Inspiration

A pastor attended a men's breakfast in the middle of a rural farming area of the country.

The group had asked an older farmer, decked out in bib overalls, to say grace for the morning breakfast:

"Lord, I hate buttermilk," the farmer began.

The visiting pastor opened one eye to glance at the farmer and wonder where this was going.

"If you can only make Christmas exciting with material things, how will the children get a thirst for God? Bend the efforts of your imagination to make the wonder of the King's arrival visible for the children."

- John Piper

Two women who were having lunch in an elegant hotel were approached by a mutual friend who asked the occasion for the meal.

One lady replied, "We are celebrating the birth of my baby boy."

"But where is he?" inquired the friend.

"Oh," said the mother, "you didn't think I'd bring him, did you?"

What a picture of the way the world treats Jesus at Christmas.

It was a particularly tough football game, and nerves were on edge. The home team had been the victim of three or four close calls, and they were now trailing the visitors by a touchdown and a field goal. When the official called yet another close one in the visitors' favor, the home quarterback blew his top.

"How many times can you do this to us in a single game?" he screamed. "You were wrong on the out-of-bounds call, you were wrong on that last holding call, and you failed to say anything about a late hit in the first quarter."

The official just stared.

The quarterback seethed, but he tried to suppress language that might get him tossed out of the game.