Considering the difference between today's culture and that in the early years of the kings of Israel, it may be a bit hard to do an "imagine"...but...

Imagine you are a popular king of your nation, blessed by God. You make a huge, huge mistake, but you are honestly (and completely) contrite.

You understand if your enemies try to take advantage of your error, but you expect your sons...the sons you love...to support you in your politically weakened state. Instead, your third oldest decides to try to grab your thrown. One of the maneuvers he makes to cement his coup is to sleep with your concubines...and, we aren't talking about a private approach here:

So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof. And Absalom went in to his father's concubines in the sight of all Israel (2 Samuel 16:22, English Standard Version).

After typing the title to this article, "A Christian's Letter to Santa," it hit me that there are brothers in sisters in the body of Christ who would immediately assert, "A Christian would never write Santa" or even "A Christian would never celebrate Christmas." For instance, after posting a quick "Merry Christmas from the Antrim Church of Christ!" (followed by four applicable scriptures) on our Facebook page, one saint commented:

Is this the true church of Christ who celebrate xmas? Church of Christ does not do such thing.

Although he hasn't taken me up on my offer to discuss it, I do not question that an argument can be made for not celebrating a holiday whose date (and some customs) have pagan connections. Additionally, I do think that certain aspects of the American Santa Claus tradition are problematic...but I'm not going to potentially start any firestorm here. :-)

Luckily, the Bible allows for differing views on the holiday:

I had hoped to write this bulletin with Augie. I didn't know if it would work (never tried it before), but I figured that if he and I pulled it off it would be one of my best. Everything goes better with Augie. :-)

Alas, I also made the mistake of convincing him to try Amazon.com's new service, Kindle FreeTime Unlimited. Basically, it is a program that locks your Kindle Fire or Kindle Fire HD into books, applications, and videos that are appropriate for your child. (Even so, I've already let my munchkin know that SpongeBob and Yo Gabba Gabba are off limits. SpongeBob first because I really do think it's a bad influence on kids, especially ones who already are hyper and/or have behavior issues. The second 'cause it is just plain weird, and I'd rather watch Thomas the Tank Engine for seven months straight than view one episode of that bizarre show. For those wondering years ago...yes there could be something worse...far worse...than Barney the Purple Dinosaur. :-))

Do you remember the 1993 movie, "Indecent Proposal," where Demi Moore and Woody Harrelson's characters (married in the film) are offered $1,000,000 by Robert Redford's character if she will just spend a single night with him? Or perhaps 2009's "The Box," where the couple played by Cameron Diaz and James Marsden are offered an equal amount if they'll simply press a button? The catch with their opportunity is that when they push the button in the box someone will die (although it won't be a person they know).

Would you take either offer? I'm assuming most people would immediately reject the second one...but I suspect there are some out there...folks in especially dire financial straits...where the first proposition might result in more than just a quick passing thought. One doesn't have to actually be greedy for money to be a terrible temptation—sometimes just wanting to be able to pay your bills can cause you to make questionable decisions. There immense of wisdom in Agur's words in Proverbs:

On Facebook, a couple of my friends have been posting daily entries as part of November "Be Thankful" Month. I'll admit that I skip right past those—not because I have anything against them—I'm just not a Chicken Soup for the Soul kind of guy. :-)

There is much to be said for the practice though, and not just in November. Especially when life is troublesome, it's easy to forget all the blessings we have and focus on that day's, that week's, that month's, or that year's problems. I remember from when I was "trained" to pray (by Mormon missionaries of all things)...that you start off with "Heavenly Father"...immediately thank God for X, Y, and Z...and only then ask for things (of course closing with, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.").

And although I don't think there is a fixed form for "correct" prayer, I do think it best that we first slow down and thank Him for everything He has so generously (and undeservedly) granted us. Augie seems to have this down, always starting off his bedtime prayer by thanking our Lord for a "good day" and school and whatever he can remember (followed by a, "Did I forget anything?" to mom and dad). He really does appreciate the simple things in life, and his prayers to "Heavenwy Fahder" reflect it.

As I keep my eyes open for ideas for these bulletins, sometimes it seems more than coincidental that two items cross my social media streams so perfectly to highlight a potential subject. In one case, it was a random tweet that someone I follow must have retweeted combined with a Gawker article where the author explains an electronic wrestling match he had with, of all people, the late Steve Jobs (of Apple fame).

I'm not sure why those two didn't inspire the article the week I ran into them, but luckily I keep a note with sermon and article ideas...and I was reminded of them again today as I scanned through my list of potential topics.

I mean, you really don't want another article connected with the presidential election do you? :-)

First, the tweet. This is what @lanalue wrote (Sorry...I didn't grab a screen capture at the time):

You will only experience the amount of freedom that u are willing to surrender to God.

Hmmm...seems contradictory, doesn't it? How many soldiers would say that they surrendered for freedom? You don't surrender for freedom...since it means (if you aren't just shot) you are going to become a prisoner of war.

Yet @lanalue is telling us that our freedom is directly proportional to our surrender to God (not inversely proportional as we would expect).

So, how can Steve Jobs shed more light on this apparent contradiction?