Abby did come home about 8pm Christmas Eve. Tim has a brace on his leg. Dottie is suffering from extreme weakness. So we are all glad that we have all of the Christmas activities behind us.

A tradition in Guatemala is to eat tamales and drink a hot fruit punch at midnight and then go to bed between one and 3am. Dottie and I put plugs in our ears and were in bed at 9:30pm. The kids who live in my house opened their gifts at 3am. They were all up early to give me a vinegar/oil bottle to be used for my mustard seeds. I put one in a vial for each child who has come to Casa over the years so that total is approaching 5,000.

Ed arrived a couple of days ago. He is from California.

More thoughts about mercy: Remember yesterday I said that if I am a merciful Christian I will be patient with others and second I would forgive those who have fallen. *I did not say mercy was easy and I struggle in both of these two areas.

Third, if I am merciful I will help those who are hurting. Proverbs 3:27  “Do not withhold good from those who need it.”

John Wesley said “Do all the good you can, By all the means you can, In all the ways you can, To all the people you can, AS LONG as you can”. There can be no better way to show the world that we are merciful children of God.

Finally, if we are truly merciful we will do good to our ENEMIES. Now that is a tall order. Romans 12 tells us not to return evil for evil which is what our flesh loves to do. The world says “I do not get mad—I get even.”

You can see that to be a merciful Christian is a very difficult endeavor but with the help of the Father, Son and Holy spirit we can do anything IN CHRIST. It is not possible without Them!!