GOD 1st!! Well officially this holiday season is over, (for me) Today is the day to recognize GOD, and the birth of the CHRIST Child....King.  I feel this so important I stay away from everything I can for 30 days from Thanks Giving to Christmas Day.  There is 11 other months to contact people shop for them and show love for them.  I love the beauty found in Christmas!  Lights, snow...yea!!, and music!!  I especially love the first chapters of Luke, TBN's "...The Gospel of John" a few Christmas Movies "....A Christmas Story"  etc.... But I love CHRIST so much more.......I wont, and its just me, but I wont play the part of americas "Holiday"  Its been good to pray and reflect, work out....I cook and eat nice things for family but for CHRIST not santa. In the city I would be in a soup kitchen right now.....helping others, ministering with service.  I did a bit of that these past four weeks..Chili, enchiladas and Indian Tacos!!  ..Thank-you JESUS!! Here's today's daily bread!!  About This Cover December 25, 2008 A Gift Most Lavish ODB RADIO: Listen Now |  Download READ: Micah 5:2-6 Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. —2 Corinthians 8:9 I have a piece of old plaster on my desk that comes from the ancient site of the Herodium in the land of Israel. It reminds me of the humility of our Lord Jesus. Herodium was a lavish residence that served as King Herod’s summer palace, a sumptuous villa with opulent apartments furnished for the royal family and their guests. It boasted a Roman bath with hot and cold pools, surrounded by colonnaded gardens. It’s said that Herod built his palace to commemorate a victory in battle, but knowing Herod’s selfish ambition it’s possible he had another purpose in mind. Some have conjectured that Herod, despite inquiring of the scribes (Matt. 2:4-6), knew about Micah’s prediction that Israel’s Messiah would be born in Bethlehem. He may have wanted Israel’s King to be born in his palace. The Father’s plan, however, was for our Lord to be born not in a castle but in a cave. It was in a lowly manger that the little Lord Jesus was born. This is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich” (2 Cor. 8:9). This is the gift of lavish salvation—of all gifts, the greatest gift that you and I will ever receive.  — David H. Roper He did not use a silvery box Or paper green and red; God laid His Christmas gift to me Within a manger bed. —Prentice The goodness and love of God became incarnate at Bethlehem.