+ The Good Life

Reflections on a Year of Blessings and a Christmas Greeting

As 2024 comes to a close, we reflect on a year filled with meaningful experiences and heartfelt connections. From exploring fascinating destinations to cherishing time with family and friends, we are profoundly grateful. At the same time, we mourn meaningful losses and have endured our share of ailments. Through it all,  we are grateful for many mercies that are new every morning.

This year’s travels have taken us to remarkable destinations, including Anchorage, Bali, Bangkok, all around California, Fairbanks, the Florida Keys, Honolulu, Seattle, Singapore, Spokane, and Washington, DC. Along the way, we’ve had the joy of visiting dear family, connecting with old friends, and making new ones. No matter where our journeys take us, we are always thankful to return home to Santa Barbara—a community that inspires us with its creativity and draws remarkable thinkers, entertainers, and artists who make it truly special.

I recently began my fifth year in the administration at Westmont College, a role I continue to find rewarding. In May, I was also honored to step into the pastoral ministry at the Presbyterian Church in Summerland, a delightful community of thoughtful and caring Christians in a seaside hamlet just moments from the college.

Cindy actively serves the church, P.E.O., and Master Gardeners and works on various other projects. Her favorite project is, by far, caring for our grandchildren. It’s pure joy!

As I reflected on all the doors that opened to us this past year, I created a Davis Family Christmas Video with a fun 1960s “Get Smart” vibe. Back in the ‘60s, many prayed for wisdom about resolving the conflict in Vietnam and reversing the nuclear arms race. Now, the world faces even more existential challenges. We join with all those of goodwill who seek wisdom, peace, and love. We are profoundly thankful for Jesus, our Savior, who lights the way.

Wishing you a blessed Christmas!

 

 

Grace For This Day

Oh, God, give me grace for this day.
Not for a lifetime, or for next week, nor
for tomorrow, just for this day.
Direct my thoughts and bless them,
Direct my work and bless it.
Direct the things I say and give them blessing, too.
Direct and bless everything that I think and speak and do.
So that for this one day, just this one day,
I have the gift of grace that comes from your presence.

Thank God for the Little Things

Thank you, God, for little things
That often come our way,
The things we take for granted
but don't mention when we pray,
The unexpected courtesy,
The thoughtful, kindly deed,
A hand reached out to touch us
in the time of sudden need.
Oh make us more aware, dear God,
of little daily graces
That come to us with "sweet surprise"
From never dreamed of places.

Beautiful Signs of God’s Love

In my series of messages on the Beautiful Wonders of Jesus’ Spirit from the opening chapters of Acts, I discuss how Luke uses quotes from the Apostle Peter to invite all his readers to enter a relationship with the risen and living Jesus Christ.

Luke also tells us of signs and wonders accomplished in the power of Jesus’ Spirit that validate the veracity of the Apostles’ message. A miraculous healing of a man lame from birth at the entrance to the temple stands at the pinnacle of Luke’s introductory chapters. (Raphael Painting is pictured above).

Then, Luke’s depiction of the entrance being named the Beautiful Gate illustrates not only the beautiful healing in that man’s life but also the beautiful things that happened in the lives of all those who responded to the Apostles’ invitation to enter a relationship with the risen and living Jesus.

In the concluding verses of the first four chapters of Acts, Luke introduces Barnabas. This man was an inspirational encourager in the early church and a great encourager to the Apostle Paul, whose life was transformed from hate and animosity to grace and love through the power of Jesus.  Increasingly, Luke chronicles the life and teaching of this Apostle in his book of Acts.

Finally, in the concluding chapter of Luke’s book, he returns to the idea of a beautiful entrance. This time, he presents Paul near the end of his life. He is under house arrest, but still open to God and telling others about the love of Jesus.  I love the way the Message Translation describes Luke’s final works in Acts.

“Paul lived for two years in his rented house. He welcomed everyone who came to visit. He urgently presented all matters of the kingdom of God. He explained everything about Jesus Christ. His door was always open.”

The Refreshing Good News

The bulk of Acts 3 is Peter’s second sermon in the Book of Acts. The first one was after the miracle of Pentecost, and now this second one comes after the miracle of the healed man at the temple. Significantly, Luke shares this sermon as the healed man still holds on to him. Luke uses words of continuous action: the healed man walked and kept walking, leaped and kept leaping, praised God, and kept praising God. Now, we see in this text that he held on to the apostles and kept holding on to them. Some translations say he clung, which captures the emotive language of the original better. The healed man clung and kept clinging to the apostles.

Luke tells us in the introduction to this miracle that the early Christians devoted themselves to the apostles' teachings (Acts 2:42). Now, in Acts 3:11, the healed man's action of clinging to the apostles provides a specific example of how one within the church devotes himself to the apostles. He literally clung to them.