Can you believe this is the last Sabbath before we enter into a new year?! I hope your Christmas was great and you had a chance to make wonderful memories this year. Alina and I had an amazing time helping distribute clothing and food to the poor last Saturday evening and I want to say a huge thank you to the group that came out and to those of you who donated clothing items. As we look ahead to the new year, I challenge each of us to focus on what are the most important things in our lives and find a way to grow in those areas. God loves each of you very much and one way He wants all of us to grow in a deeper relationship with Him. What can you start this week that helps you become closer to God this year? If you don’t know how to start, not to worry because we have a special 10 days of prayer planned, starting on Wednesday January 8th, to help facilitate a step in the right direction. Come out and be blessed! Today we’re also excited to have another baby dedication. We’re excited to have baby Eli Solis dedicated today and pray that God will bless him and his family.

How was your week? It’s amazing that the temperature can fluctuate so much from one day to the next. At the beginning of the week at our place it was +6 but by Wednesday it was -11 with the windchill. Spiritually speaking, we all have our ups and downs. Some days it feels like we’re warm in our faith and God seems near and everything is going well. Then there are other times when it feels like our relationship with God is colder than we’d like and we don’t hear His voice. One lesson the Christmas season teaches us is that regardless of how we feel toward God, God never changes how He feels towards us. John 3:16 starts with the words “For God so loved…” God has and will always love us. In fact, He loved us so much that His son Jesus was born here on earth and grew up to show us what God was really like and His life was marked by a humble love and sacrifice. This is what we celebrate at Christmas time! For our service today, we extend a warm welcome to the Bells of Bowmanville, the hand bell choir of the Bowmanville SDA Church under the direction of J. C. Coolen, who will lead us in our worship service this morning. May your hearts be warmed through their ministry of music.