Happy New Year, Merry Christmas, and a blessed Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus!

If you’re looking to start a Bible reading plan in the new year; my suggestion:

  1. Get a Prayer Book
  2. Follow the Daily Office
  3. Be transformed by God’s grace through word and prayer.

That’s it y’all. Don’t stress. Don’t worry about missing a day here or there. Do the Daily Office. Do it for the rest of your life. You’ll read through the Bible so many times. If you miss a passage, you’ll catch it again in the future.

lectserve.com is a good place to start and doesn’t require you to buy a thing. You’re already ready to dive in to God’s word and the prayers of the church first thing tomorrow!

Is there such a thing as temporary ports for natural gas? We’ve got gas to the house. Has me wondering if I had some quick-connect ports if I could just pull out some natural gas heaters next time the power goes out.

So, with Nashville’s power grid apparently not sufficient to keep up with our growth, what recommendations do y’all have for keeping a 2,400 ft^2 home warm enough not to freeze and 800 ft^2 of upstairs warm enough to sleep?

Merry Christmas! — Even if you don’t celebrate, it doesn’t change the reality of what God did in the Incarnation. — Every knee will bow before the King. Turn away from sin and death and into the light of his eternal life.

I know 13th is on a different circuit, but it is odd to be without power, staying warm by propane heater while being able to see the Christmas lights on 12th out your window.

This little heater has been so surprising. We’ve been without steady electricity all day, but he’s managed to keep our den pretty toasty. So thankful! — Portable Buddy Heater

I’m starting a few days early, but I’m really enjoying this album. Christmas Jazz is really the way to go. 💿

Do I have anyone in my circles who’s setup a church ministry that does some businessy things? — Starting a ministry where I’ll be paying W9/1099 workers for doing small jobs. Want to make sure I’m doing it right legally.

What I'm Telling my Kids about Santa Claus

St. Nicolas is the patron saint of children. He sits in heaven and prays to God for all children. It is his special desire from God to get to know all children so he can pray extra special for each and every one. He works with Mommy & Daddy to make sure you get gifts to remind you of the ultimate gift: God becoming human in Jesus to save us all from death and the Devil. It’s fun to pretend and imagine magical things. The universe is a very big place and we serve a very big God. There’s more magic and amazing things than we can even know or understand. So, there’s a lot we don’t know about saints, angels, and the Kingdom of Heaven.

Over time, people have added some extra stories about St. Nicolas and started to shorten his name to Santa Claus. People who aren’t Christians, especially, like to imagine things about Santa Claus and make big stories about him. They do this because their soul knows they are missing something big in the universe; God. We don’t make fun of these people or tell them the stories they tell about St. Nicolas aren’t true. It’s fun to pretend. We pray for them and point them to the biggest story; Jesus. We ask St. Nicolas to pray for these people, too, especially children. We pray that God would send his Holy Spirit to all people in a special way that they would come to know the God who is with us, Immanuel, Jesus the Christ.

I’m trying not get my hopes up, but Thread & Matter are looking really great. — I’m pondering switching off Hue & SmartThings (Zigbee & Z-wave) to a unified Thread & Matter setup in the spring.

Deeply saddened to hear that King Charles might be crowned the defender of the faiths rather than the defendor of the faith. — What a tragic thing to do for someone named after that great defender of the faith & martyer, Charles I.

My children discovered this song on Alexa. I guarantee it is not what you expect, but it is now one of their top hits.

Every time I do open enrollment I’m more radicalized against how the US does health care. — I know no system is perfect, but there are surely other systems we could agree on with less downsides.

Ecobee feature request: Setting to add a display temperature offset. — I’m pretty sure if the thermostat said it was 72 instead of 68, my family wouldn’t complain.

I must say, I wish our coaching staff would dress up a bit. Let’s not play into American stereotypes.

Yeah… Let’s not make “It’s Called Soccer” our thing. — That said, USA! USA! USA! 🇺🇸 ⚽️