Last evening I was given my first Christmas gift of the season from my sister Jennifer who drew my name in the Thrap Family Christmas Exchange. Chad also drew Jason’s name so she got both of us tickets to see Glenn Beck’s Christmas Show in Des Moines.
It was better than I expected, and I knew I would love it. It was barely if at all political. It was all about his family which is borderline crazy, and his Christmas memories. If you have had or have the opportunity to see his Christmas Show I reccommend it.  Â
The premise of the stage show is to determine the true meaning of Christmas. He starts with how Christmas is really a trilogy of holidays that are meant to be together and that Thanksgiving should truly be about prayer and giving thanks. He goes through Music and Magic and Snow and Shopping and ends on the true meaning Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for all of us. And most importantly the oppportunity He gives each of us to seek redemption for what we have done wrong or poor choices we have made. The worst choice I ever made was to leave my wife, before she was my wife, with Jacob, before we knew he would be Jacob. I have sought redemption for this decision and recieved it.Â
We all have problems and have made mistakes. Seeking redemption and receiving it is an overwhelmingly good feeling. I encourage all of you to dig into who you really are and seek that redemption.
I love you all and appreciate all that you do for me. I love my wife and our four beautiful children and I love Jesus Christ. I wish you all peace and joy, and thank you for taking the time to read of our family’s life here in our blog!!!
Sincerely, JOSHÂ
We love you, too, Josh, and I am glad that you enjoyed yourself last night. (I hope you don’t mind, I went through and fixed some of your capitalization in this post.) Very nice post.
Very nicely put Josh. You’re a great person with strong family ties which is what everything is all about.
Love to you and your whole family.
Aunt Kathy
Josh,
I am very proud of you as my first son-in-law, and I will always cherish my memories of watching you up close and coming to know you during those difficult days. If Jacob doesn’t understand this part of his story yet, I’d say it’s not too soon for a 9-year-old young man to start learning it. I will enjoy being able to tell him how I knew his parents back then, and how I met his other grandparents under circumstances none of us would have chosen. It was a growing-up time for all of us. Thanks for writing this, Josh. I forgive you your affinity for Glenn Beck, just as you tolerate my associations with heroes you were raised to avoid. You are exceeding my expectations in every way, and I am grateful!
Dan/Dad
I really like this way of thinking of the holiday season. Thank you for posting this.
Josh,
Thanks for being so open with your feelings on Beck and how experiences we have cause us to contemplate our standing with the God we worship. One of the most important pieces of repenting of our wrong doing is the act of turning away from the wrong and not doing it again.
The Glen Beck show was a great evening evoking spirtual feelings of what Christmas is. I add to Josh’s comments that though the we celebrate the birth of the Christ child, he become our advocate to the Father through his life, example, sacrifice, death, and resurrection.
Josh you are awesome. I was wondering if the worst choice you ever made was to laugh at everything I said at scout camp, but I can see why you wrote what you wrote. Also, you are awesome. (Jason is awesome too, but I still remember when we took him and Lanfier golfing so he’s not as awesome as you in my book… is that mean?)
I appreciate your writings. To my wife you are truly my better half. I learn more about myself from you than I would on my own. To Aunt Kathy and other Aunts that never have posted I love each of you and feel that I have yet to really know you as people. Fairly overwhelming. To my Father-in-law The children and I have talked about our beginings, and as they get older they understand more. Most importantly they know they are loved now. I can never repay you for picking me up one frozen and snowy day out at Ripley. To Mike and Candace I love both of you. Being with you in the temple was and is a treasured moment in my life. I much more regret having given you the oportunity to belive I needed pamplets than to be kicked out of a tent for being annoyinig.
You did need pamphlets :). I had such a great time with you and Jason…it was so nice to escape my normal hectic day to spend time with those I love and look up too sooooo much. We can all look back on our lives and pinpoint areas that we could have improved on…I believe its included in the long journey we’ve come to know as life. We only grow from our trials and together as a family and extended family we share our lives….what a marvelous country we live in to have this somewhat trivial freedom. Go Glenn Beck!!! I can’t wait to take Mom and Dad next year.
Wow Jenny That is some deep Powerful words. I have always said that through our trials we become who we are. Are Trials shape us and our successes come from our trials.