had my usual wednesday guys meeting earlier in the week and while there we talked about the christmas service on the 21st. we have been talking about showing pictures of people's childbirth moments (directly after birth, not the Discovery Channel rated R type stuff) and i brought up that we need to remember that for some folks childbirth is not a positive emotional time but a very painful time. no sooner had i said anything, one of the guys there said "i knew you'd bring that up, i was just waiting for it" - like this was my own personal prison and i was all too eager to lock everyone else up in with me. wow, and these are my so-called "christian" friends.

you know, maybe i'm completely wrong and subconsciously am trying to spoil everyone else's perfect birth moment experience, but the way i look at it, the Father gave us our experience for a reason. one of those reasons was to make us (Dianna and I) sensitive to others who have had issues in this area. i don't think it is too much to ask that church service planners remember this and keep in mind that there may be others out there that don't connect the way their perfect little family experience does.

want examples...ok, how about the viola's who had their son die during delivery when the cord wrapped around his neck, about 2 years ago this month. how about the behrends who had their young child die during a swimming accident last summer and now they have to spend their first christmas with only his memory. do i need to go on? christmas can be a time of great joy or great sadness. surely it is wise to understand that and demonstrate what the coming of the christ-child has to offer in that respect. or is that just a bother, like me?