December 23, 2012 WELCOME! WE'RE GLAD YOU'RE HERE We are a group of believers who simply try to follow the Bible as a guide for all we do. Everything done in our worship service is something for which we have a Bible basis. You are welcome to participate as much or as little as you wish. We will sing hymns together and we will observe the Lord's Supper or Communion together. We will also have an opportunity to give to the work of God in this area. This collection is for the members here, and if you are visiting you should not feel and pressure to give. Our lesson time will be divided into two groups. The young children will go to our classroom area in the basement where they will be taught the Bible at a level they can understand. The adults will stay in the auditorium for a lesson at an adult level. We do try to serve the community, and if you have some needs that we can help you with, mention it to one of the members.

FAMILY NEWS

CLASS ON REVELATION STARTS IN JANUARY — The denominational world struggles with the book of Revelation. We hear “end of the earth” scenarios, attacks on Catholicism, attacks on politicians, and even claims of alien visitation all attributed to the book of Revelation. In reality this book is easy to understand. The only thing that bothers people is that they do not understand the symbols used and what the apply to. This will not be a long study, because the book of Revelation is really very simple. We expect to have the study completed by late spring. Come and learn with us each Wednesday at 7:15, with the first class being January 2nd.

SNOW AND SERVICES — It has been a while since we have had enough snow to have to cancel classes or services, but it is that time of year again and we need to remind everyone that we do sometimes have to cancel. Because the weather in Dowagiac can be so different than in other areas, Bill and Patty Gibson (782-4564) and Bill and Maelene Salmons (782-2674) will be our key people to make the decision to cancel or not. If you have doubts — call.

TODAY'S LESSON

PEACE ON EARTH

THE BACK PAGE

GOLD WRAPPING PAPER

EDITOR'S NOTE: A year ago one of our students in our correspondence course program sent in the article below. We did not use it last year, but it seems especially appropriate this year.

A young mother chastised her five-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of expensive gold wrapping paper. Money was tight and she became even more upset when the child used the gold paper to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the gift box to her mother the next morning and said “This is for you, Momma.” The mother was embarrassed by her earlier overreaction, but her anger flared again when she opened the box and found it was empty. “Don't you know, young lady, that when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package?”

The little girl teared up as she said “Oh Momma, it isn't empty! I blew kisses into it until it was full.“ The mother was crushed. She fell on her knees and put her arms around the little girl and begged for her forgiveness for her thoughtless anger. Not long after this the child was tragically killed. The mother kept the gold wrapped box by her bed for the rest of her life. Whenever she was discouraged or faced difficult problems, she would open the box and take out the imaginary kisses and remember the love of the child that put them there.

In a very real sense each of us as human beings have been given a golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends, and especially our Lord Jesus Christ. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold and no gift that could have any more meaning. Let us all be thankful for God's love and for the love of those who are a part of our lives.