Page 24 December 11, 2022
StarNews
COMMENTARY
www.starnewsgaonline.com
Finding joy this holiday season
PATRICK
YURAN
Headmaster OAK MOUNTAIN ACADEMY
As we head into the holidays, let us remember to find the joy in the season and celebrate the little moments with our loved ones. Over the past few years, our traditional holiday celebrations have been different for a variety of reasons. For many years, we were
I like the idea of planning many small surprises throughout the season for those special people in our lives. Maybe texting an unexpected video message, delivering a “knock-and-drop” gift, or secretly putting a “magic message” card from an elf in a mailbox could help to celebrate your loved ones and friends throughout the holiday season. Don’t most people truly love and appreciate a surprise? What a perfect way to connect with our family and friends who we do not see on a regular basis! We should not underestimate the power of an unexpected act of kindness and expression of love, as it may just be what our friend or loved one needs to help them find their joy during this season. The Christmas Holiday is one of the most
magical times of the year – making connections with friends and family results in making memories – memories that become the “magic” of the season! I encourage you to spend some time carefully considering how to combine some of your historical traditions with a few newer traditions, making this holiday season extra magical for your family. Be creative, involve your friends and family in finding and creating new traditions and experience the “magic” together! It is my hope that we all find and experience joy in the magical season while celebrating those little moments with our loved ones and friends – making connections and making memories to last a lifetime.
presents are mounting around our Christmas trees. Well, to be honest, most of our presents are still hidden in closets, upstairs storage areas, and in extra bedrooms. You get my point and can relate; I’m sure you’re doing the same thing at your household! Anyway, in the spirit of Christmas, I’d like for us to revisit an old story. One which you have surely heard before. In fact, I would dare say you have heard it a hundred times or more. Yes, I want to talk about the Christmas story. But my hope is that you hear the story in a little different light this time. Today, I want to show you how the story of Christmas is openly, and unapologetically a pro-life miracle! So, go with me and let’s travel back in time, some 2000+ years! The year is 1 B.C. . . . Gabriel, an angel of the Lord, is sent from the
very presence of God to a small, rural town called Nazareth. There, he finds a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name is Mary. Luke 1: 28-32 KJV: “And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed are thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favour with God And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shalt be great , and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for-
ever, and of his kingdom there shall be no end” So, here we have the scene. Mary is a young, unmarried, marginalized girl who is illprepared to be a mother. I can’t imagine the thoughts now going through her young mind: What would her parents think? Would they understand? Would they be supportive? And what about her fiancé? Would he believe her, or would he think she was unfaithful? Would he even stay with her? She is scared. And let’s be honest, we would be asking the same questions today. When the troubles and “headwinds of life” slap us right in the face, we have internal dialog with ourselves with the “what ifs” on how to handle the situations we are now faced with. There is a good chance the stigma of being See DUANE HACK page 27
that I never ever wanted to face. Occasionally, throughout our almost forty year marriage we would talk about the inevitable: death separating us. Reality hit home and the power of the word in my situation is about to be tested. This is not like having a cough that you take cough syrup for. The love of my life preceded me in death. Could I handle what I preached to so many in the pass? His grace being sufficient is the rubber meeting the road. The Lord who is rich in mercy and loving kindness comforted me right through this devasting and heart wrenching time! Oh, I cried, I had sleepless nights, I screamed, I threw things, and ask God why, and then cried some more. The Lord spoke to me one afternoon in a gentle voice. He said, baby girl I want you to
begin to track and document in a journal. I didn’t respond right away because even though I love writing, journaling was just like high school girl stuff to me. Needless to say, I surrendered to the tight grip of knowing everything, but knowing nothing. It literally changed the trajectory of my life forever. I knew his sheep hear his voice, but journaling showed me what the scripture means when it says, my sheep hear my voice (continually) I know them, and they follow me (John 10:27) Of course, mourning or grieving the loss of a loved one isn’t sin. Jesus wept when his cousin John the Baptist died. But, God challenged the way I was going about it. He said, if you continue in the way in which you are going you will come out bitter instead of better. Some
may ask, can one come out better after going through such affliction?! I am here to tell you absolutely! God didn’t stand outside when Daniel was in the lion’s den or when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were in the fiery furnace. He led the procession. He didn’t leave me, not for one moment! Herb and I are very much alive, but in different dispensations for a time such as this. So I chose not to grieve as an unbeliever who has no hope (Thess.4:13) I have attached a few of my entries I documented in my book “Good Mourning.” Glean, taste, and see just how magnificent our God can be! Enjoy, be refreshed and remember God gives us fresh, dynamic, new, living, See SHARON GAINES LEE page 27
car. The officer wasn’t about to get out into the downpour. Luckily, we were in the lane to its left, and were able to creep past the scene. The auto in trouble either suffered from a dead engine or driver; couldn’t tell, and for the 15 seconds it took to pass that pair of vehicles, I could only see that each had somebody in its driver’s seat and no passenger. This potentially tragic scene, in no way whatsoever, did it account for that total city-long traffic-clog. Instead, it just felt like some-thing that made no difference. Considering the traditionally wealthy neighborhoods, and the surrounding newer up-scale and chic developments that comprise the surroundings of this stretch of Peachtree, it felt like we were stuck in a swarm of high-income hard-working professionals, all of whom could be of so much more use to society, even making more money. Who, for an hour or two were made to behave like north-bound or
south-bound bananas, spending their money to breathe each other’s toxic fumes. Given the circumstances, I hope the reader can sympathize with such a frame of mind. After all, we’ve been living outside of Whitesburg, sort of in the woods, for fifty years. The next morning, at 5 a.m., we did the trip in reverse, down Peachtree, from Pharr to Collier. The streets were wet and empty. We zipped to our destination. Then I zipped back to the motel to wait for a pick-up call, which came at about 8 a.m. Now, there was some traffic. It was brisk, rather refreshing driving. Each car seemed to have the attitude, “I know exactly where I’’m going and don’t make me late!” This kind of driving was a pleasure and the situation felt far from mindless. But, in an hour or less, the Great Clog would develop and each driver would turn into a banana. So, as a society, here we are, each day, stuck in the Daily Traffic Jam. The kind of jam in
accustomed to celebrating family traditions that historically played a big role in shaping our spirit and joy throughout the season. In more recent years, we were forced to change our family traditions, who we gathered with, and how we celebrated. However, even among the many changes, choosing to find joy in this special season while also celebrating each moment is still attainable. I have been encouraged to look for ways to celebrate the season by searching out new and different traditions this year. By combining some of our historical traditions with some of these newer traditions, we can shift the focus to celebrating those little moments with our loved ones, no matter if the tradition is old or new.
Aren’t you glad Mary was pro-life?
DUANE
HACK
West Georgia Right to Life PRESIDENT “The Heartbeat of Georgia” Duanehack46@gmail.com 470-370-2452
It’s starting to look a lot like Christmas in our West Georgia community! Christmas is finally upon us. Most of the leaves have fallen off the trees. The smell of wood burning in fireplaces; FEX, Amazon, UPS and USPS are driving through our highways and neighborhoods at speeds similar to those found at the Daytona 500! The lights are hung, the
Good “mourning”
SHARON
GAINES-LEE
My dear husband and best friend went home to be with the Lord on August 25, 2021. Herb had renal failure, but caught covid when he went into the hospital to have a port adjusted in which he received dialysis. This knocked the breath right out of me. I was shocked, but not shocked, stunned, numb, and perplexed at the same time. Suddenly, I’m faced with a reality
From Collier to Pharr. . . and back. . . and forth, or the seven levels of car control
BILL
BOURIS digi@mindspring.com It’s about two miles to go up Peachtree Street, from Collier Road to Pharr Road. We did it at several times of the day. The first time was at Going-Home Time, 5 p.m. It was raining and there was packed traffic, literally bumper-to-bumper in all lanes (often ten of them, counting access and turning lanes). It took much more than a half-hour to make it to Pharr Road Along the way, we encountered one auto that was stuck, thankfully in the right-hand lane. Directly behind it was a police
which just about the entire working population (at least it feels that way) becomes helpless, no matter a person’s wealth, I.Q., or station in life. Picturing it, as well as being in it, brought on a more philosophical frame of mind: Traffic jams that make the most productive among us into the least productive, for several hours, each day. And, one is helpless during that time. Remember, on a bus or train, one can at least read, do a puzzle, meditate...Is there some kind of glitch in our social design? More broadly, do all societies, from the bareessentials grass-huts to our modern algorithmicly-driven post-Industrial bee-hives, each have their own inescapable glitches? My guess is that the answer is “Yes”, and I’m going to leave it at that. Instead, let’s be a bit more upbeat. I want to say that we are probably on-track to a “solution” to our Daily Traffic Jams. It See BILL BOURIS page 19