December 2009 Press Toward the Mark

Last Christmas was the first one for me without my mother.  She loved Christmas so much.  Some of my earliest memories are of my mother’s delight in Christmas.  During economic hard times, she would work very long hours so she could give her children and family a good Christmas.  Christmas became tremendously special after we became Christians.  We learned the true meaning of Christmas.

This Christmas will be the first one without my wonderful wife of 37 years.  Kay loved Christmas as much as I do.  Our family enjoyed celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  We delighted in spending time together.  The sounds, smells, and sights of Christmas hold poignant and precious memories for us.  Now, we find great comfort in the Blessed Promises because of Christmas.  Thank you for your compassionate ministry to our family.  I am so grateful for Southern Baptists cooperating to provide a witness that reached my family so we could truly celebrate Christmas.

Southern Baptists have faithfully sought to cooperate to obey the Great Commission since 1835.  Through the Cooperative Mission Program, they have reached out to the lost all over the world in peacetime or wartime and prosperity or depression.  Those who have gone before us sacrificed greatly so we could hear the “Good News” and enjoy a truly “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year” spiritually and otherwise.  That is why Mission Ohio and Southern Baptists exist.  May those who come behind us find us as faithful, obedient, and passionate as those who have gone before us.  Let’s press toward that mark.