- Roy and Gale Smith - 2002 - Christmas Thoughts -

Christmas

December 7, 2002

A Time to Consider God's Love!

Love expressed by God becoming man,
  first as the babe, then as the man;
  to walk and talk among us,
    as the perfect man,
  to speak and live among us,
    as the perfect revealer of God to us,
  to be cursed, rejected, & crucified by us,
    as the perfect sacrificed life for all our sin,
    as the perfect redeemer from all our sin,
  to be accepted and glorified by the Father,
    by resurrection from the dead,
    by ascension to the Father,
    by seating at the Father's right hand,
    to be the first of God's new kind of man,
  to be the first man glorified by the Father.

Love expressed by God giving to us,
  by personal trust in God's redemptive work;
our spiritual birth totally new in kind like Christ,
uniting us to Christ in His
death, burial, resurrection, ascension, & seating,
with the gift of Christ Himself,
  to be our life,
  to live His life in these mortal bodies,
so we may now enjoy intimacy with God,
  as He shares us, His fragrance, on earth,
  as He shows us, and we gaze on, His Son,
    by His Spirit in the Words of Scripture,
  as He conforms us from glory to glory,
    unto the very image of God our Savior.

God & His Love be glorified forever!

RRS

Christmas Letter

Looking back at what 2002 has held for our family, the events that pop out first in our minds are ones of loss. Three people that were very dear to us died this year. First there was Gale's mother, Doris Berglund. Second was our own dear son, Tait, 2nd of our children to go, third was a close friend, Jan Felker. These events are the reason we have chosen the words from "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen", because in the midst of great trauma, we have found again, as in the past, that in our Savior Jesus Christ, there is indeed not only comfort, but JOY as well. He has borne our grief's & carried our sorrows, the scripture says. Our experience has become that those are not just words! The comfort He gives us daily causes a quiet sense of joy to fill us. Replacing the anguish that sometimes threatens to overwhelm us. A good cry can be healing in itself, but despair can lurk close with it. We thank God He enables us to avoid sinking into despair!

We are grateful that our other children are doing well. Ruth teaches 3rd grade in California and will be with us for Christmas. Vernon lives near us with his lovely wife AJ & their darling son Casey. Tait's 10 yr old daughter Madeline lives with her mommy, step-daddy and younger half sister in Louisiana, near Joey & Cindy her other grandparents. We sure enjoyed visiting all of them during 2001.

The pleasures of this year were heightened by visits with family in WA, AZ, & CA, as well as a visit by family from WA, and our celebration this month of our 40th wedding anniversary. That sounds like such a long time, can it be true? Gale had a knee replacement that has helped her tremendously. Roy's year has included lots of learning and experimenting with programming for internet pages.

We wish for you a Happy Holiday season with comfort and joy in your life in the New Year ahead.

We love you, Roy and Gale Smith

God Rest You Merry Gentlemen

God rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay,
Remember Christ our Saviour
Was born on Christmas Day;
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray.

(CHORUS)
O tidings of comfort and joy,
Comfort and joy,
O tidings of comfort and joy!

From God our heavenly Father
A blessed angel came;
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same;
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name.
(CHORUS)

"Fear not, then," said the angel,
"Let nothing you affright;
This day is born a Saviour
Of a pure virgin bright,
To free all those who trust in him
From Satan's power and might."
(CHORUS)

Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace;
this holy tide of Christmas
Doth bring redeeming grace.
(CHORUS)