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Sunday greetings everyone and Happy New Year!

I am happy to report that I did finally catch up on my "throw it in the box for later" box (Grandma Cybersalt now has it for taking things to charity), manage every email I received in 2020, and have a clear desk before the end of the year. I took this picture of my work area on January 1st, all ready to keep on keeping up and catching up on more now that the clutter isn't sucking the motivation out of my mind.

Now that the new year is here I've started doing something I did many years ago: skipping rope. Of course I'm doing so in response to my high cholesterol results.

Wow, am I ever out of shape! Last night I did my jumping just before getting ready for bed, however after only 74 jumps I ended up having to rest before I could do so. Tonight I am getting ready for bed first and then I'll exercise. In England I think this is called skipping after the loo!

Today's video share is a performance of that familiar New Year's tune, "Auld Land Syne." It's sung by a group I have been really enjoying listening to online: The Choral Scholars of University College of Dublin.

Click here to watch the video.

Enjoy the rest of today's mailing!

~ Pastor Tim

Oh look, Chicken Thursday and New Year's Eve!

I have lots of thoughts and feelings as we say goodbye to 2020 and head into 2021. I had plans to write some of them down with great flourish and inspiring conclusion, but you know what? I'm pretty tired of thinking, and coping, and positing what the current times mean for now and tomorrow. They say that still waters run deep, but it is equally true that deep waters sometimes sit still - behind a dam. And, just as there are times for dams to treasure up water, there are times for hearts to treasure up mystery.

We live in a world where many cannot, or refuse to, tolerate mystery. Instead, they conjure the imaginary to pretend they have explained the unfathomable, while mocking those who continue to believe in the goodness of the One for whom even the darkness is light.  This dichotomy of reaction is nothing new. In the midst of his great suffering, Job's wife (herself struggling with the same incredible losses that he was experiencing) suggested that he, "Curse God and Die." Accepting, if not embracing, the mystery of the time Job replied, "Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?"

Did you know that the steps leading to the temple in Jerusalem are irregular on purpose? Land of the Bible [dot] com explains, "The stairs are irregular, with both original and replaced stones, which forced the faithful to pay attention as they ascended the alternating wide and narrow steps. It also prevented a hurried approach to the Temple, which would be tempting with the thousands of people here." 

I think we can all agree 2020 was an irregular step that slowed us all down. I rushed into 2020 sure that it was going to be great and that in the next 12 months I was going to "kill it!"

Lesson learned!

I'm not rushing into 2021, but I am stepping into it and doing so with hope because I'm a follower of Jesus and I know that not only is He with me in this massive reservoir of life's mystery, but that also some day the dam will break and what He was doing all along will be clear. And then I'll really be OK.

From depths of my heart I pray that you will step into the new year the same way and I truly hope and wish that 2021 is an incredibly healthy and prosperous year - in every way - for you and those around you.

~ Pastor Tim

Sunday greetings everyone!

There are only 5 days left in 2020 and in that short time I have a number of pre-New Year's goals to accomplish. They are:

• End the year with a zero inbox for emails received in 2020. I'm close on this one - but it is still going to take a concentrated effort.
• Empty the "toss it in this box and do it later" box that has been sitting on the floor of my office. I thought it was left over from when I closed my office at the church in October of 2017, but my wife reminded me it existed for years before that. It still seems to me it has only been 3 years, but I'm taking her word for it because that thing is practically invisible to me and I sure she has a better eye for spotting my messes because she lives with them. Fortunately for me, that seems to be an ability she developed after we were married. I think constantly gazing at me in admiration while were were dating and then engaged was a helpful distraction in this area.
• Go to bed New Year's Eve with a clean desk. This one is a 5 minute tidy away from completion after Grandma Cybersalt took a couple of hours and help me tackle it last weekend.
• Finish up a bit of work for clients that I am super behind in. I think I can make a good dent in this one, but business is growing and I just incorporated so there is a bunch of fiddly paperwork and setting up I have to tackle this week as I wrap up being a sole proprietor. (Technically, even when I was a sole proprietor I was already limited to a degree.)
• Be kind to myself. It's the last week of a very tough year so I'm going to cut myself some slack in having to reach my goals. Stressing about reaching them will only make them harder to attain. Accomplishing and celebrating steps along the way is a much greater motivator for me.

This week's video share is actually a playlist for the first season of "The Chosen."

Last Thursday's video share about the shepherds in Bethlehem was actually the unintentional pilot for this series. The shepherd video was made for a church by Dallas Jenkins following the biggest failure of his directing career, but it went viral and that lead to this amazing series.

Click here to find the playlist on YouTube.

Enjoy the rest of today's mailing!

~ Pastor Tim

Oh look, Chicken Thursday and Christmas Eve!

For the majority of the Christmases since Cybersalt began back in 1998, I have sat down to pen a Christmas Eve message to send out to Cybersaltines, wishing them (you) a merry Christmas, while also expressing an awareness each year that for some, Christmas would be hard. Some of those years I was a member of that "some."

This year, we are all members.

Make no mistake, this Christmas was already going to be hard for many because of the usual pain that military service, prison terms, estrangement, sickness and/or death brings. But the pandemic has also cast a grey pall and a weight on us all. Like a sweater worn into a lake, what used to be light is heavy, what was heavy is heavier, and what used to be almost unbearable has become denser, threatening even more to take us down.

In these heavier times, may the message of the angels on that first Christmas night still comfort us, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord."

And, wherever we are and whatever the weight of our burden this Christmas, let's respond to that message just as the shepherds who first heard it. Luke tells us they "hurried off" and found Jesus.

The pilot for "The Chosen" demonstrates this truth wonderfully, and you can watch that by clicking here.

A blessed and Spirit-filled Christmas to all of you!

~ Pastor Tim