I am not of the Christian faith, so I do not join in the "Christ" in "Christmas," but do have my own faith which also celebrates this time of year, and I wish you all the best of Holidays. Jerusalem turned out to be the hub of many major world religions, and so did this time of year. Following Thanksgiving and the season of gratitude, this time of year is especially good to take stock, and then to start the New Year with new growth and new hope.
I don't know if you have heard this before, but I like the explanation of what the "eye of the needle" was when Jesus made the comparison between a camel going through the eye of the needle and a rich man going to heaven. The gates of towns in those regions and East were open in the day and closed at night. In the gate itself was another thin and short gate, which was called "the eye of the needle". For a camel to get through the smaller gate, the camel had to disgorge its baggage, load, etc. and then to get on its knees. Thus, the whole point is not that redemption is impossible, but that redemption is impossible without humility. I think that will be my goal this year: to become truly humble, which I am, whether I realize it or not.
Cheers,
Micael
At 01:21 PM 12/24/02 +0100, you wrote:
Happy holidays also from me! kiuma Justin Ashworth ha scritto:Amen, Craig.Have a Merry Christmas everyone! Justin-----Original Message-----
From: Craig R. McClanahan [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Monday, December 23, 2002 10:41 PM
To: Struts Users Mailing List
Subject: RE: [OT] HAPPY HOLIDAYS, EVERYONE
On Mon, 23 Dec 2002, James Mitchell wrote:
+1 <trying-to-stay-politically-correct> ...and a very Merry Christmas to you (if you believe inthat sort of<not-giving-a-rip-about-political-correctness>thing). </trying-to-stay-politically-correct>
Let us all spend some time this joyous season reflecting on the magnitude of a God that would bother to create the likes of us, and His willingness to sacrifice a Son to maintain a relationship with all the idiots and dirtbags we have to deal with every day (including ourselves :-). Without Christ, there's nothing particularly interesting about Christmas, except for a determined marketing campaign by all the stores to imply how inadequate we are if we don't spend lots of money giving each other gifts. Oh, and a guilt trip to care about the needs of others for a couple of weeks every year, instead of all the time ...
If all you care about during this season is excuses to party, New Year's Eve will suffice for that :-). </not-giving-a-rip-about-political-correctness>
Craig McClanahan (unashamedly wishing everyone a Merry Christmas!)James Mitchell
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