Milestones

Merry Christmas to all my family, friends, and loved ones! I have been having a fantastic winter vacation, and everything has gone according to plan so far. Today marks a milestone birthday in the family - yes, our baby has turned 16 today! It seems as if it were just yesterday, but the inexorable passage of time has brought us 16 years forward to the present, and we recall with gratitude to God, every single one of those years. From his first birthday in India, and his second to his seventh in America, and then the eighth birthday onward in Canada, we have had a fantastic ride through the years, by the immense grace of God. With the advent of the milestone 16th comes the inevitable rite of passage for every teenager, the process of getting one's driver's licence. Wow, where did the years go, I ask myself?!?

To mark the occasion, we attended a beautiful candlelight service at Olivet Church last night. The ambiance was so serene and evocative of that long gone Christmas Eve in Bethlehem when the Christ Child was born. The sermon was so meaningfully delivered, from the point of view of the innkeeper's wife - "Make sure to always make room for the Savior!" - and we returned to the twinkling Christmas lights at home, so upbeat and full of cheer and optimism in our hearts. It is my fervent hope and prayer that God enable my son to reach many more milestones in life, and I wish for all my friends the love, hope, and peace of the Christ Child, the joy of Mary and Joseph, the light of the Star of Bethlehem, the faith of the shepherds, and the wisdom of the Magi, this Christmas and always!