Category Archives: Jesus

Merry Christmas Day 2024

Child in the Manger

1 Child in the manger,
infant of Mary;
outcast and stranger,
Lord of all;
Child who inherits
all our transgressions,
all our demerits
on Him fall.

2 Once the most holy
Child of salvation
gently and lowly
lived below;
now as our glorious
mighty Redeemer,
see Him victorious
o’er each foe.

3 Prophets foretold Him,
infant of wonder;
angels behold Him
on His throne;
worthy our Savior
of all our praises;
happy forever
are His own.

Mary MacDougal MacDonald United Kingdom 1789-1872. Born at Ardtun, daughter of a farmer and Baptist cleric, Duncan MacDougal, northeast of Bunessan on the Ross of Mull, she was a Gaelic poet who lived at Cancan, Bunessan on Mull, Scotland. She never spoke English. She married Neil MacDonald and settled into a life as a crofter’s wife. While at her spinning wheel she passed time by singing hymns and poems, some of her own composition. She was a devout Baptist. Some of her hymns reached beyond her locality. The tune of her best known hymn (same tune as hymn: “Morning has broken”) was an old Scottish melody she attached to her lyrics that helped popularize the hymn, translated from the Gaelic in 1888 by Lachlan McBean of Scotland

Merry Christmas to all. I hope you are His own!

The Loaned Manger

This past Saturday and Sunday evenings our First Baptist Kids put on a wonderful musical for Christmas called The Loaned Manger. The musical was set in the city of Incarnation in 1891. The railroad had finally come to Incarnation, too, with some interesting visitors.

The set with all the props was amazing.

The train at the train station even had steam coming up out of the smoke stack.

Addy had a solo. O come, O come Emmanuel and ransom captive Israel.

This Christmas we need more of peace, love, hope and joy. We need more of Jesus, this Christmas.

Glory to all the earth. Your light has come, shines in the darkness to all the world. Your Light has come.

After Addy’s trio it was time for the manger scene to enter stage right. JJ was a shepherd with a staff.

 

Addy sang her heart out!

Auntie Lolo and Uncle Joshie were sad not to be able to travel to see the musical but they made sure to acknowledge Addy and JJ’s hard work with these sweet bouquets with candy canes.

Well done dear Addy and JJ. Baba and Gramps were so happy to see your hard work pay off in a brilliant performance!

The whole production was the culmination of months of hard work on the part of the directors and kids. Such a great musical that gave honor to God. We are all outlaws that need pardoning and that is why Jesus came to earth as a baby on Christmas day with the view to His crucifixion on the cross for our sins. Thank you, LORD.

Seeking for Me ~ Hymn

Seeking for Me

Jesus, my Sav­ior, to Beth­le­hem came,
Laid in a man­ger to sor­row and shame;
Oh, it was won­der­ful, blest be His name,
Seeking for me, for me:
Seeking for me, seek­ing for me,
Seeking for me, seek­ing for me,
Oh, it was won­der­ful, blest be His name,
Seeking for me, for me.

Jesus, my Sav­ior, on Cal­va­ry’s tree,
Paid the great debt and my soul He set free;
Oh, it was won­der­ful—how could it be?
Dying for me, for me!
Dying for me, dy­ing for me,
Dying for me, dy­ing for me,
Oh, it was won­der­ful—how could it be?
Dying for me, for me.

Jesus, my Sav­ior, in mer­cy and love,
Came from the man­sions of Hea­ven above,
Tenderly plead­ing with sin­ners like me,
Pleading for me, for me:
Pleading for me, plead­ing for me,
Pleading for me, plead­ing for me,
Tenderly plead­ing for sin­ners like me,
Pleading for me, for me.

Jesus, my Sav­ior, the same as of old,
While I did wan­der afar from the fold,
Gently and long He hath pled with my soul,
Calling for me, for me:
Calling for me, call­ing for me,
Calling for me, call­ing for me,
Gently and long He hath pled with my soul,
Calling for me, for me.

Jesus, my Sav­ior, will come from on high,
Sweet is the pro­mise as wea­ry years fly;
Oh, I shall see Him des­cend­ing the sky,
Coming for me, for me:
Coming for me, com­ing for me,
Coming for me, com­ing for me,
Oh, I shall see Him des­cend­ing the sky,
Coming for me, for me.

Deity and Humanity

Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,  who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Philippians 2:5-8

We made one last trip to Spokane on Thursday for some specific items before our Christmas celebrations begin.

We enjoyed the sunrise along the highway.

And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Hebrews 1:3

This morning in Let Earth Receive Her King ~ Daily Readings for Advent, Alistair Begg shares this lesser  known Christmas Carol. I’m highlighting some of the words.

Once in roy­al Dav­id’s ci­ty
Stood a low­ly cat­tle shed,
Where a mo­ther laid her ba­by
In a man­ger for His bed:
Mary was that mo­ther mild,
Jesus Christ her lit­tle child.

He came down to earth from Hea­ven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shel­ter was a sta­ble,
And His cra­dle was a stall;
With the poor, and mean, and low­ly,
Lived on earth our Sav­ior ho­ly.

And, through all His won­drous child­hood,
He would hon­or and ob­ey,
Love and watch the low­ly maid­en,
In whose gen­tle arms He lay:
Christian child­ren all must be
Mild, obe­di­ent, good as He.

For He is our child­hood’s pat­tern;
Day by day, like us He grew;
He was lit­tle, weak and help­less,
Tears and smiles like us He knew;
And He feel­eth for our sad­ness,
And He shar­eth in our glad­ness.

And our eyes at last shall see Him,
Through His own re­deem­ing love,
For that Child so dear and gen­tle
Is our Lord in Heav’n above,
And He leads His child­ren on
To the place where He is gone.

Not in that poor low­ly sta­ble,
With the ox­en stand­ing by,
We shall see Him; but in Hea­ven,
Set at God’s right hand on high;
Where like stars His child­ren crowned
All in white shall wait around.

Once in Royal David’s City ~ Cecil F. Alexander, 1848.

Smile, Your On Wednesday Hodgepodge

Blogging…where everyday is Candid Camera day.

Time for a holly jolly candid Hodgepodge. Thank you to Joyce From This Side of the Pond!

1. What’s one thing you want to get done before the calendar flips to a new year?

There is not one thing that stands out to be accomplished. I was considering weeding out some Christmas decor before everything is put back into the bins for next year. Some of our stuff is tired looking. Maybe I’ll designate one bin for the things I can let go.

2. What’s something that brought a smile to your face this year?

Thankfully there were many things. I am a smiley person in general. Our family times together always brings a smile on my face and generally there are belly laughs, too. The wonderful weather we enjoyed in Scotland in September brought many smiles and gratitude! We have our children’s play/musical this coming weekend and I know that will keep me smiling. It is called The Loaned Manger, a western themed presentation. Both Addy and JJ will be performing. Addy has some key singing parts and JJ is Joseph this year.

3. What do you like on a cracker? Do you have a favorite cracker variety? 

We really enjoyed Jo’s Cranberry Jalapeno dip at Thanksgiving and when JJ was here on Monday he said “I’ll get the crackers for the cream cheese” as if I kept that dip around every day. Hilarious! (JJ is Five)

4. Do you have plans for ringing in the new year in a fun or special way? Are you typically awake at midnight on the last day of the year? 

We have entered the dud zone when it comes to New Year’s celebrations. We are typically in bed and the fireworks might wake us up at midnight! In our part of Washington state it is generally too dry with fire danger on July 4th so people around these parts stock up on fireworks to shoot off on New Year’s Eve instead.

5. What are three words that describe your 2024? 

Celebrating Fifty Years! 

We were married in 1974 so 2024 marks our 50th wedding anniversary. We have celebrated well starting at the end of June with a getaway to Walla Walla for a weekend of fun with our family of 10. We celebrated again in Scotland in September and we celebrated on the actual day with an overnight trip to Coeur d’Alene.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I saw that common phrase this year on facebook, ‘keep Christ in Christmas’ and my reaction was a new one. There is no way anyone can keep Christ out of Christmas, even if you don’t know Christ or celebrate Him. The darkness (Satan) has been trying to eliminate God from the beginning of time. It started in the Garden of Eden. The light of the world will always overcome the darkness. Christ brought His light into the world and will continue to shine till one day the darkness will finally be cast away. Herod tried to kill Christ as a babe and did the unspeakable by killing all the male children in his realm thinking he could eliminate Jesus. God in His mercy preserved Jesus Christ for His role in becoming the Savior of the world by his sacrificial death on the cross so that man can be at peace with Holy God. Because of Jesus Christ’s perfect life and righteous sacrifice and resurrection our repentance, turning from sin, makes us acceptable to God and makes us redeemed in His sight. Christmas is all about Jesus Christ’s incarnation, Emmanuel, God with us. Jesus, fully God, became man for us. He condescended with love to make it possible for us to be reconciled to God and have eternal life with Him instead of eternal damnation in hell.

Praying that God is calling you to repentance and opening your spiritual eyes to see His Truth today.

Merry Christmas Hodgepodgers!

Come Thou Long Expected Jesus ~Hymn

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

Come, Thou long expected Jesus
Born to set Thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
Let us find our rest in Thee.
Israel’s strength and consolation,
Hope of all the earth Thou art;
Dear desire of every nation,
Joy of every longing heart.

Born Thy people to deliver,
Born a child and yet a king,
Born to reign in us forever,
Now Thy gracious kingdom bring.
By Thine own eternal Spirit
Rule in all our hearts alone;
By Thine all sufficient merit,
Raise us to Thy glorious throne.

Words: Charles Wesley

Truth for Today #125

Thursday December 12th

On Thursdays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s dig deep in God’s Truth again this year!

The verses that you share are appreciated and so encouraging, I’m thankful for them and for each of you! 

Notice: Our Truth for Today posts will resume in January.

Hebrews 1:3-14

And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When he had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

 For to which of the angels did He ever say,

“You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You”?

And again,

“I will be a Father to Him
And He shall be a Son to Me”?

6 And when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says,

“And let all the angels of God worship Him.”

7 And of the angels He says,

“Who makes His angels winds,
And His ministers a flame of fire.”

8 But of the Son He says,

“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
And the righteous scepter is the scepter of His kingdom.
9 “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness above Your companions.”

10 And,

“You, Lord, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth,
And the heavens are the works of Your hands;
11 They will perish, but You remain;
And they all will become old like a garment,
12 And like a mantle You will roll them up;
Like a garment they will also be changed.
But You are the same,
And Your years will not come to an end.”

13 But to which of the angels has He ever said,

“Sit at My right hand,
Until I make Your enemies
A footstool for Your feet”?

14 Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation?

From Vera:

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
‭‭1 John‬ ‭4‬:‭7‬-‭11‬ ‭ESV‬‬

The Roads We Travel

On Sunday our children’s choir started our services off with a preview of their upcoming Children’s Christmas play/musical. It is always a treat to have the children perform. As soon as the service was over we hit the road for our trip to the west side of the mountains.

We made a quick stop in Spokane to get a sandwich for the road before we reached I-90 for our 284 mile stretch to Bothell.

For most of our eastern Washington journey we were happy for sunshine and clear roads.

It’s a family tradition that when we spot the Columbia River and Vantage Bridge we send out a group text with the words, ‘Roll On’. Everyone knows exactly where we are and will be able to calculate when we’ll arrive at our destination.

From this point we would be starting our ascent up and through the Cascade mountain range.

On the eastern slopes the skies changed. We were patting ourselves on the back for replacing our windshield wipers the day before.

At Snoqualmie Pass I snapped this shot before our descent into Western Washington.

We made it to Josh and Laura’s house and had a good catch-up before we met up with Andrew and Katie for Thai food to continue our Anniversary celebrations. Josh and Laura baked a cake for all of us to enjoy after dinner. We have some very thoughtful kids.

Soon we were all ready to put our heads on our pillows for the night.

That reminds me of this sweet photo that was sent to us of JJ after a long morning of shopping this past Saturday on the Eastside.

Hope you all have time to rest and contemplate all that this season holds for mankind.

A portion of the Nicene Creed;

We believe in one God,
the Father almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all things visible and invisible.

And in one Lord Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
begotten from the Father before all ages,
God from God,
Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made;
of the same essence as the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven;
he became incarnate by the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary,
and was made human.

The Deity and Humanity of Christ ~ Hymn

 

The Deity and Humanity of Christ

Ere the blue heav’ns were stretched abroad,
From ev­er­last­ing was the Word:
With God He was; the Word was God,
And must di­vine­ly be ad­ored.

By His own pow­er were all things made;
By Him sup­port­ed all things stand;
He is the whole cre­ation’s head,
And an­gels fly at His com­mand.

Ere sin was born, or Sa­tan fell,
He led the host of morn­ing stars:
Thy ge­ne­ra­tion who can tell,
Or count the num­bers of Thy years?

But lo, He leaves those heav’n­ly forms,
The Word des­cends and dwells in clay,
That He may hold con­verse with worms,
Dressed in such fee­ble flesh as they.

Mortals with joy be­held His face,
Th’eter­nal Fa­ther’s on­ly Son;
How full of truth! how full of grace!
When thro’ His eyes the God­head shone.

Archangels leave their high abode
To learn new mys­te­ries here, and tell
The loves of our des­cend­ing God,
The glories of Im­ma­nu­el.

Words: Isaac Watts, 1707.

Fifty Years and Counting…

Today Dear and I are celebrating the day we got married fifty years ago. We were married on a Friday evening in Southern California. Our 50th anniversary lands on a Friday, too.

Sharing lots of photos from our years together.

Greg and I on stage in England. We are on the right in this photo.

We met at a church parking lot where Greg was singing in a contemporary Christian Band that my best friend auditioned for. I went to the concerts she was singing in with the group and that is how Greg and I met. Later the group needed an alto so I auditioned and joined the group, too. We fell in love while traveling with this group.

Dating, Engagement party and early marriage collage.

Lousy photo from one of my bridal showers with my mom and Greg’s mom.img560

The rehearsal for our wedding ceremony. Our officiant Andrew Semenchuk turned 99 this week!

December – When December’s snows fall fast, marry and your love will last.

Our wedding day…

img568I love this photo of my dear maternal grandmother and me. She was a gem.

img567My maternal grandmother, my mom and me.

img566Our sweet and oldest niece was at our wedding. Her mom and dad were our matron of honor and best man.

My sisters on our wedding day. Kathy, kneeling on the left, also got married in 1974.

img578My paternal grandparents came to the wedding, too. This was not a given and we were pleased that they came.

img576This is Dear’s paternal grandmother and she was not able to travel to the wedding but she visited us in our first apartment.

img570Here we are heading off to our honeymoon.

Our first apartment in West L.A. We were in it for less than a year. The great thing about this apartment was that it was 2 buildings down from a grocery store and easy to get last minute items we needed for a meal.

Our first home with a mortgage in Huntington Beach across the street from my sister Vera and Nick, 1975. Greg tiled the entry.

Early in our marriage with Greg’s side of the family before we had children.

My first pregnancy and our first son, Joshua.

Almost 2 years to the day after Josh was born, our second son, Daniel, was born.

Our boys were born while we lived in our second home in Huntington Beach.

Three generations of Bayles Boys!

1985 in Arizona on a bicycling trip. I was pregnant with Katie.

Our sweet surprise, Katie, was born in 1985.

On our move from California to Washington state we stopped in Yuba City to drop off Greg’s mom Verna who would join us later in our home in Bothell. Aunt Carol supervised our three on the horse.

Our first camping trip after we moved to Washington State with our friends who were a big part of the motivation for our move. Rainier in the background.

The University of Washington years. We were able to get tickets to the Rose Bowl Championship game in 1992.

Josh and Laura’s wedding in 2001

Edinburgh 2006

2008

From 2007-to early 2010 Greg and I walked the shore of Emma Wood State Beach every Saturday morning when we were living in Camarillo.

My birthday in 2009 at Tam O’Shanter in Los Angeles.

My 60th birthday in 2011.

Katie’s wedding in 2012.

England 2013

England in 2014 for our 40th Anniversary

Dan and Jamie 2015

First granddaughter

First Grandson

We’ve walked together as man and wife for 50 years. We lived in Los Angeles in 1974-75, Huntington Beach 1975-1984, and Ventura 1984-1988 in California. We moved to Washington State in 1988 and lived in Bothell 1988-1997, Kirkland 1997-1998, Kenmore 1998-2018 and now Colville since 2018. We lived temporarily in Camarillo, California from 2006-2010 while still owning our home in Kenmore.

I was a file clerk when we got married and then a school teacher until Josh was born. Greg was a painting contractor with his dad when we got married. When our sons were young Greg got a job with an aggregate company which prompted our move to Ventura where he ran heavy equipment in a quarry. Katie was born in Ventura and Greg was encouraged to finish his education and he decided to take some science courses to see if Pharmacy would be a good fit for him.

We moved to Washington State so he could finish his schooling at the University of Washington and then apply to Pharmacy school. While Greg was in school in Seattle I started a cleaning business for homes during the day and a dental and medical office at night. He finished his courses in 1992 but went on to a year of residency at Overlake Hospital in Bellevue before moving into the Biotec industry dispensing medical information on therapies or treatments that the companies he worked for discovered. One of the big names you might be familiar with is Enbrel. After his residency was over I retired from the cleaning business.

I homeschooled Katie for a couple years and when she went back to public school in 7th grade, I substitute taught for a few years.  Greg continued in the Biotec realm until he retired in 2019. We are happily retired in the country in the small town of Colville with Dan, Jamie and our Grandchildren close by. Our ‘Coast’ kids have the freedom to visit us several times a year and we like to visit them, too.

Here we are in Kenmore, Scotland with Josh and Laura giving a nod to Kenmore, Washington where we lived for 20 years.

This post is just scratching the surface of our 50 years of marriage and all the experiences and opportunities that God opened up to us. We were both Born Again Christians when we married and have been in the Sanctification process these past 50 years. Our life with Christ has progressed with some mountain tops and valleys but has always gone forward bit by bit as we choose obedience instead of our self-centered bents. Some of those bents are easier to identify than others. We’ve been members of Bible teaching churches all our years. Evangelical Free church in Huntington Beach, Bible Fellowship Church in Ventura, Sunrise Christian Fellowship in Seattle and Edmonds, Evangelical Free Church Conejo Valley,  Northshore Baptist Church in Kirkland, and now First Baptist Church Colville. We attend and we serve.

This post doesn’t cover any of the friends that God has surrounded us with who have sharpened us like iron sharpens iron. Friends who have helped us grow in the Lord. Friends that were by our side for so many life experiences. Friends that God graciously put in our lives. That will have to be another post.

As my dear old Pop would say we are so thankful to God for all He “did to us” these fifty years! Thank you God for what you did to us” was my pop’s prayer. Thank you, LORD God Almighty for bringing us together in our marriage covenant. You have given us peace and joy through the hard times and good times. You continue to lay your hand upon us and lead us beside still waters.

We already had a wonderful anniversary celebration in Walla Walla with our family of ten but that doesn’t stop us from continuing our celebration today. We are having a small overnight getaway in Idaho to celebrate our actual day. The photo above is our celebration meal at Parallel 47, a restaurant in Hayden, Idaho. The food was so satisfying. After dinner we walked the Christmas lights boardwalk at the Coeur d’Alene Resort.

We trust God for the future of our marriage and thank Him for his lovingkindness and mercy in our individual lives and as husband and wife.

Thank you, Dear Readers, for making it to the end of this long post.