Ancient Truth | Modern Sound

Holiday Greetings!
It is now the time of year when many of us send out our family letters. It’s a good way to catch up with friends, count our blessings, and capture some of the year’s highlights. Kim and I used to print them and physically mail them to everyone, but that has become cost prohibitive. (Either that, or we’ve gotten cheap) Instead, we will fully embrace the digital age and publish our XPmas letter on this blog and point it out via Email. What we lack in a personal touch I hope we make up in color photos and other expanded possibilities. Let’s face it, paper just can’t be this cool.

We have the intention of taking this photo each year:

Santa
The concept of Santa raises an interesting dilemma for the serious Christian parent. On one hand we want our children to know the joy of Christmas the way we remember it, complete with reindeer, chimneys and elves. However, on the other hand we do not want to lie to our children. If we tell them that Santa is real, and try to really get them to believe, how can we expect them to trust us when it comes to other things we tell them? We don’t want them to doubt the reality of God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit on the day that they find out there is no such thing as Santa, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. Some of you are rolling your eyes, but I think it is a valid concern.

Kim and I came up with a solution, maybe you will like it and maybe you won’t, but it seems like a good compromise to us. We have always told Von Behr and Angel that there is not really a Santa Clause, but that it is fun to pretend like there is. We tell them that it is fun to pretend that Santa lives at the North Pole and brings lots of toys and goodies on his sleigh, but that the gifts under the tree are really from Mom, Dad, Grandma and Grandpa.

Then we say, “Do you believe is Santa?”

They say, “No.”

Then we say, “Well, you better, if you want to get any presents!”

We don’t believe that this type of psychological experimentation will result in any permanent damage.

By the way, we told them about the historical Saint Nicholas, but that he had died long ago and this led to a rather surprising encounter with their Grandmother. At age three, Von Behr confidently announced that Santa was dead, much to the horror of Kim’s Mom. Good times.

XPmas Prayer
Father in Heaven,
Thank You for the past year, through the blessings and the struggles You have shown Yourself to be always faithful, loving and good. In this Christmas season and throughout the next year, may we be obedient to Your Word and faithful to our calling and mission. We thank You for coming into this world and bringing us hope. May we be Christmas to the people that You put in our lives and bring them hope as well. AMEN

OVERVIEW
Have you started skimming yet? Reading this letter because you think you probably should, but missing the whole point because you are just trying to get it over with? Of course not, not you, you would never do that. Hmmm. Let’s see, what things happened in 2008? Here’s some photos of my beloved son in whom I am well pleased:

ANGEL HART
Angel is our son. He is six years old and a really cool kid. He is very funny, outgoing, energetic, smart and very physical. He is in kindergarten at Westlake Prep Lutheran School and is having a great time. He loves his teacher (Sue Miesner) and is doing very well in class. He is constantly writing songs, singing, playing drums, guitar, drawing, asking questions, trying to spell words, and pretending that he is a super hero. He lives to play Lego Batman and Lego Star Wars on the PS3. He is very thoughtful and quick to pray for any need. Favorite food: Popeye’s Chicken leg, favorite drink: Chocolate chip frappuccino.

And this is my lovely and talented daughter:

VON BEHR HART
Von is our daughter. She is eight years old. She is one of the most friendly people you will ever meet, it’s a gift. She also started going to school at Westlake Prep Lutheran School and is doing very well. She loves to make things and give them away as gifts. Her current obsession is animals, especially puppies and cheetahs. Littlest Pets are always within reach. She moved into her own bedroom a few months ago and loves her new bed (thanks Jason and Holly). She was an “angel” narrator in the school Christmas program and recited a fairly long passage of Luke 2 while some of the other children played the part of shepherds, angels, Mary and Joseph (Angel was Joseph). We gave her a fairly good digital camera for her birthday and many of the photos on this blog were taken by Von. She is very thoughtful and is concerned with how people feel. Favorite food: Baby Back ribs, favorite drink: Double chocolate chip frappuccino.

The incredible Mrs. Hart:

KIM HART
Kim still works as a High School teacher for Aldine I.S.D. We traded commutes, and now she is the one who drives 30 miles each way across Houston traffic. Thankfully, there is another teacher who works at Aldine and lives in Katy, so they carpool and take the HOV lane (which is a lifesaver). Kim still loves her job teaching accounting, business applications and bookkeeping. Kim has again enjoyed good health for most of the last year and we are thankful, we are also hopeful that the UC will continue to stay under control. Kim is a great mother and wife. Days begin at 5 AM, she meets her ride at 6 AM, and is back in Katy to start helping the kids with homework by 4 PM. Many days the four of us take a 45 minute walk before dinner, get the kids in bed by 9:30 PM, and try to get to sleep by 11 PM. Kim looks forward to her weekends and breaks. In the last year Kim has added The Office to her other favorites show; 30 Rock, Heroes, House, 24, and LOST. If Kim had her way we would eat at a Chinese restaurant every night, and her new favorite drink is a Pumpkin Spice Latte.

( :^ | =

FRANK HART
I am still Music Director and Worship Leader at CrossPoint Community Church, a position that I continue to enjoy very much. It is a vocation that combines all of my joys and allows me to spend my days doing the very things that I love to do. What could be better than that? I am also currently in the elders training program with the thought of possibly becoming ordained. This year I also recorded and released two new albums as part of my CrossPoint ministry. The first is a children’s record called “KidsSongs: Get Up Stand Up” and the second is a Christmas album called “Being Christmas.” I have played cello with Kemper Crabb for the past 12 years and this year we have a concert featured on PBS nationally, check your local station for air-times. Life is very full between church, music projects, family and friends. Favorite food continues to be Chicken Tikka Masala, favorite drink is either cold black coffee or Dogfish Head 60, depending on what time it is … what time is it, anyway?

FAVORITES

We still love our house and can’t believe how blessed we are to live in it. This year we are very thankful for radiation and chemotherapy. Frank likes his new backpack, Blackberry Curve, G5, Flip, iTunes U, GPS, Line 6, and Whole India Cashews. Springfield First Methodist has been a great blessing to us and to Jeff and Julie. His online community is a source of comfort and joy year around. Kim likes her house, a new iPod (not yet received), our back gate to Fry road Narnia, hike and bike trail, Christmas with “Behrent” family, again, CrossPoint, HomeTeam, Aldine, Westlake Lutheran Academy, surprise airplane rides, The Alamo, Maddie (and others) baby-sitting , Gary and Beth always being included in the “card”, and being loved by my family, friends, and Christ. Angel likes his PS3, Hulk game, his house, his sister, littlest Pets, Solomon, his electric car, Jesus, his friends, MaddieFordJuwieFischer, our two Christmas trees, God, the whole world, his Mom and Dad, people, his guitar, and the cross of Jesus. Von Behr likes her Nintendo DS, her Daddy and Mommy, her littlest Petshop, Webkins, her toy elephant, her blue bear, her shark, her whale, The Snow Bear Book, learning about Jesus, watching movies, her friends, her brother, her teacher Mrs McNamara, MaddieFordJewie,Fischer, her house, flower songs that she makes up, Spongebob, Timmy Turner, Princess Bride, Momma’s “Johnny Snoopher Snoopher” stories, and hugging my Dad.

Things That Happened
Von took the training wheels off of her bike. We slept under the stairs while Ike bent our 50 foot palm tree like a wet noodle. We lived with Lynn and Christie until our power was back on. We got a hedgehog named Pokey. Our ClaudieDog ran away. Frank enjoyed the Worship Leader Conference very much while Kim and the kids played around in Austin, they also saw the bats. On Thanksgiving our friend George took the four of us on a ride in his airplane. Frank is in Katy Magazine. We have been very fortunate to be able to visit family in Illinois twice a year (Summer and Christmas). My dad, Bob Hart fought stage four cancer in his neck this year, and we were there when he found out about it, he has finished his treatment and things are looking positive. For Kim’s birthday we did a tube float on the Guadalupe River near New Braunfels, Texas. We also discovered the Landa Park Aquatics Complex. Kim spent a good part of the Summer sorting through mountains of cardboard boxes in our garage. We visited Michelle and Clem at their beautiful home in west Texas. Connie took Kim and the kids horseback riding in Illinois. Connie, Kim and Jenny spent the day floating on the lake in Randy’s boat. Frank ran for president of the United States of America. Jeff made a 100 ft slip-n-slide in his backyard. CrossPoint celebrated its 10th year of ministry. My good friend James has moved on to the corporate world. I wrote a lot of articles on this blog (look at some of them). The Grimm family will be blessed soon with a new baby boy named Fischer.

REQUESTS
When you think of us throughout the year please pray for us. Here are a few ideas to keep at the top of your list: My Dad (Bob Hart) is recovering from cancer treatment, we pray that the cancer will not return and that Dad will bounce back to his full health. We want to raise our kids knowing who Jesus is and serving Him, we want them to be healthy, and we want to do what God wants us to do as parents in raising them. We want God to bless CrossPoint Church and our ministry there. We want God to bless FeverDream Records and do great and interesting things though it. Kim will always appreciate your prayers for her as she teaches high school students. Kim and I had our children rather late in life, so we pray that we can stay healthy and hang around long enough to be part of Angel and Von Behr’s adult life as well as their children’s. Thank you to the people who have been praying for Kim’s Ulcerative Colitis, it has stayed at bay. AMEN

CLOSING
God has blessed us with many wonderful friends and family, and we hope to see you at some point in the next year, but at the very least let’s keep in touch. We want to know what’s going on with you, too. Love, AVFK

Every good gift that comes from God can destroy us.

Yep.  What do you think about that?  It’s not God’s fault, of course.  We find ways to misuse every good thing and pervert it to our own wicked ends.  It happens over and over, God gives us something good and pure, and then we take it and use it to hurt ourselves, and others.  We’re like that, we kinda suck.

Let’s look at a few random examples:

DANCING
Dancing is a perfectly natural thing to do.  If we are happy, we dance.  If we hear music that moves us, we dance.  If we have to go to the bathroom, we dance.  The Bible endorses dancing, it says that God was pleased with King David dancing before the LORD in worship.  So what’s the deal with “Footloose?”  Why is the Reverend John Lithgow so uptight? Because we make it about something else, we make it about sex.  Sleazy music, half dressed people, some gyrating  hips and we have turned dancing into something nasty.  And the usual reaction by good church people is to outlaw dancing.  As if the sin existed in the dance.  We think that we are safer, less likely to sin, if we keep ourselves as distant from the possibility of sin as possible.  We basically say to God, “Thanks, but no thanks.  We don’t need dancing.”  And when dancing is outlawed, only the outlaws will dance.

GOD GAVE WINE
How about the obvious example of wine (and beer, and scotch, etc.)  God gave these gifts to us to make us happy.  You know, if we are having a day that makes us feel “unhappy,” then God gave us a little something that we can drink and relax.  So that we can lighten up a little.  Our problems don’t go away, but they don’t seem to matter quite as much.  Ah, but some people are not satisfied with “a little something” and they drink too much.  And they drink too often.  And they don’t get happy, instead they get violent and mean, and keep going until they are sick and pathetic.  The usual reaction is to blame the booze.  We think the safer way is to abstain from drinking completely.

We think that if we build a wall around the things that could potentially cause us to sin, that we are doing a good thing.   We build a wall so that we are not even tempted to sin.  We can’t even see the sin.  We add rules where there are not rules.  But, in doing this, we despise the gifts God has given us.  Do you see this?

A NEW CAR!
Think about it, let’s say I buy my daughter a new car (and now we know for sure that this is a fairy tale.)  I hand her the keys and say, “Two rules, you have to wear your seat-belt and  you can’t have more than one passenger in the car with you.”  She thinks about it for a minute then says,

“No thanks, Dad, I don’t want to break your rules, so I just won’t accept the car at all.”

Would I be pleased?  Is she really showing how much she loves me by refusing my gift?

YOU GOTTA SEE IT
I believe that God wants us to actually live in the garden where can see the forbidden tree.  We are actually supposed to sit under it’s shade and use it’s rough bark to scratch our back.  We are just not to eat the fruit.  We are to get all the way up next to it, hold it in our hand, take it’s blessing, and not sin.  We are to learn what it means to face temptation, resist the serpent, and watch him flee.

We should take the keys, thank our Dad with a heart full of joy, get in the car and drive around wearing our seat-belt, playing music, and drinking Starbucks with a good friend.  That’s the good life.

Everything that God gives us has the potential to destroy us.  He gives us money and we love the money more than we love Him.  He gives us children and we put them on a golden altar and worship them instead of Him.  He gives us cake and butter and we eat until we can’t fit into the pants that we bought with the money that we love more than Him.

God wants His people to have things, but He doesn’t  want things to have His people.

May we accept God’s generous outpouring of blessings, and may we enjoy the blessings with a thankful heart.  May we learn to enjoy the things that He gives us in the context of worshiping Him and Him alone.  AMEN