Yesterday was Christmas. We did the big family thing the night before. I won’t tell you all that we ate and drank, but it was a full-on celebration. We celebrated the birth of Jesus – God’s amazing demonstration of love … Jesus, who taught us what it means to have a relationship with the Father, who demonstrated the kingdom of God, who represented perfectly the character of God, who was the best of humanity and the fullness of diety, and who ultimately took away our sin and diseases so that we might live forgiven and free. Lot’s to celebrate there!

We also celebrated being together. This was the first Christmas in almost 10 years when we all lived in the same city, and the first Christmas Day in 5 years that Victoria and I did not spend driving between Ohio and Memphis. Our family is small, and we get along pretty well. It was a good celebration.

And we celebrated my being alive!

Six months ago it seemed likely that I would either be dead or in hospice by the holidays. Instead, I am healed…cancer-free, healthy. I am healed because God heard and answered the prayers of faithful people like you. For that, I am grateful. To be loved like that, to be care about by so many people, many of whom I barely know and some whom I have never met, and to be the object of God’s demonstrative power and love - - - that is a lot to celebrate!

I am taking a few weeks off to process my healing and this whole experience.

The Friday before Christmas, Vic and I were babysitting my granddaughter, who just turned 7. She was supposedly getting over strep throat the last day of school before Christmas break. But she was feeling fine – no fever, and lots of energy. I had to run a few last minute Christmas errands, so I offered to take her with me the Bass Pro Shop in the Pyramid in downtown Memphis.

For those of you who have never been to Memphis, the Pyramid is to Memphis what the Golden Gate bridge is to San Francisco or what the Statue of Liberty is to New York.

Well…that might be overstating.

I remember when the Pyramid was built. It was going to be Memphis’ answer to St. Louis’ Arch. It was built as a sports arena where the Memphis State (now University of Memphis) Tigers would play basketball. Penny Hardaway, Elliot Perry and Lorenzen Wright played there. When Vancouver’s NBA franchise moved to Memphis, they played in the Pyramid - “The Tomb of Doom!”. But it was a terrible design. There is a reason sports arenas are “bowl” shaped. The pyramid is cone shaped, which means seating inside was wonky. Eventually, FedEx Forum was built, which is an award-winning, modern arena less than a mile away. Both the Grizzlies and the Tigers abandoned the Pyramid. The Pyramid sat empty for years until Bass Pro offered to take it over.

Bass Pro built an indoor lake, artificial cypress swamp, restaurants, arcades, a giant aquarium, mini-mountain, an observation deck at the top that overlooks the Mississippi River, and a hotel inside the Pyramid. It is still a Bass Pro shop, but the shopping is built around the lake. There are boardwalks and bridges connecting everything. The lake/swamp is crystal clear, and stocked all kinds of freshwater fish. There is a sturgeon there that is as big as me, hundreds of huge catfish, bass, alligator gar, and even live ducks. While Bass Pro is not really my kind of place (except for an occasional visit to the Fly-Shop), the Pyramid is impressive - and an entertaining place for a 7 year-old with a lot of energy!

All that was to paint a context for this wonderful memory.

Maddie, my granddaughter, thought the boardwalks and bridges looked a lot like a stage. After an hour or so of shopping, I found a place to sit (men can stand for 8 hours in a boat or a river fishing, but cannot stand more than 40 minutes in a department store). Maddie decided that those “stages” were perfect to practice her ballet spins. For more than 15 minutes, with no sense that anyone was watching or using those walkways, Maddie did ballet. She is 7. She has had a total of 8 lessons. But she was beautiful. She was free, and happy, and secure. She danced with pure joy. And I was there to see it.

Thank you for that gift. Thank you for praying for me, even if you doubted, even if you know very little about me. God answered you, and I am alive and well. And I got to see my granddaughter do ballet at Bass Pro. I don’t know what all God has for me for the next 7 years, but this was a good start.

My prayer for you this week has been that each one of you get to share the absolute joy that I have had this week. “When one part suffers, we all suffer. When one part is honored, we all rejoice.”

I think we were designed to live like Maddie danced at Bass Pro - having the security to break out into spontaneous joy without caring what others think. I was shocked that scores of people walked past Maddie while she danced, and none of them paid any attention. They were all too busy getting ready for Christmas! Do you get the irony in that!!! They missed the best thing that happened all day in that store. They missed witnessing true love and freedom and joy as they hustled off to buy whatever you buy at Bass Pro.

Maddie wasn’t phased by their inattention. She was happy. And we were together.

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I did get to share my healing story with several people at Bass Pro that day. After checking out and sharing about God’s love and power in healing me with the cashier, we headed for the car. On the way, Maddie, said,

“Grandad, I don’t get it.”

“What don’t you get, Maddie?”

“Mom and Dad tell me I should not talk to strangers. But you talked to all kinds of strangers in there today. You talked to everyone! You told them about your cancer and about all the people praying for you.”

God is so good to us. He cares. He hears and He loves us. I am a living testament that God hears you. Have some spontaneous joy today. Your Father delights in you. Dance a little today.

Thank you for praying for me.

Steve