In the Preacher’s Blog dated 10/11/05 I wrote of our dog Kody and the loss we experienced when he had to be “put down.” Kody had after all been with our family for 12 years and was the first Christmas present my wife gave to me. We all did some bitter weeping during that time when we had to put him down.

To put it in the words of a well known Christmas song, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year.” More people seem to catch a glimpse of the love of Jesus and amazing things start to happen. We at 2nd Thief Ministries are grateful that the Lord has allowed us to be a small conduit for Him. He has blessed several families from around Virginia (and one in Massachusetts) this Christmas Season through this Ministry and we rejoice at watching His love at work in all the hearts involved (including ours).

We received a couple of very encouraging emails this week at the Ministry that I would like to take the time to share with you. One email was sent to us by a Sister in the Shenandoah Valley Area of Virginia. One of her comments was, “I want to wish you and yours a joyous Christmas and have been including your ministry in my prayers…;

Well let’s get on with the message. Trust all enjoyed Christmas Day in spite of all the trappings of getting ready for it! It would be most appropriate for us at this time of year to take a moment to explore the Greatest Story Ever Told. So let’s turn to Luke’s account for this message found in chapter two, starting at verse 8: