Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas. The birth of Christ was a unique time in history. Jesus emptied Himself to show us God's Love. Can you imagine the Creator of the Universe entering the human race as a fragile dependent baby! He is coming back, but the next time it's not going to be so discreet. No one will miss the second coming of Christ.

I took a Prespectives Class a few years ago and at the first class, the instructor for that week showed us his Bible with yellow highlights on every passage that pertained to all nations.

His Bible had yellow highlights on nearly every page. It was always God's plan from the foundation of the world to redeem us back to Him. You were on His mind even before He created the world!

In the last Worship Guitar Class Newsletter I mentioned my thoughts on Psalm 139:16-17:

"How precious are Your thoughts towards me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand"

Cheryl Perry sent me this photo and message:

Dear Jean,

I have received your email for a few years now and want to say how much I enjoy the scripture you included today with your mini testament. I too love the beach and have a great appreciation for it. Being a sister in Christ also,  I am part of a women's group that shares what God has done for us and ways we can serve Him better.

I have made a ministry of using personal photos that I have taken and placing scripture with them. Here is the one that I used for today along with the scripture that you have brought to light. This photo however is of me at Wilmington Beach, NC taken by my husband.

God bless you and your ministry.
Cheryl D. Perry

Tami sent this fascinating email with the actual sand count in a teaspoon and an excellent gift idea:

More on His Thoughts Outnumber The Sand

Voting for the Worship Contest closes at the end of December 5th. There are several wonderful songs up that will make you smile and help you Worship our Good God. There are 'kids songs,' 'family songs,' and 'songs by adults.' You can hear them here - Worship Contest

You can also leave comments for the artists at the URL.

It was fun recently reconnecting with an old friend, Joe Deblasi. Joe, John Doan and I were guitar majors together years ago. Joe went into studio work after college. He's been featured in lots of movies, recordings, etc. Joe is a very fine musician and is also quite involved with worship music. He plays on the worship team most Sunday Mornings.

I wanted to let you know about his new Christmas CD. I think you'll really enjoy his music. You can hear some of it on his Myspace page -
http://www.Myspace.Com/Joediblasi

If you would like to get his wonderful CD, it's available from http://cdbaby.com/cd/joediblasi I've been enjoying his CD.

I don't know about you, but I sure enjoyed watching the Olympics from Beijing. What an incredible opening night and how inspirational to hear the stories about these athletes.

Did you notice how often the news commentators talked about their relaxed technique? I did. Several times the newscasters talked about Michael Phelps' relaxed swimming style. When Rebecca Soni finished swimming they mentioned her big smile and that you have to have a relaxed face to smile like that right after a swim.

Dara Torres, who has 2 personal stretchers, received comments about how relaxed she looked. Did you see The Jamaican runners? Usain Bolt breezed far ahead of the rest in the 100 and 200 meter race. Amazing! Made me think of 'Chariots of Fire' and Eric Little's comment about how he knew God had made him fast and he felt God's pleasure when he ran.

How can the Christian guitarist apply this? Focus on our goal, which is Jesus Christ, and develop an excellent guitar technique. Keep you face, shoulders and fingers relaxed as they effortlessly play the guitar. Unlike the Olympics there are no 'best' players. God rewards each one of us as we earnestly seek Him.