What's Wrong With Christmas

How I Would Change Christmas

The word, "Christmas" is derived from Christ Mass - celebration of Christ. The intent is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messiah, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Emmanuel (God with us), etc.
Christmas should be a time of celebration because with the birth of Christ, God the Father provided salvation from the bondage of sin and eternal damnation to all who believe. It is something to celebrate: the birth of the Savior - freedom, salvation, eternal life.

Much of what takes place in the name of Christmas is not relevant celebration and has no meaning with regard to Christ himself. I don’t know exactly what I would suggest as positive, meaningful ways to celebrate Christ, other than the well known practices of the faithful: reading the Word, praying, singing, giving, worshiping, praising, etc. But, I do know some things that I definitely would eliminate from Christmas if I could:

Santa Clause.
The original concept of St. Nicholas, the Saint who freely gave presents in the name of Christ was not so bad, but the mythical Santa Clause is a distraction from the true person of Christmas - Jesus Christ. The idea embedded in children’s minds of getting whatever they desire rather than giving cheerfully to others is blatantly anti-Christian. Also, the outright lie about the existence of Santa Clause, living at the North Pole, making toys all year and distributing them on Christmas Eve is absurd and contributes nothing to the celebration of Christ and is a distraction from the true meaning of Christmas. The concept of Santa Clause has become a symbol of commercialism and a mockery of Christ. Parents try to teach their children not to lie but they allow the lie of Santa Clause to persist in the minds of their children, and reinforce it, Then, eventually they have to tell the children, "There is no Santa Clause." At least in some cases, the children think, "You lied to me" and wonder throughout the rest of their childhood and perhaps even adulthood when is someone going to tell me, "There really is no Christ." Of course, along with Santa Clause, I would do away with all the surrounding mythology, including:
Reindeer, Rudolf, included.
Flying sleighs
Santa’s helper elves
All the mushy movies based on the theme, there really is a Santa Clause.

Christmas Trees.
I doubt the value of Christmas Trees and I personally could easily commemorate Christ’s Mass without a decorated tree in the house or outside the house. There has been a lot of rationalization in support of Christmas trees as a bona-fide artifact related to Christmas. I can rationalize that it is an act of celebration that suggests such things as "light of the world," angels looking down, the spirit of giving, but, I ask, "When you put up a Christmas tree, with lights, ornaments, garlands, and such, how does that make you think about Jesus and his birth. What is the relevance?

Commercialism.
The business of selling, buying, and giving of Christmas presents has become nothing more than crass commercialism. Businesses are trying to make lots of money. Gift givers are trying to fulfill perceived obligations. Nerves are jangled. Family finances are strained. Church members will give presents beyond their means and rob God of His tithe in the process. I have no argument against modest, meaningful, gift giving done in the right attitude, but today’s Christmas commercialism is a distraction from the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Parties.
I’m not against parties, dinners, and gatherings that are focused on the celebration of Christ. But, office Christmas parties and others which turn into drunken blasts are anti-Christian. Many of the people participating in such parties make no claim of being born-again believers in Christ, yet they party in the name of Christ, ie., "Christmas Party." They get drunk, they flirt, they frequently engage in sex, drugs, and other anti-Christian activities totally wrong for celebrating Christ.

Christmas Music.
The music that I would reject from Christmas is all the music that has nothing to do with Christ or celebration of His birth, to name a few:
Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer
Jingle Bell Rock
Santa Clause is Coming To Town
I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Clause
Santa Baby
Here Comes Santa Clause
Please Daddy Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas
etc.

I’m not suggesting that we do away with Christmas. I am suggesting, and wishing, that we could make Christmas a true celebration of Christ the Savior. I don’t mean we should be dour, dejected, sad-faced, or depressed. Christmas should be a cheerful, relaxed, time of celebration. Ring the bells, sound the trumpets, blow the horns, shout with joy, sing with praise, preach with boldness, play the music, eat good food, give loving gifts, help the poor, have parades, gather together for fun and fellowship. But, in it all give glory and praise to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit - the Three in One - and give thanks for the Grace of God - His gift of Salvation.

Straighten Up America

2Ch 7:13-14, "If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." . . . 2Ch 7:19-22, "But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among all nations. And this house, which is high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so that he shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and unto this house? And it shall be answered, Because they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them."

If then, why not now? Straighten up America.

Ecc 12:13 "...Fear God, and keep His commands, for this is the whole of man" (YLT).

Seven Ages of Man

THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN (Adapted from Shakespeare’s Version) J. Wauford 　 Age 1, INFANT: Helpless baby with no hair, no teeth, no speech, puking in his mother’s arms. Age 2, SCHOOLBOY: Mischievous, adventuresome, reluctant learner. Age 3, LOVER: Hormones raging, not a boy but not yet a man. Age 4, SOLDIER: Proud, bold, patriotic, thrust into manhood in a matter of days. Age 5, PROFESSIONAL: Self assured, wise, solemn, respected. Age 6, RETIREE: Restless, forgetful, remembering past glories, discovering new ailments, gaining new pounds. Age 7, PATRIARCH: Returning to childhood, giving up things he’s cherished so dearly, sans (without) hair, sans teeth, sans hearing, sans everything. I'm glad I could experience all seven.

Snow Emergency Response: Sugesstions for GA State and Local Governments

The resoonse by Georgia DOT, County, and City governments to the Jan 9, 2011 snow/ice storm in North Georgia, including Atlanta has been simply bad. Government offices, businesses, schools are still shut down after 4 days. People are still snowbound at home, unable to get out of their subdivisions. Mail, garbgage service, home health care and medical supply deliveryand other services have been unavailable to many who desperately need it. The economic impact will be staggering. Jobs will be lost.

I know that this type of storm is unusual for Georgia. But, they do happen, at least every few years. I understand that it is impractical for the state, counties, and cities to acquire specialized vehicles and snow removal equipment and have it sitting idle. But, something must be done to expedite snow removal and road clearing in winter weather emergencies.

I have a few suggestions:
1. Have a plan. Every government agency, and especially GA DOT, should have documented procedures of how to handle such events. And the plan should include provisions to start the response before the snow and ice start to fall.
2. Identify non-government owned resources: dump trucks, front loaders, graders, etc.
3. Identify and mobilize contractors with smaller trucks equipped with plows, and salt spreaders to work residential streets.
4. Provide spreaders to dump truck owners and make whatever provisions are necessary to make sure those dump trucks are on the roads spreading salt and chemicals before the snow/ices starts falling.
5. Identify individuals, companies, corporations, volunteer organizations and others who can supply human, equipment, and material resources.
6. Declare emergencies in a timely manner and make it mandatory that identified resources, even non-government-owned, are available when needed.
7. Develop communication strategies, such as "Calling Post," E-Mail, Twitter, Text Messaging, radio, TV, etc. to mobilize material, machine, and human resources well before the event starts.
8. Send key individuals to Northern states who know how to handle these events to learn from them.
9. Start early.
10. Don't ignore residential streets. It makes no sense to clear primary streets if people can't get out of their subdivisions.
11. Take an attitude of expecting to have winter weather emergencies rather than expecting not to have them.

Survival of the Prepared

“A sensible person sees danger and takes cover,
but the inexperienced keep going and are punished.” Pro 22:3

I have seen the devastation of floods, tornados, hurricanes, blizzards, ice storms and a few other disasters. I’ve also met survivors some of whom were prepared and some who were not prepared. Believe me, it’s better to be prepared!
We are in a disaster prone area! But, the worst may be yet to come. The greatest concerns are tornados, floods, high straight-line winds, ice storms, pandemics and even earthquakes. Are you prepared?
In the past, the advice from disaster survival experts has been to have a three day supply of survival items. We are now being told that in a worst case scenario involving a pandemic, households may be quarantined for several weeks at a time. Yet, most of us have no home survival plan or preparation whatsoever.
It is beyond the scope of this article to provide much information on survival preparedness, but I hope I can get you started thinking about it. Each person in a household requires about 3 gallons of water per day to survive. How many gallons do you have set aside? Do you have canned food reserves? How will you cook, heat, or light your home if there’s no electricity or gas for several days or weeks. How will you communicate outside your home if there’s no telephone service which, by the way, is very vulnerable. Do you have any emergency power capabilities (We need to start thinking solar energy).
When you think seriously about it, the list gets longer and longer. You may be thinking, “I can’t afford to do all that.” Maybe you can’t get fully prepared immediately, but you can start. Save your juice jugs, clean them and store tap water in them. Don’t use milk jugs or jugs that have had chemicals, cleaners, etc. in them. Buy a few extra cans of food every time you shop for groceries. Do what you can when you can, but start now!
There are many sources of information on the internet. But, beware, many internet sites are there to try to sell you survival “stuff” like heater meals and shelters. Stay away from them!
Here is a short list of sites with good information:
http://www.fema.gov/plan/index.shtm
http://www.sdcounty.ca.gov/oes/docs/FamilyDisasterPlan.pdf
http://www.equipped.com/urls.htm (This is a site that lists many links dealing with survival.)
I am not an expert, but I probably am one step ahead of most folks I know. If there’s enough interest, I would be willing to develop some further training and guidelines or, at least, facilitate discussions on the subject of home preparedness.
FEMA also has on-line training courses for disaster preparedness.

Wife kj4emt, grandson ki3lji, and I wa3rev reported to Beulah Baptist Church, Douglasville for Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief duty with GA 14C Communications Unit. She and I worked EMCOMM from First Baptist Church, Powder Springs, Ga on Saturday and Sunday, Oct 26-27. Grandson worked from First Baptist Church, Austell, Ga Oct 26-28. I will return to Douglasville for two more days Thursday and Friday, Oct. 8-9.

The following is quoted from Cherokee Co. EOC Situation Report FYI:
Chairman Ahrens has declared a local State of Emergency for Cherokee County. Current Situation Storms have produced between 3 and 8 inches of rain across Cherokee County today. Three day rainfall totals are nearing 15 inches. Multiple roads are closed and many rescues have taken place and continue this evening. Streams are at or above record flood stages at many locations. Evacuations Many locations particularly in the Woodstock area have been evacuated. Rescues and evacuations are underway along PKWY 575 in Woodstock. This includes 3 hotels. Several apartment complexes are also being evacuated in the Woodstock Area. Shelters 1-Shelter is open at the Cherokee County South Annex located just north of Woodstock. At the present time, 35 people were in the shelter and field command posts report an additional 100 people will be transported to the shelter over the next hour. The shelter is being staffed by Cherokee CERT, Cherokee County Public Health, Cherokee County DFACS and Red Cross. The Cherokee Sheriff's Office Division of Emergency Management has deployed its shelter supply trailer to the shelter location. Road Closures I-575 south of Hwy 92 north & south bound Bells Ferry south of Hwy 92 Hwy 92 west of Hwy 5 Arnoldmill Road east of Woodstock Hwy 5 at the Little River Bridge Vaughan Road at the Bridge River Station Terrace Towne Lake Pkwy @ I-575 Epperson Road Kellogg Creek Road Victory Drive Mohawk Trail Haynes Road West Marietta Street Longview Drive Emergency Support Functions All Emergency Support Functions are activated in the Response Phase . . . Weather Forecast Tonight: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Cloudy, with a low around 69. South wind around 5 mph. New rainfall amounts between a quarter and half of an inch possible. Tuesday: A 50 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms. Some of the storms could produce heavy rainfall. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 80. Southeast wind between 5 and 10 mph.