claus showed up.

This was Santa in a pretty joyful and reflective mood. Santa's heart for the people in the room was clear and one of his questions to people who sat on his knee -- and that was everyone -- was about what would make Christmas special this year. The responses were quite heartwarming as person after person shared about restoration in this or that area of their life and how they would have Christmas with family this year, have it clean and sober, have something real and alive in them this year ... and on and on.

Check out some of the gift bags Mother sewed -- Santa's little elf she is -- that Santa is handing to some of the folks. We've already given out more than 300 and have several hundred more prepared for Christmas Eve.

White Christmas in Vancouver

I know. I know. I know. Ontario and folks in the East are laughing but it really is quite the weather out here! So here I am admitting it -- in full pictures. These pictures were taken after I'd shoveled the driveway for the 4th time in the past couple of days. Thankfully no more is falling out of the sky tonight. We're supposed to get some more on Christmas Eve and then things will warm up -- so they say -- and rain by the weekend. We will definitely be doing more than singing about a "White Christmas" this year.

Christmas Wrapping Parties -- December 2008

Well, you haven't heard much from me in recent weeks. I've been "occupied!" We had a snow day today and that meant I wasn't travelling out to the prison tonight so here I am with some time to fill you in on what we've been doing.

Here's a slide show of some of the preparations that have gone into the Christmas bags. Four nights in early December lots of volunteers filled the house with laughter and music and prayer and with hands busy they wrapped thousands of gifts that go into the 700 gift bags we distribute in prison, on the streets, in shelters, in meetings and anywhere Partners in Hope connects up with people. I have some video clips I need to edit and I'll get those together -- maybe even some tonight -- but I wanted you to get a bit of what the wrapping parties looked like.