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The greatest gift at Christmas

Christmas Day finally arrived this year. Our 12 little grandchildren couldn’t wait. I remember when I was a kid counting down the days and feeling like Christmas Day would never get here.

There are so many things we do at Christmas that we don’t do throughout the rest of the year that make it so special. First, we start listening to Christmas music weeks before the “Big Day” arrives. We buy presents for those we love and wrap them with fancy paper. We watch a classic Christmas movie or two. We probably have a Christmas party at our workplace or school. Maybe we go to a Christmas concert,

By SCOTT CERNEK Columnist

or we go caroling. Sometimes we make it to a Christmas parade or a festival of lights of some kind. We bake cookies, share them with neighbors and friends, and we probably send at least a few Christmas cards to our loved ones.

One of the things we love most in our family is going to Christmas Eve Candlelight Service at church. We read the Christmas story and sing some of our favorite Christmas carols and really focus on worshipping God.

At the end of the service, we always take communion to remember that Jesus was born to die on the cross to become

the perfect sacrifice for the sins of man. We turn out the lights and light little candles that we hold as we sing, Silent Night Holy Night, all is calm all is bright.

It certainly was a holy night when the shepherds were visited by the angels near Bethlehem long ago, and it always seems like Christmas Eve service brings God’s holiness back into our lives in such a powerful way. Man, do we need that.

This year on Christmas Eve Day, we had the blessing of having all of our family over to our farm for a Christmas celebration. It was wonderful. We are blessed beyond anything we deserve. We had four generations of family there and my wife and the ladies prepared some wonderful dishes of ham, turkey, beef brisket, rolls, beans, potatoes, and many desserts. Before we ate, the

whole family gathered around in a large circle and bowed our heads before Almighty God.

I prayed a prayer of thanksgiving and praise to Him for all the blessings He has showered upon us. Most importantly we thanked Him for the greatest gift of all, the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ, very God born in human flesh and spirit to be our Savior.

Doesn’t that very thought just boggle your mind? Here is our vast eternal God who created the universe and every other detail of creation. Here is God becoming a man in order to save us all from sin’s curse and all because He loves us so much, beyond anything we can imagine.

In the gospel of John chapter 1 we read these most beautiful and descriptive words of the coming into the

world of our Savior the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to his own, and his own people did not receive

him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

There is just so much here in this passage. There is so much beauty and truth for us to believe in order to be saved from sin and receive the power of the Holy Spirit into our hearts and lives. It’s funny to think of man, who are just tiny little ants in God’s grand scheme, that in our feeble little existence, God cared so much for us. That God so valued us above His most beautiful and immense creation that He would enter into our very sustenance, our very weak little existence and lift us up to heaven and bring us salvation. The only thing we must do is believe and live in relationship with Him. Praise God for Christmas!

Until next week, God bless.

Loves Park Police reports

Suspects are considered innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Dec. 22

Thomas Hildreth, 48, 3:21 p.m., N Alpine Road, Loves Park, charged with Domestic Battery Dec. 19

Amanda Kurtzweg, 44, 2:25 a.m., Forest Hills Road, Loves Park, charged with Driving While Driver’s License is Suspended or Revoked, Methamphetamine Possession Dec. 18

Daquazia Brewer, 24, 1 a.m., E. Riverside Blvd./Forest Hills Road, Loves Park, charged with Illegal Transportation or

Possession of Alcoholic Liquor by Passenger in Motor Vehicle, Seat belt violations, Speeding Alexis Minnick, 30, 1 a.m., E. Riverside Blvd./Forest Hills Road, Loves Park, charged with Possession Adult Use Cannabis in Motor Vehicle Outside Approved ContainerPassenger Jordyn Neibuhr, 22 10 p.m., N. Second St./Grand Ave., Loves Park, charged with Operation of Uninsured Motor Vehicle, Operating a Motor Vehicle With No Valid License Dec. 17

Nico Belmonte, 21, 12:38 a.m., Windsor Road/Blackberry Knoll Dr., Loves Park,

charged with Other equipment violations, DUI - Under the Influence of Alcohol, Other moving violations

Tasha Thevenot, 39 6:51 p.m., N. Perryville Road/Shale Dr., Loves Park charged with Battery, Traffic accident involving no injury

Nicholas Groth, 39, 1:53 p.m. Grand Ave, Loves Park, Warrant Service

Jerome Henderson, 26 1:42 a.m., 7808 Brown Ave./N. Church St., Rockford, Warrant Service

Cathy Palmer, 54, 1:30 p.m., N. Second St., Loves Park, charged with Other ordinance violations

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