![\"\"](\"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/Chrstmas-Card-READY1-580x363.jpg\" "\\"Chrstmas")
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As we come to the closing days of another year I want to take a moment to thank all of you for coming along with me on this journey. \u00a0It has been a exciting year in photography, and a blessed year in our walk with Him. \u00a0I could never thank you enough for your prayers, your comments, and the friendships that have arisen from this simple exercise of turning the Holy Spirit loose a few times a week!<\/p>\n
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My dear brother Scotty Smith shares prayers with me daily, and they always reveal his deep love for our Father and His Son Jesus, I have gained so much from this friendship and have Pete Collins to thank for introducing us. \u00a0God sends people into our lives, people He uses, and He uses them to strengthen us, and prepare us for the battles ahead. \u00a0Thanks Scotty for all those prayers and for this one, so appropriate for today!<\/p>\n
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A Prayer for Christmas Eve<\/strong><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everyone went to their own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them. <\/em>Luke 2:1-7 <\/strong>(NIV)
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\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Dear Lord Jesus, whether or not you entered our world anywhere<\/em><\/strong> close to our December 25th is irrelevant. What matters is that you actually<\/em><\/strong> came from eternity into time and space\u2014not as a metaphor or myth or fable or legend, but as our Savior<\/em><\/strong>.
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\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Luke took great care to detail the history of your birth; but it’s the quietness<\/em><\/strong> and \u201csmallness<\/em><\/strong>\u201d of your birth that is noteworthy. Any other king would’ve come with great fanfare and a royal entourage. But you came into our world in utter stillness and profound weakness. “No room in the inn” wasn’t an insult to you; it was your<\/em><\/strong> choice, your<\/em><\/strong> plan, your<\/em><\/strong> gospel. We praise, bless, and adore you.
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\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Indeed, you didn’t consider your equality with God something to be protected or hoarded. Rather, you made yourself “nothing<\/em><\/strong>,” becoming one of us\u2014tabernacling among as God in the flesh, the Servant of the Lord, the second Adam. And with joyful obedience, you fulfilled the law for us; and with measureless humility, you died in our place upon the cross. Hallelujah, we cry, over and over again.
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\n<\/span> \u00a0\u00a0Thank you for coming to us, Lord Jesus; thank you for saving us from our sins; thank you for ruling the world with your truth and grace; thank you for committing to make all things<\/em><\/strong> new. So very Amen we pray, in your great and gracious name.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/p>\n
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I pray you are surrounded by family, friends and God’s mightiest angels on this Christmas Eve, and through out the rest of this year!<\/p>\n
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Blessings in Him,<\/p>\n
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the Pilgrim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As we come to the closing days of another year I want to take a moment to thank all of you for coming along with me on this journey. \u00a0It has been a exciting year in photography, and a blessed year in our walk with Him. \u00a0I could never thank you enough for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chronicles"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15764"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15769,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15764\/revisions\/15769"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/billfortney.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}