JOHN, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
I hope you and your family enjoy time together during this special season where we can focus on what matters most. For me that is trying to focus on God, family, friends, and country, in that order.
As I think about friends, I think about you and how grateful I am to work with you to try to bring common sense back to our state and our country. I want to thank you for your work, your support, and your friendship.
For Christmas, I love to think of this verse that predicts Jesus birth written over 700 years before Jesus was born. Isaiah writes, “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).
Handel's Messiah is based on this verse. Click here for a wonderful version of the song by the Baltimore Choral Arts Society.
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With regard to our country, I would like to honor the bravery and sacrifice of Jack Myers, who fought in the Battle of the Bulge, during a snowy Christmas Season in 1944. The Battle was fought in Belgium, Luxembourg, and France where the Allies defeated Hitler in his last offensive move to win the war on the Western Front.
I used to see him and his wife, who al ways dressed as Rosie the Riveter, every Veterans Day when I spoke at a ceremony while serving as a Maryland State Delegate. I am so thankful for veterans and for all people who work to maintain and expand our freedoms.
I got to see him and his wife this year at the Washington County Lincoln/Reagan Day Dinner and am always so impressed with their encouraging and optimistic spirit which he attributes to his relationship with Jesus.
Looking again at the Battle of the Bulge, I ran across this story from the battle that ends in Frederick, Maryland. You can click to read it, but it talks about a brief pause in the war for 7 lost soldiers from both sides of the war as the host family served them and pointed them to pray and remember the night of Jesus' birth.
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Christmas is a good chance to connect with family and to remember what is most important. I pray that God will bless you and your family during this wonderful season.
Sincerely,
Neil
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