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Be a Blessing at Christmastide

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LittleNipper

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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Be a blessing this Christmas![/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Challenging times can mean trouble for families--especially those serving in our nation's armed forces. This Christmas, take a few minutes to bless the military families in your community. It's an easy, meaningful way to share God's love this season! [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]3 Easy ways to bless military families this Christmas... [/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Pray.
Ask God to surround members of our armed forces with strength, courage and protection--and meet the needs of their families at home.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Encourage.
Think about small ways you can encourage a soldier overseas or military wife in your neighborhood. A quick note of thanks, a care package of your famous cookies or even a home-cooked meal can make a big difference.
[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Equip.
God is our ultimate source of strength. What can you do to lead military families closer to Jesus? Invite a lonely mom and her kids to your church's Christmas pageant. Share Bible verses that have helped you in trouble times--or a favorite book. There are many devotionals and Bibles tailored specifically for military families.
[/FONT]
 

LittleNipper

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While I appreciate the sentiment LN, I'll enjoy myself a nice secular holiday with my girlfriend. You have fun with whatever you do though!

One can have the secular 365 days a year, but I can only believe such would become rather mundane. Remember that "holiday" is derived from holy day. The "holy" would seem to me the only real thing that makes any day seemingly special... Just a thought.
 
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jcook922

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We're going to try and give back this season, I'm spending Xmas Eve with my family, and Christmas day myself and several of the folks in our unit are going to feed the homeless at the Oxnard Rescue Mission. Seemed like the right thing to do, and even more important than civilians helping military families, in my mind, is our military being out there in the public eye giving back and showing exactly how much we care about our country.
 
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LittleNipper

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May GOD richly bless you and be a blessing through you.
 
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jcook922

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May GOD richly bless you and be a blessing through you.

To you as well. I'd like to use this as an example, as most of the folks in my unit who are going to attend are, like myself, not Christian. We're volunteering at a church because we feel it's the right thing to do this Christmas, and the fact that we're secularists doesn't impact the fact that it's at a religious organization at all.

All this backbiting and bull about how saying merry christmas to a secularist, or saying happy holidays to a Christian, should somehow be offensive, is stupid. It's the thought that counts, there's no reason that Christians and non-Christians can't work together towards improving our relationships with our fellow man. Because I find that to be something beyond religion, and something we all have in common, that we're human, and that we should be doing everything we can for eachother based on THAT. Not because Jesus told us to, not because anybody who lives by a book, thesis, manifesto, or personal moral compass does it because it's a rule, because it's the right thing to do.
 
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LittleNipper

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Actually, we are fortunate that we live in a country where we are free to believe as we wish and try to pursuade others through reasoning to see that light. As your statement implies, we are not free FROM being confronted with beliefs or ideas which may seem strange or even painful. We must learn to evaluate and apply the positive and consider the negative. As you reach out, GOD is likely reaching for you. I pray that the LORD touches your soul and rewards your desire to help others with a determination to find TRUTH. It exists, but it will pierce the heart.
 
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jcook922

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And part of that freedom is that while I appreciate your positive gesture and the thought behind it, I don't believe the same things about God as you, and consider my truth different from what you believe in as your truth. While we do have those freedoms, it irritates me that people make such a stink over it.
 
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