We’ve been pretty quiet on technology the past couple of weeks over the holiday. I’ve had multiple times when I thought of posting something on Instagram or sending something out through email, but then the moment passed and time skittered on by. We have been enjoying time with each other and time celebrating the birth of our Savior, and we pray you have been doing the same. For so many of us, this holiday season looked different in one way or another. Were you able to gather with family? Is your church meeting virtually or in person? Did you shop more online rather than in person? Or perhaps you shopped in person and found quieter stores and less lines. So many things about this year have caused so many differences to what we expect as normal. But I have to say that this Christmas, in the midst of so many things looking and feeling different, one of my favorite lines from a classic children’s Christmas movie came to mind. 
“He HADN’T stopped Christmas from coming. IT CAME! Somehow or other Christmas came just the same!”
As the Grinch found out in the classic story, Christmas came whether things looked the same as they always had or entirely different. And in 2020 of course Christmas came just the same, whether we celebrated the same or entirely different. The reality of Christ’s birth is not dependent on any earthly thing. No one can “cancel Christmas” because it has never truly been about how we celebrate or what traditions we keep. It has always been about God’s perfect plan of salvation for those who would trust in Him. So in 2020, with all of the things that have been different, I’m so thankful for the one thing that will always be the same: God is sovereign. His plans are still perfect and will still prosper, regardless of how uncertain things on earth may seem. 

We pray this Christmas season and into the new year that you will look to Jesus as your only hope for life here on earth and into eternity.

Wishing you a very blessed 2021!
Jim and Rachel Bennett, Grace, Mary Emma and Lydia