I think God is weeping in Heaven.

So Thanksgiving is over and the Christmas season has begun. I can't say it's been a great start. If you haven't heard the horrifying news yet, a man was killed on "Black Friday". It occurred at a Wal-Mart in New York. Over 2,000 people rushed to get into the store to get their bargains and trampled a man to death. When the police announced they needed to close the store for a few hours due to the death, shoppers became irate. Can you picture that gift exchange? "Hope you like the vacuum I got for you. It only cost me $20 bucks and oh, yeah a man died for it." Come on people, what in the world are we thinking? Maybe that is the problem, we're thinking in this world. Do we not remember what Christmas is? It is the celebration of Christ's Birth. Remember?
Even before I heard this news, I was having a difficult time trying to balance the secular-commercial christmas with the truth of CHRISTMAS. So many people are having financial issues right now. We have several friends who are out of work right now. Chris has had his hours cut at work and several of his co-workers are barely working. There is the possibility of stores closing after the first of the year. Every time I turn around, I hear news of jobs being cut. The thing is every time I start to feel worried about our finances, I'm hit with how truly blessed we are. We have everything we need and then some. Honestly, we have so much stuff; I'm trying to get rid of it all. I just can't see spending money I don't have on stuff that we don't need.

My friend, Beth, had this video on her blog. When we watched it for the first time I was moved to tears.

Think about it; in some parts of the world people die from lack of water. Here in the U.S. people die for a bargain.