A few weeks ago, someone at a gathering I was attending said, "God is dead." I stood there in amazement of what I had just heard. I then asked this person, "Why do you think God is dead?" The person replied, "Because, he, she, it or whatever, certainly hasn't ever heard my prayers through my life." I then replied to this person, hoping to help in some way, "God always hears us, he may not answer our prayers the way we want him to, but he always answers them, it is up to us to see and listen how he is answering us and maybe to change something within ourselves." This person then answered, "Well, if that is the case, why doesn't God just come right out and tell me exactly what I need to change." I paused for a minute for I realized that for some reason that this person and I were meant to cross paths for some reason, I needed to answer this in the right way. I looked at this person with a gift of love and said, "If God told us exactly what we should be doing for ourselves all the time, first, it would be boring, second, we would not learn anything in the process, third, that is not what Gods love is truly about." The person then answered, "Oh, Gods' love, well, I certainly haven't seen much of that in my life." All of could think of to answer was, "Oh my dear friend, you are Gods' love, because you are his creation and you are here on this earth, that is how you came about." The conversation continued for sometime and also attracting others. It finally continued into what does Christmas really represent and what it has become. And it ended I believe in many people for the first time in their life, truly experiencing a spiritual growth that they had be searching for, and the reason why was they were receiving their gifts of Christmas early from others through Gods love.

I am not what you would term probably a religious person, but I am a spiritual person. I hardly attend church because I have a difficult time with what most of the structured religions preach. They talk the talk, but many don't walk the talk. By no means am I trying to imply I'm Mr. spiritual either, but I do try to live my life as Christ would want me to. I'm not going to get into one of these religious lashings, for that is not the way either. (like so many religious fronts do to one another) However, I can share some things with you, to possibly give you a different understanding of the true gifts of Christmas.

Recently, my sister-in-law was diagnosed with lymphoma cancer. She has underdone chemotherapy. My brother is a ordained minister. In a conversation with him, with his wife present he made the remark, "Well, Anne is going to get better because she has finally accepted who is doing this to her." I was somewhat puzzled by my brothers remark and asked, "Who is doing this to her?" He replied, "She finally understands that this is an attack on her by Satan, she allowed him to come in and create this disease in her, that all disease is an attack from Satan." Hearing this, I had to shake my head a couple of times, I couldn't believe what I was hearing from by own brother. I replied to my brother, while looking at my sister-in-law, "My dear brother, Satan is not doing this to Anne, she didn't invite Satan in to create this horrible disease. If you really believe that, then you don't believe that God is love then." My brother couldn't understand that statement. He asked, "What do you mean that I don't understand what God's love is." I replied to my dear brother of fifty-nine, "God is love, and because of that he isn't going to allow such things to happen, for if he did, we would have a fickled God who derives pleasure out of pain and suffering like this, and I certainly don't believe we have a fickled God." Needless to say, this conversation went on for sometime, going no where. I knew my brother was never going to understand what I was trying to share with him and the reason was that he was no mentally brain washed. You see, many years ago, he and his wife had a stillborn child that was born deformed. Around my brother at the time was a fundamental minister that convinced him that this was God punishing him and his wife for the way they were living their lives. Discount the fact that my sister-in-law had diabetes and really should never have children. From this day on, my brother has not been the same because of this ignorant brain washing by a so called man of God. This to me is not God's love, but a one man's own selfish attempt of self glorification.

So many of you have sent in your thoughts of what Christmas means to you, and it has been refreshing to see the one common thread that is there between all of your comments. And that is that God is love.

Here are some of your comments about what Christmas means to you.

Richard and Beth, 44 and 45, from Michigan wrote, "We have truly been blessed with God's love this past year. There were a few rough times, but we finally understood why we thought God wasn't answering our prayers. We had to learn a few things about ourselves first, we had to be reborn again, and I'm not talking about the so called Christians rebirth either, for we thought we had become reborn Christians ten years ago. We learned how to truly love ourselves first, each other and then others, and by doing so for the first time, we understood God's love doesn't have commandments, restrictions or must-do's to receive his love. It is there, if we only accept it and give it to ourselves and others. We certainly didn't learn this by going to the church we were going to, as a matter of fact is was only until after we left the church did we finally learn this."

Glenda, 40, from Iowa wrote, "I used to think that God didn't love me because he was letting so many bad things happen to me. It was only until I realized that I didn't love my self enough was the reason why these bad things were happening to me. Once I started to love myself, I could then truly love God and let him love me, and then I could truly love someone else. I am so glad I did, for I finally found the love of my life, and we have been married now for ten years.

Margaret, 55, from Washington wrote, "You know, when you look around in the world, you see this and that, people saying one thing but not really living it and then if you really look at the ills of the world in a very simple way you see the true problem and that is, LOVE.

Steve, 38, from Florida wrote, "I used to be very judgmental towards others, for I was one of these so-called holy rollers. Then it hit me hard. I came down with cancer. All my weaknesses, doubts AND hates truly surfaced, things I had been trying to disguise by trying to live a life as a Christian. When faced with your own death, you are forced to look deep into your soul. What and how you react to what you are seeing and feeling is another matter. I am so glad that I saw my real self for the first time and let that old person die. By doing so, I realized I had never truly loved myself, nor anyone else, and once I did that, I allowed God to truly love me. I think it was this love that helped heal me, along with the expertise and treatments of my doctors.

Paula, 42, from Colorado wrote, "Christmas, oh my, after Thanksgivings store sales, buy, buy, buy, buy. What are be truly trying to buy...are we trying to by love?"

Paula couldn't have said it better. Have we because of not knowing how to truly love our fellow man, and let God love us, replaced this with a material sense of fulfillment on the mental mind level. Are we trying to get love, be loved and show love in a material way because we don't know any other way to?

In a country that is suppose to be the richest on earth, why then do we have hungry children, homeless people, and growing at an ever increasing rate? Why do we allow this to exist? Where are the churches in all this if what they preach of helping their fellow man is what they are living? If that were true, we wouldn't have these so called bad things. God hasn't created these things, mankind has. And until mankind takes a good hard look at themselves, we will ever not have these things. This isn't a preaching sermon folks, just the plain truth of the matter.

Why can't Christmas be all year long? Why can't the celebration of God's love, of Christ's messages of love be shared and lived all year long? True it is suppose to also be the celebration of Christ's birth, but let me ask you this. What truly did Christ's birth mean, not just his simple birth. His birth meant love, the salvation of mankind through love, of living your life with love towards others. Are we suppose to just do this at this time of the year, I don't believe so. Do you?

That is the reason why I am starting my Angels of Love project. The project will be people helping people by truly loving them. Nationwide, I am calling for volunteers to start local chapters of Angels of Love. There will be no political party affiliations, no discrimination of any type. To get people involved, giving both their time and money in loving and helping others...all year long. This isn't just going to be some United Way type of organization where one just gives money to satisfy their quilt of caring for others, but rather personal involvement. Is it limited just to helping people with food programs, social programs, health programs for the poor. No, there will be people working on cleaning up city, state and federal levels of corruption so that it makes all of our lives better. The tax dollars that are being wasted to supposedly help the poor have been so mismanaged for the last forty years, it they and been managed properly, we would have enough funds to take feed and house all the hungry and homeless. The chapters, the organizations and the groups, it will be left up to you on the local level to decide what you will be tackling. Now you ask, but why have such a nationwide listing of groups doing this. Because, the more knowledge, the sharing and the numbers of people involved will make the effort stronger and better.

What I will be providing is a place to list all of you that will become Angels of Love. Here at my web site I will devote an area of listing your groups, what your groups are doing with contact numbers to share information with. It will be a central location listing of everyone who is doing what everywhere. The areas will be listed by state and city so it will be easy to find your own area.

I am going to be blunt now. Now is our chance to really and truly to start and make a difference in healing what is wrong with America. You can either sit back and continue to say how sorry to are to see these things or become a part of the solution of correcting them. We can no longer just sit back and continue to ignore these ills within our society. If we do, we will only be breeding more of what we already have and that is, hate, anger, disgust, and discrimination against our fellow man. We are in essence is we decide to do nothing, creating our own bed of destruction, of creating the so called bad things and then being to stubborn to understand why they happening. We can't just sit back in our own little protective world of our satellite television, recliners, watching Sunday night football, taking Amy to ballet, and pretending, ignoring that there are a whole bunch of society problems we better start healing. There, I'm finished with my sermon.

The Angels of Love pages on my website will be up sometime the first week of January, 1998. However, you will find an input form where you can send in your information for becoming a part of this project nationwide now.

In closing, I have not meant to seem like I am pointing fingers at anyone. Instead, by being so out spoken regarding the issues that are before us all, that we must start to begin to tackle, I am simple trying to say, please, take another look around you and truly see what I am talking about.

I wish everyone of you a wonderful holiday season, filled with joy, happiness, health and most importantly, love. For without love within and around us, what are we truly?

Here is a poem for you to think about. After the poem, I have provided some Christmas goodies.

"A Special Journey"
by David Lawrence Dewey
©- February, 1993
All rights reserved

My life is a special journey,
Between my God and Me,
I chose not always the path he sets before me,
Those of joy, pain and sometimes sorrow.

Not until the last songbird sings its last song,
And the doves of peace cease to fly,
Will God pull down the curtain before heaven,
And explain the reasons why.

Until that day arrives,
I will be one with Him,
For in Him, I have found my light, my peace, his love within,
And without that, I would certainly be no more.

~ ~ David Lawrence Dewey

HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON!