... strung up, and shot.

Quoting:

This was forwarded to me in my e-mail, and I rather liked it...

A woman was out Christmas shopping with her two children. After many hours of looking at row after row of toys and everything else imaginable, and after hours of hearing both her children asking for everything they saw on those many shelves, she finally finished the shopping, and wearily trudged to the elevator with her two kids.

She was feeling what so many of us feel during the hurried holiday season time of the year: Overwhelming pressure to go to every party, every housewarming, taste all the holiday food and treats, getting that perfect gift for every single person on our shopping list, making sure we don't forget anyone on our card list, and the pressure of making sure we respond to everyone who sent us a card.

Finally the elevator doors opened, and there was already a crowd in the car. She pushed her way into the car and dragged her two kids in with her and all their bags holding their purchases. When the elevator doors closed, she couldn't take it anymore and said, "Whoever started this whole Christmas thing should be found, strung up, and shot."

From the back of the car, everyone heard a quiet calm voice respond, "Don't worry, we already crucified Him." For the rest of the trip down the elevator it was so quiet you could have heard a pin drop.

Don't forget this year to keep the One Who started this whole Christmas thing in your every thought, deed, purchase, and word. If we all did it, just think of how different this whole world would be.

~Thoughts at Christmas

Ira Forest Stanphill (1914 - 1993)

Few songwriters contributed more inspirational work to Southern gospel than Ira Stanphill.

Born February 14, 1914 in Bellview, New Mexico, Stanphill distinguished himself as a young man after becoming a singing evangelist in the Assemblies of god denominational. He ultimately preached and sang the Gospel in all sections of the United States and in forty other nations.

Along the way, his tremendous songwriting ability earned him a place among the truly unique stylists of southern Gospel Music. Among his more 400 gospel compositions are "Mansion Over the Hilltop", "Room at the Cross", "Suppertime", "Follow Me", and "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow." © 2005 Southern Gospel Music Association

IFS ~ www.cyberhymnal.org/bio

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SACRED MUSIC PRESERVED
~Streaming audio from gospel music's "Golden Age".

Ira Stanphill ~ google search

Raven May 7, 2006 R.I.P.

Raven smudged through pain and woe, then went home

By Warren Harbeck
The 19-year-old woman from British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast was bullied and mocked for much of her teen years because of her epileptic seizures. She finally found peace and respect during her last two years while living among the Stoney Nakoda community at Morley. In those two years, though not a preacher or missionary or evangelist — or anything more complicated than just being a teenager on a journey of self-discovery — she communicated far more effectively the meaning of Jesus’ words, “Blessed are the pure in heart,” than I ever have in all my 41 years with the Stoney Nakoda First Nation as a linguist and Bible translation consultant.

On May 12 we laid her to rest alongside elders whose lives defined the beauty of the Stoney way. Let me tell you about this amazing young lady.

(...)
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