Tim Wildmon
AFA president
February 1999 – We unpack the Christmas tree.
We put up the Christmas tree.
We take out the stockings.
We put up the stockings.
We get out the Christmas china.
We put up the Christmas china.
And it seems the times between “getting out” and “putting up” are growing shorter. Why is this? Why is it when you are a child or teenager the seasons seem longer, the year seems to last an actual 365 days, each complete with 24 hours.
I asked Alison about this as we were taking down and boxing up the $35 tree a couple of days after Christmas. Yes, the tree we found on sale a few years ago is artificial. Or fake if you like. That used to bother me, having a fake tree, but it doesn’t anymore. Saves me one day – I don’t have to shop for a tree, haul it home and put it up.
As we took the tree apart to box it up I asked my wife of 14 years, “Is it just me, or is time just slipping by? Look at these kids – 11, 9 and 5. I’m not old enough to have a teenager in two years, I’m barely legal age myself.”
As I said this I pulled the top part of the tree from the bottom part. This fake tree has two parts. As I yanked upward I began to hear loud thumping. Sounded like this: Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump! I looked up to see what the problem was and quickly noticed I had failed to take our pretty little plastic angel off the top of the tree. As a result she was receiving a brutal beating and near decapitation from our ceiling fan. Made me think about Henry VIII. Don’t exactly know why, but it did.
After about seven or eight thumps, I pulled down the angel, made sure no plastic was ripped, straightened her gown, boxed her up and back to attic she went. Until next month (or so it seems), when I shall again pull all the Christmas decorations out and do this all over again. That’s how fast time seems to fly at this stage of my life.
Recently I was listening to a message by Dr. D. James Kennedy, senior pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. The point to his sermon was how we Americans are so preoccupied with things that – at the end of the day – don’t really mean anything. Another word for it is hedonism. Sometimes I wonder just how much of a hedonist I am. My thoughts are often filled with how to best satisfy Tim. How can I make Tim happy and comfortable? Maybe I’m alone in struggling with these thoughts, but I don’t think so.
What Dr. Kennedy was teaching from the Scripture is that we need to invest our lives in the things that matter most and those which will have eternal value. Primarily, showing people the way to God through faith in Jesus Christ. One of the best ways to do this is living out our Christian faith every day.
One of the very best chapters in the Bible which lays out this message is found in 1 Corinthians 13. I encourage you to read that chapter every few days. The last verse in the chapter reads like this: “But now abide faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
Seems to me if you love someone, you are going to tell them the truth. Seems to me if you love a country, you are going to tell the citizens of that country the truth. And the truth is found in the Scriptures. What is right and what is wrong. What is good and what is evil. What will bring blessings, what will bring judgment. The Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount are truth. This is why American Family Association and other Christian organizations exist: To speak the truth motivated by a love for God and for the people He created.
In the world of substance abuse it’s called intervention. You intervene in an attempt to save someone you love from self-destruction. In this case, AFA and other groups are attempting to intervene and show America the road back to God’s blessings and away from His judgment and wrath.
Well, I am getting older. My children are growing up. The years are passing quickly. I’m really thinking, however, that this fake tree may stay around for a long time. It still looks much like it did the day Alison brought it home from the department store. The only thing was it was leaning this year. We tried everything but couldn’t get it to stand up straight. “The Leaning Tree of Mississippi” is what I called it.
One evening I was sitting in my hedonistic recliner with only the tree lights on. I was looking at the leaning tree. Two thoughts had I. One was, I hope the tree doesn’t fall over because I don’t want to have to pick up the 1,759 ornaments we have on it. And secondly, who said Christmas trees have to stand up straight anyway? Who made up these rules? The Bible says nothing on the subject. It was that night I quit worrying about the fact that my Christmas tree leans and just thanked God that He let me celebrate the thing about Christmas that matters most.
“For God so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” 
