If you want to follow the comments in the order he made them, read from the bottom up.

And remember: Watch @desiringgodPastors Conference in 4 languages —  #English #Spanish #Chinese &#Russian::ht.ly/8Lv0j

NoelPiper10:10am

Work of the Holy Spirit: I have never had [in myself] everything I need to do what God’s calling me to do. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper10:07am Work of the Spirit– 5. WALK: the Spirit gives us power to do boldly what we need to do. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper10:06am Work of the Spirit– 4. Live: He fills our lives by living in us, and we model that life before our children. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper10:06amWork of the Spirit–3. Fruit: We don’t produce fruits of the Spirit. They are supernatural work of the Spirit. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper10:04amWork of the Spirit– 2. Led: If you’re led by the Spirit, you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper10:01amWork of the Spirit — 1. Walk: Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:58am The Holy Spirit is not an influence. He’s a person who has regenerated, baptized, sealed us. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:57amHow easy it is to ignore the work & power of the Holy Spirit in transformation. @CrawfordLoritts#dgpascon

NoelPiper9:55amIn cemetery with my son: Remember, these people paid your “tuition,” as we are for the next generation. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:52amPop, as I’m walking out the door when a teenager: Do right. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:51amPop, after racist incident: That’s all right. We know who we are. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:50amPop: How people treat you should never define you. It’s not what people call you; it’s what you answer to. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:49amPop, about report card: How can somebody be so smart & so dumb at the same time? @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:48amRespect is the incubator for honor. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:45amPop’s 3 D’s with no negotiating: Dishonesty, Disobedience, Disrespect. @CrawfordLoritts#dgpascon

NoelPiper9:43amPop’s lessons in manhood– 4. Out of integrity comes your inheritance. @CrawfordLoritts#dgpascon

NoelPiper9:43am Pop’s lessons in manhood– 3. Out of discipline comes integrity. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:42amPop’s lessons in manhood– 2. Out of strength comes discipline. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:41amPop’s lessons in manhood– 1. Out of struggle comes strength. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:40amPop never sat down & had a talk with me about manhood. He just lived it. @CrawfordLoritts#dgpascon

NoelPiper9:39amA real man embraces obligation & responsibility–not curse words or burden, but his purpose in life. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:38amTeen thinks manhood=doing what I feel like. Father needs to pull himthrough to knowing right & wrong. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:36amA father teaches what to say “no” to, so a child knows what to say “yes” to.@CrawfordLoritts#dgpascon

NoelPiper9:35amA father teaches limits, the banks of the river that leads to the destination he wants his children to reach. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:33amBroad category of need,met primarily (but not only) by father: accountability, discipline, parameters, goals. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:29amBroad category of need, primarily (but not only) from mother: touch, affirmation, warmth. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:28amEvery 28 days a woman is reminded of who she is. A man knows he’s a man only when a key man tells him so. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:25amMy history not only intact Black family. I’m ticked when we set up a new kind of slavery to entitlement. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:24amI want to keep my eyes set on where I’m going: that city built by God. @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:23amWe have lost a noble vision of eternity, of a city built not by hands, but by God.@CrawfordLoritts#dgpascon

NoelPiper9:18am @CrawfordLoritts‘ father: Karen didn’t ask to marry you. You asked to marry her, and you better take care of her. #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:16amMy father (slave grandson) wasn’t God. WAS a man of impeccable integrity. I’ve always wanted to be like him @CrawfordLoritts #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:10amBe careful of your ego. God spoke to Balaam’s ass. Make your own application. @CrawfordLoritts#dgpascon

NoelPiper9:05amMother washed my mouth with soap for saying “Shut up” to my sister. I’d learn respect if she had anything to do with it.@JohnPiper #dgpascon

NoelPiper9:03am@CrawfordLoritts is Senior Pastor, Fellowship Bible Church, Roswell, GA. #dgpascon  ow.ly/8ME1W

NoelPiper8:49amPhoto: Hundreds of pastors begin day together with prayer. #dgpascon   pic.twitter.com/mHCF0lgV

NoelPiper8:20am@CrawfordLoritts speaks at 8:30 session about lessons learned from his father. #dgpascon  ow.ly/8Myvb

I’m thinking about that reality now, after hearing from some people who are suffering right now. The causes are quite different, but for all of them, Christmas as they’ve known it seems like another planet.

That makes me want to put it down in stark black and white: Christmas can be hard, really hard, unbearably hard–all the more when we look around at all the jolliness and feel like we’re alone in our grief or pain or loneliness or uncertainty or fear or hopelessness or confusion or alienation or . . . .

A few years ago, I wrote to a friend whose child had come through a crisis not long before Christmas.

I realize that it doesn’t resolve your situation to hear that you’re not alone. But I pray it might help lighten the burden at least a little to see what some others have to say, people who are in your shoes now or they have been there.

These articles are in no particular order and are from from various perspectives. I think it will be quite possible as you read to substitute your own challenges or the struggles of a person you love.

When Christmas Stinks, by Michael Monroe

Joy (and Grief) and Joy at Christmas, by Molly Piper

The angels’ words were a battle cry, by Joni Eareckson Tada

FAS and Christmas, by Julie Martindale

“Suffering is the reason for the season,” Charles Colson

White Elephant: Explain that to an FASD Kiddo, by Barb Clark

He Says There’s Something Worse than Death, by John Knight (poem by John Piper)

God Uses Silly Videos to Make Much of Himself, by John Knight

The Most Important Posting I Will Ever Write . . . & a Christmas Greeting, by Mike Evans

Home for Christmas, by Greg Lucas

Together on the Ledge, by Lisa Qualls

A request to you: Please share with us resources that have helped you in your difficult times.

Today, I’ve been collecting things I’ve read from people writing about their Christmas celebrations when it’s hard to celebrate. I was struck by the role music plays or has played for some of them.

Need some Theology with that Hymn, M’am?, by Carrie Zeman

Drive-by Caroling, by Julie Martindale

Christmas Joy, by Joni Eareckson Tada

Request for you: Please share with us music that speaks especially to your heart at Christmas.

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Motion-sensor light bulb base. After one more less-than-happy conversation about lights left burning in the basement laundry room–OK! About me leaving the lights burning–a thought struck me. Lots of people have motion sensor lights outside their houses. Might there be such a thing for inside?

Yes, there is. The base screws into the place where you have been screwing in your bulb, and then you screw the bulb into the base. In other words, there’s no electrical installation required. And yes, that has eliminated one thing to be unhappy about. That alone makes it worth the price, and I suppose the savings in electricity will balance it out eventually. (Note that only some available bases work with fluorescent “bulbs,” which of course are another electricity saver.)

Eyeglasses “tether.” For some reason, I can’t just put on my glasses and keep them on. For years, when I take them off, I close them and often hang them by one arm in the neck of my shirt, where they usually were safe. But then, there are the times when I leaned over and they fell on the floor, collecting scratches and the times I laid them somewhere and couldn’t remember where.

I bought my newest glasses before a trip to the Grand Canyon, and I imagined them slipping out and falling, falling, falling. So I squeezed my mind’s eye shut against my stereotypes of people who hang their glasses around their necks.

I’m a convert. Since then, I can’t remember one time when I said, “Where are my glasses?” And my 3-month-old glasses have not one scratch–an all-time record for me.

I’ve taken advantage of my craft stash of beads to make my own necklacey holders too. May as well treat this ADD tool as a fashion accessory. Maybe I’ll even make earrings to match.

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