I got a cryptic e-mail several weeks ago inviting me to establish contact with a cousin I’ve never met. I sent back a vague response and asked for proof.

You can never be too safe these days. I get all sorts of e-mail invitations to receive huge sums of money from persons with no relatives and to send in personal identification in order to restore lost credit information.

I decided that my “cousin” really wasn’t my cousin. Otherwise he would have responded to my inquiry.

But today I answered the phone and the person on the other end acted very familiar in his greeting. “Who is this?” I asked. It was the person who sent the e-mail, and he really is my cousin.

He was not aware my father had died. He asked about my aunts. He told me that I had cousins all over this part of California. And he told me about some family characteristics.

I was amazed at his persistence. Finding my e-mail address, putting up with my caution, and finally getting my phone number proved to me that this was a person with a great sense of family and heritage. He didn’t realize it, but he gave me a big gift.

Ever been to worship at a church that was so folksy and “contemporary” that it felt more like a local service club meeting than a service of worship to God?

Sometimes churches want to put their message within reach of everyone who comes into their gatherings. This produces a possible conflict, however. Worship that is too common and familiar can become vulgar or disrespectful.

It is refreshing to see a new generation of people arising who see value in the great ideas, hymns, and practices of the past. This is not to say that they want to blindly imitate their parent’s generation. Rather, they are using the best of the past to inform the present.

This may sound like a celebration for the return of the past. It is not. Instead, it is a celebration that the future promises to be a thoughtful reuse of past in new and reverent ways. It is going to be interesting and thrilling to see what new life is breathed into ancient practices to give them a contemporary application.

What do “tablescape,” “cromulent,” “popesquatting,” “pineosaur,” and “truthiness” have in common?

They are all new words. The Oxford American Dictionary tracks the use of such words, and if they ever get off the ground, so to speak, they get added to the list of official words.

NPR recently interviewed Erin McKean of the Oxford American Dictionary, and she explained the definition of these words. “Cromulent,” for example, means “perfectly acceptable.” “Lifehacking” means “making your life more efficient.”

I think “truthiness” is my favorite. It means “the actual facts don’t matter.” Or “you wish so much that something were true that you act as if it’s true.” We probably all have our pet opinions that we hold, not because of their real truth, but because of their truthiness. What is yours?

It seems that there is overwhelming interest in C.S. Lewis this year. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, played to record crowds and many bookstores carried C.S. Lewis displays in their Christmas offerings.

Those who know no more of him that what you see on the screen or by means of the action figures you get at a fast-food restaurant are cheating themselves. Lewis was a brilliant thinker and writer as evidenced in books like The Screwtape Letters, Mere Christianity, A Grief Observed, and The Chronicles of Narnia, to name a few of his books.

To the Source just ran a list of some of Lewis’ many wonderful quotes. They are shared below. If you haven’t had a chance to read much of what he wrote, perhaps these will tantalize you to go to the library or bookstore today.

1. “Regarding the debate about faith and works: It’s like asking which blade in a pair of scissors is most important.”

2. “Man’s conquest of Nature turns out, in the moment of its consummation, to be Nature’s conquest of Man.”

3. “A young man who wishes to remain a sound Atheist cannot be too careful of his reading. There are traps everywhere–‘Bibles laid open, millions of surprises,’ as Herbert says, ‘fine nets and stratagems.’ God is, if I may say it, very unscrupulous.”

4. “We all want progress, but if you’re on the wrong road, progress means doing an about-turn and walking back to the right road; in that case, the man who turns back soonest is the most progressive.”

5. “Now is our chance to choose the right side. God is holding back to give us that chance. It won’t last forever. We must take it or leave it.”

6. “Human beings, all over the earth, have this curious idea that they ought to behave in a certain way, and can’t really get rid of it.”

7. “Try to exclude the possibility of suffering which the order of nature and the existence of free-wills involve, and you find that you have excluded life itself.”

8. “Then he [Aslan, the Lion] isn’t safe?” said Lucy. “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good.”

9. “If the solar system was brought about by an accidental collision, then the appearance of organic life on this planet was also an accident, and the whole evolution of Man was an accident too. If so, then all our present thoughts are mere accidents – the accidental by-product of the movement of atoms. And this holds for the thoughts of the materialists and astronomers as well as for anyone else’s. But if their thoughts – i.e., of Materialism and Astronomy – are merely accidental by-products, why should we believe them to be true? I see no reason for believing that one accident should be able to give me a correct account of all the other accidents. It’s like expecting that the accidental shape taken by the splash when you upset a milk-jug should give you a correct account of how the jug was made and why it was upset.”

10. “Man can no more diminish God’s glory by refusing to worship Him than a lunatic can put out the sun by scribbling the word, ‘darkness’ on the walls of his cell.”

Lady 1: “Why are you buying that mug?”

Lady 2: “Because it’s on sale, and I don’t have one.”

Lady 1: “But you don’t drink coffee. Why do you need an insulated coffee mug?”

Lady 2: “I just ordered a coffee drink. I could use it.”

Lady 1: “You know you’ll never use it. It will just sit on a shelf.”

Fortunately the lady with common sense prevailed, and they left without the on-sale coffee mug. But I couldn’t help but wonder what the next item will be that tempts “Lady 2” to part with her money.

America’s “shop ’till you drop” mentality is symptomatic of meaninglessness of our times. Lady 2’s shopping desire probably comes from one of the following causes: extreme loneliness, self-centeredness, or some pain in her life she’s trying to cover up.

It’s easy to see why Jesus said that money often gets in the way of a person entering the Kingdom. It competes for our attentions. It prevents us from seeing our need for God. And it gives us a false sense of well-being.

Lady 2 left without her mug, but my guess is that she found something else to buy in another store. Too bad.

We were only gone three days and two nights. Actually, parts of three days and not even whole days. It doesn’t seem like much.

But a few days can sometimes be as refreshing as a week or more. At least if you don’t set your sights too high. In three days you can enjoy some long walks, get in some reading, and eat at a favorite restaurant or two.

Now we are back home. It was nice to see the Merced city limits sign. Today it is “back in the saddle,” but we’re more refreshed and ready to get back to life.

We went to a 9 PM Christmas Eve service in Monterey. The parking lot was full, and the sanctuary was packed.

The service concluded with ushers passing down the aisles with lighted candles. They stood at each row and lighted the candle of the person sitting on the end, who passed the light sitting to the person next to him or her, and so on….

It was impressive as we sang Silent Night and held up a lighted candle. Our combined candles illuminated the dimmed room. It was a poignant reminder of how powerful the light of Christ is when passed on to others. It gives direction and light to all around.

After the service was over we went to our car. The traffic seemed to be moving toward a driveway on the backside of the church property. “The exit drive,” I told Bev.

A sawhorse sat across the left third of the driveway. It appeared that other cars had driven past it toward the exit. So I did the same, but the closer I got to the exit, the more apparent it became that the sawhorse was there for a purpose. The gate was locked.

When I looked in the rearview mirror I saw a column of cars who had followed me past the sawhorse. Each of us had to either turn around on the narrow drive or back out of the driveway. “Whoops,” I said to a lady walking by the driveway.

So on one night we experienced the effect of good and bad influence. One lit up a room and encouraged our hearts. The other went to a dead end and misdirected followers.

Today we did one of our favorite things. We hiked around Point Lobos, a protected area of seashore near Carmel, California. The day was perfect. Temps were in the high 60s and the sky was a perfect blue. We even saw one father and his daughter with bathing suits being chased by the surf on a protected beach.

The sky was bright blue, and sea lions provided background music. Tide pools were filled with animal life, including cowardly crabs that dove for the water when they saw the slightest movement.

I think I would grieve if I knew that I would never see the ocean again or smell the distinct seaweed odor that spreads on the breeze. The ocean is the best elixer I know for a cluttered or tired mind.

I got a post from a friend recently. Basically he wanted me to write advertisers who were using the politically corrrect “Holiday” instead of “Christmas” in their advertising.

I’m grateful for his sincerity and zeal for his convictions. I even believe that a good argument could be built for writing the letter. However, I decided it wasn’t for me. I’m not convinced that such letters really build good relationships between Christians and the broader culture.

Besides, what does Christmas have to do with commercial advertising anyway? I was raised to believe that it had nothing to do with the gifts, debt, and frantic pace of this time of the year. In fact, if advertisers entirely stopped using the word “Christmas,” if we no longer had a “Christmas” holiday, and “Merry Christmas” dropped from our vocabulary, the power of Jesus’ birth would continue to influence this dark world.

How? The power of Jesus’ birth, life, and death consists not in whether Macy’s puts it in their sales papers, but rather in whether Jesus’ disciples live in a way that honors Him and gives form to his teachings.

So I’ll continue to say “Merry Christmas” and give gifts to my loved ones, but I’m not going to get upset if the local department store decides not to do so. That’s not where God’s power resides.

See also an Anna Quindlen Newsweek article on the same subject.

A friend of mine came through town today. He called me to ask if we could meet for coffee, so we met at Starbucks. I felt honored that he took time out of his day for the visit; he’s a busy man.

But I think that is the nature of friendship. It spends its time on others. It dwells on their well-being. And it values conversation and sharing ideas.

Friendship requires cultivation. It does not occur accidentally or among those who are stingy with their time and resources.

I find it easy to become involved in a busy life and to think that I have no time for anything else. But the thing that suffers during such times is friendship. Phone calls stop. There are no letters or other indications of affection. Soon space and time fill in the gap between friends.

It’s no less true for families. Soon we drift from being friends and family to just acquaintenances. I am thankful for my friend’s visit.