New Grandson!

We had a nice visit with family in Arkansas! Grandson Finnian Jude Stoner arrived December 3, born to Mark and Joy Stoner who live in Siloam Springs. Finn weighed 7 lb, 13 oz and measured 19.5 inches. His two year old sister, Mia, is proud to have him join the family and helps their mommie care for him. Vivian and I were visiting our daughter Marcy and family in Conway, AR when the news came, so the next day we all drove up together to meet Finn. After that Vivian and I spent two more days in Siloam before returning to our home in Texas.







As the Christmas season approaches, the birth of our seventh grandchild reminds me of the birth of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is described by Paul as the indescribable gift. For your worshipful consideration, I offer a poem about His coming that I wrote many years ago. May your spiritual journey be enriched as you ponder the rational of God's wondrous Gift of the incarnate Savior.

What Would You Have Done?

What would you have done
If you were God, the Father
Looking on a world of sin,
To satisfy eternal justice
And reconcile sinful man
To yourself again?

Would you have sent an angel
To pay the death-price for sin?
Angels are made to serve but cannot bring
Salvation to a different part
Of God’s creation doomed by sin.
The reason? They are angels
And neither God nor man.

Would you have found a man?
All men great and small have failed
To resolve their guilt and shame,
By effort, sacrifice or firm resolve.
The reason? All are finite men,
And sin’s debt infinite remains.

Would you have engaged as God?
Here He finds Himself at loss
(I speak reverently)
To reconcile sinful man,
Destined to die in desperate state.
The reason? God is holy, eternal, immortal,
So cannot die to pay sin’s price.

So what could be done
To solve this sad dilemma?
God’s solution was His Son,
The doctrine of the incarnation.

By lowly birth and sinless life,
Jesus came and died for sin
And then in power lived again.
Fully God and truly Man,
Sufficient, eternal sacrifice for sin.
The reason? Christ is the God-Man,
Who alone could bring sinful, finite man
To the holy, loving Father again.
(C. G Stoner, December, 1971; Revised, November 2010)