CHRISTMAS TIME SADNESS AND JOY

This will be my first Christmas celebration without my husband in 43 years. He left this earth to spend eternity in heaven with Jesus on Sunday 12/20/15. He suffered from heart problems for several years. I was prepared to lose him, but there is great sorrow in the absence of his physical presence. He was so much a part of me and all I did. He edited many of my blogs, always had good suggestions. He was a 'hands-on' husband; so right for me.

        This man the Lord sent me so many years ago was an amazing person. He spent four years in the Air Force, then worked his way through college - UCLA - where he earned a BS and MBA, by mapping many countries of the world. He worked in Iran, Afghanistan, Laos, Cambodia, and Viet Nam. They are still using his maps today. He went around the world twice before he was thirty years old. He loved showing me the world and we have traveled in forty countries together plus all fifty states in America. My husband Robert C. Van Hise, we all called him 'Van', had a twenty-five year career with IBM where he worked on, what they called, 'bleeding edge technology'.  

        The very best thing he did, other than loving me unconditionally, was to introduce me to Jesus as my personal Lord and Savior. Much of our courtship centered around studying the Bible together. What a great way to fall in love!

        I've been delighted with Christmas cards to open each day and find so much joy in the verses. . .

GOD SENT US A SAVIOR

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator.

If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist.

If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist.

If our greatest need had been pleasure, God would have sent us an entertainer.

But our greatest need was forgiveness, so God sent us a Savior.

-- Roy Lessin


Holly Gerth wrote. . .

He came not to a throne, but to a manger.
He lived not as a king, but as a servant.
He chose not a kingdom, but a cross.
He gave not just a little, but everything.

Another card. . .

One day,
one birth,
one life -
one world
changed forever.

This is how Jesus described Himself in John 8:12

"I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life."

I've got a closet full of unwrapped gifts for the family but what I know to be true is this. . .

JESUS IS THE ONLY GIFT THE WORLD CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT.

I hope you know our Savior. I have great peace knowing my precious husband is now sitting at His feet totally in awe of THE HOLY ONE who gave his life so we could live eternally with Him.