The Purpose of Christmas

I wrote an article entitled The Purpose of Christmas a few years ago... and thought you might enjoy it.  Here's a little teaser...

I gave in. What was I thinking? My wife asked (begged) me to go shopping with her on the day after Thanksgiving.  My answer?  Ok, sure.  What was I thinking?!?!  I hate shopping!  Even worse, I had agreed to go with her on the busiest shopping day of the year.  The only reason I can come up with is that if she went, I would be at home alone with all three kids ALL DAY LONG!  Oh well…

What I experienced last Friday was UGLY!  People were pushing, adults were fighting over toys & parking spaces (we saw two guys almost get in a fist fight over a parking space), and sales people were rude.  Honestly, it wasn’t all bad.  There were some people that seemed to have some perspective, but not many we ran into.

A bright spot in our day was when we were seated in a restaurant next to a new mom & her baby.  It just so happened that since our sitter was kind of young, we had our baby with us too.  She and Robin struck up a conversation and it wasn’t long before our conversation turned to spiritual things.  She was feeling guilty and alone (as an unwed mother).  We were able to share about Christ’s love and we invited her to visit our church.  It was a total God-ordained appointment.

Anyway, the whole consumer-driven, commercialized theme of the holiday shopping rush always seems to frustrate me.  I keep asking myself, “Don’t they get it?”  I mean… do they really think that’s what Christmas is all about?  If we look at the Christmas story from its original source, the Bible, we can determine the true meaning of Christmas.  Let’s look at it.  There are two biblical accounts to look at, Matthew 1:18-2:19 and Luke 1:5-2:40.

To read it online, click here.

New Leadership Podcast Uploaded

This podcast is from a Youth Leader's Seminar I taught in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany recently.  Although it primarily applies to youth leaders, the principles taught will benefit anyone in church or ministry leadership.  Check it out on our Podcast page at: http://www.perrinministries.org/pmwp08/?page_id=75

The police came by...

So I'm staying with my friend, Jim Rogahn, while I do some leadership training and teaching at RHEMA Germany in Bonn... and tonight a little after 10:00pm the guy next door has obviously had WAAAAYYYYYY too much to drink (and smoke). He starte playing his Hammond Organ with a monster Leslie speaker (the kind that rotates) in the next apt. The crazy part is that he was inside cranking up the volume and his speaker was out on the balcony.

He played so loud that stuff in Jim's apt was shaking. We're talking some serious wattage! Anyway, all the neighbors -- even the people from the Pizzeria across the street -- start yelling at him, but he doesn't even notice. After awhile Jim got his attention and asked him to turn it down, and he said he would, but he didn't.

And when he wouldn't answer the door for either the apt manager or the police, they stopped by and asked if they can climb over Jim 's balcony to get into the guy's house. I had to really fight not to laugh hysterically... actually, we waited until they left to start laughing. But the really stupid part was the only thing they did to him was ask him to take the speaker indoors. As they were leaving, they told us to call them if he was loud again. As they often say here, you can get away with murder if you're drunk enough!

WELCOME TO GERMANY!!!!

Robin's Grandma

Robin's grandma, Cecelia Braswell - known to all of us as Great Cel - passed away on Tuesday.  Here is her obituary...

Cecelia Atteberry Braswell, Age 98, passed away Tuesday evening, November 4th, 2008 in her home. Ms. Braswell was born June 19th, 1910 in Clarendon, Texas.  Her parents were Bertha and Clyde Attebury and she was born in their Atteberry Hotel in 1910.  She was the oldest of three daughters.  The hotel register served as her only birth certificate.

Cecelia and her late husband of 73 1/2 years, Sam P. Braswell, also of Clarendon, moved to Kerrville in 1936 and were previous co-owners of the Kerrville Daily Times and Braswell Printing, Inc.  She also owned a gift shop and sewing/material shop in Kerrville.  Ms. Braswell is survived by her son Sam H. Braswell, daughter-in-law Betty Wildman Braswell, grandchildren Sam L. Braswell, Carol Bernhard of Austin and Robin Perrin of Germany, great grandchildren Megan Gilfillan, Samuel T. Braswell, Andrew Braswell and Ryan, Ashton and Emma Perrin. 

The family had a ceremony Saturday at 3pm Novermber 8th, for family members at the Braswell home.  Ms. Braswell will be laid to rest with her late husband at The Garden of Memories in Kerrville.

SNOW!!!

When we moved to Kandern a few months ago some people from this area told us it doesn't snow in the Black Forest anymore.  I'm assuming they're wrong! :)

This morning we awoke to a white wonderland!  The kids were running through the house jumping for joy.  We got them ready a bit early and let them go out and play for awhile.  Here are the girls building a snowman.  Aren't they cute?

Mexican dinner

Our neighborhood English class will be held at our house tonight.  Robin is making a wonderful Mexican Dinner for everyone.  And she's topping it off with one of her famous Chocolate Cheesecakes.  Our friends are really excited about this.

They have never had real Tex-Mex before, so we're making everything extremely mild.  Robin made some salsa for them that tastes like tomatoes and onions with a little kick.  I made another batch for us that'll make you sweat!

This is a God-given opportunity for us to earn the right to share Christ with our neighbors.  They asked us to teach them... and invited us over weekly for dinner in order for us to do so.  Please continue to pray for open doors here.

Finally home!

My USA fundraising trip was crazy, but amazing!  In three weeks I traveled a little over 17,500 miles, counting 14 flights.  I spoke in 15 services and did 3 leadership training sessions.  The coolest part was that I was able to pray with four students to give their hearts to Christ.

Now I'm back home and trying to ease back into the Central European Time Zone.  It hasn't been pretty so far, but sometimes that's the way it goes.  I have one week of down time with my family before heading to Frankfurt (Oder), Germany for four days to do evangelistic school and street outreach, as well as leadership training and a service for the host church.  For an updated ministry schedule, check out our website: www.perrinministries.org.

I wanted to thank all of you that supported this trip with your finances and prayers.  We continue to be amazed at our partners and friends... You're helping us change the spiritual landscape of a planet!