Tune in for a quick word from Regina Gibson, LifeWay Women's Ministry specialist for Young Adult women.(or not so young - she blesses us all!)

Most of y'all know that I went on a life-changing trip to Africa back in February. You also know that Melanie went on a life-changing trip to the Dominican Republic about a month ago. And in the last couple of weeks, Mel and I have had a couple of conversations about how what we saw on our trips will undoubtedly affect how we celebrate Christmas this year. We most definitely want to our children to continue to experience the joy and wonder of Christmas - but we also want them to develop a perspective that goes way deeper than how many toys are under the tree on Christmas morning.

Because the fact of the matter is that it's hard to justify giving our little people toys they don't even need when there are kids in other parts of the world that don't have clean water to drink. When there are kids who may or may not have food to eat tomorrow. When there are children dying every single day from completely preventable - and curable - diseases.

Perspective.

So when I saw this video, I amen'd just a little bit. Actually, I amen'd a lot. In fact, if you had heard me, you might have wondered if I hadn't set up my own personal camp meeting. It resonated with me way down deep in my soul. And I sort of cried like a baby.

Amen.

"But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it." - I Timothy 6:6-7

Thanks to everyone who entered the giveaway for Angela Thomas's "When Wallflowers Dance".

Personally, I wish we could send you all your very own copy.

But I guess that probably isn't possible.

However, we do have one lucky winner!

Here are your random numbers:

76
Timestamp: 2008-12-08 06:09:22 UTC

The winner is Helen at A Work of Heart.

Congratulations, Helen. Please email your mailing address to Kris.Seidenkranz@lifeway.com with the subject title "Allaccess Winner".

Y'all stay tuned. There are more giveaways coming up soon!

Someone asked in the comments yesterday about the Jesse Tree, which made me very happy because I assumed I was the last person on the planet to adopt the tradition.

A Jesse Tree is a way of celebrating the Advent season based on Isaiah 11:1-2:

"A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him--
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD"

It's basically a series of nightly devotions that highlight Christ's lineage throughout the Old Testament. For my family, it's a way to keep our focus on Him during the Christmas season.

I wanted to keep it simple so what we did this year was print out ornaments that we found online which represent each of the different passages of scripture. Then, for our tree, I just made a tree out of green posterboard because sometimes I am artsy and craftsy like that.

You can really make it as elaborate or as simple as you want. Some people buy real ornaments to hang on a real tree, but that was way too classy for us. We prefer posterboard and double-sided Scotch tape around our house.

Although, truth be told, I'd like to do something a little fancier next year. Especially because my makeshift tree leaves a lot to be desired.

Get it? Tree? Leaves?

I apologize. I couldn't help myself.