Merry Christmas!

Luke 2

¹ In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world. ² (This was the first census that took place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) ³ And everyone went to their own town to register.

⁴ So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. ⁵ He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child. ⁶ While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, ⁷ and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.

⁸ And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. ⁹ An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. ¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

¹³ Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,

¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”

¹⁵ When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

¹⁶ So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. ¹⁷When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, ¹⁸ and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. ¹⁹ But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. ²⁰ The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.

That's the true meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown.

Overdue Update

Well, I've had a couple people telling me over the past couple days that I need to post again, so here goes.

First, the good news: I survived finals!! I accidentally studied for the wrong final for two days, and found out 5 minutes before I was to take a final I wasn't prepared for. So I glanced at someone's notes for about 45 seconds, since mine weren't with me. I went in, took that, and got a decent grade - VERY good for not having studied for it at all. After that things went more smoothly, as I made sure to study for the correct finals.

Now for the great news: As most of you probably already know, I'm an uncle! Annette Grace Hewitt was born on Wednesday, December 8, at 4:34 PM CST (weighing 7 lbs. 4 oz, and 20 inches long, for those who care). I got to see her about 4 hours later, went to Tennessee to stay with my uncle and aunt for a couple of days, then came back to Alabama on Friday and will be staying here until probably Thursday morning. She is a beautiful little girl who is very content. To borrow the words of a friend of mine, "Touch her and I will SCALP you with my bare fingernails."

Thursday I will leave Alabama and drive back to Virginia (my parents got in shortly after I did on Friday and will be staying until this coming Friday). Friday morning I will get up and drive to West Virginia to pick up Becky, then we will drive to her house in Vermont where I will spend some time with her and her family.

So close!

Well, it's been a crazy couple of weeks.

Last week, Thanksgiving week, was absolutely awesome. I got to spend Wednesday through Sunday with my grandparents, cousins, aunts and uncles. It was great. I even got a 10 page paper mostly written before anybody else got to my grandparents' house on Wednesday! I had a good time with my cousins, although on break I averaged something like 5 hours of sleep, maybe a tad more, and I've become accustomed to 7 hours or a bit more every night. Without a doubt, though, it was every bit worth it.

I had a major reality check when I got back to campus on Sunday. My paper needed to be finished and turned in Tuesday, Wednesday I had 4 small papers due, as well as a final speech, and today (Thursday) has been quite full as well. I spent 5 hours last night writing out by hand the 12 pages of information for my test review sheet for a test at 7:05 this morning. Thankfully, I turned it in, the professor looked at it, wrote my grade on it, and said "you can go" - he replaced the test with the review sheet. Then I finished my Composites Lab work, took the final for that lab, and did my lab notebook for Instruments Lab. After that I had to study for my Instruments Lab final and a Composites class sectional exam. Took the Composites exam, went over the Instruments exam I took Tuesday, took the Instruments Lab final, and now I'm back on campus. This evening I have my last class for The Search for Historical Jesus, where I will be presenting my findings from my research paper.

Thank you for the prayers that have gotten me through the week. Please keep praying, as I have 3 regular finals and an oral final next week. Wednesday I get to leave LeTourneau and go to Tim and Beth's in Alabama!

As usual, I'd love to hear from you! Please, send me an email or give me a call!

Thanksgiving Week!

As I sit here going into Thanksgiving week, I am reminded of just how much I take for granted. I find it easy to sit here and complain about the amount of work I have to do, or how expensive college is, or the various things that my school's administration does that I don't agree with. In the grand scheme of things, though, I have so very much that I should be thankful for, and essentially nothing that I have any right whatsoever to complain about.

I am thankful for the opportunity to be in college. There are days when I am sick of school and just can't wait to be done, but there are so many people who would love to be in school, and for one reason or another can't. I am grateful to God for making it possible for me to be here and for making it clear to me what I am supposed to do with my life.

I am thankful for my family. Like all families, we have disagreements over some things, but nothing that we can't work through and come out stronger on the other side. No matter what I do, I know that my family loves me. And no matter what they do, I love them, too.

I am thankful for the friends that I have in my life. Some of them live much too far away from me for my liking, but that doesn't keep them from being great friends. I have been blessed with some friends that I can talk to about absolutely anything, and I know that they will listen to me and that any advice that I get will be godly advice. And with this, God has blessed me with allowing me to be there for my friends, too.

I am thankful for the opportunities that God has given me, and the protection that He has provided. Spending this past summer in Papua New Guinea was something I figured I would never be able to do, but God made it possible and provided for me, every step of the way. Both in this, and in other areas, God has provided me with protection. I think of last Thanksgiving. My then roommate and I decided to, even though we only had a couple days off from school, drive home for Thanksgiving. So we got in his dad's car that he was using, and drove east from Texas. I got out in Virginia, and he went on to Pennsylvania, with us both getting home Thursday. Saturday night he picked me up and we headed back towards Texas - and I fell asleep while driving. God provided, though, and although there was some damage to the car, there were no other vehicles involved, and Rusty and I were both safe. God has been, and continues to be, so very good to me.

Take some time this week to thank God for the many blessings that He has given you. Maybe some are like those He has given to me, and maybe they aren't, but if you look, you will see that God has blessed you. Now, what are you going to do with those blessings? Are you going to use them to bless others, and to be a blessing to God?

I'd love to hear from you, to know what's going on in your life, and some of the things that you are thankful for. Please, feel free to email me at danielmiller@letu.edu, or to give me a call.

May God bless you, and may you see His blessings for what they are.

Another week

It has been a fairly standard week this week. Continuing to keep busy, which is what I pay the big bucks for, so I guess that's how it's supposed to be.

I'm beginning to see my labs wrapping up to their conclusion, but seeing that I still have a fair bit of work left to do. The good news is, it seems do-able, I just need to really stay on task as I finish this stuff up. I'm also just eight days away from having my big paper for a class called "In Search of Historical Jesus" due, and I still have a lot of work left to do on that.

Please be praying for me with the stresses of life and for motivation to do what needs to be done, and that I keep God and His will the first priority in my life.

As always, it would be great to hear from you, so please, send me an email!

With just a month left to go. . . .

Again it's been a very busy week, but there isn't really a whole lot to tell.

Last week I dropped the engineering part of my major; I didn't plan on using it, so decided it would be better to lighten my coarse load and stick with just the aviation. So that has lightened my load a good bit for the rest of my time at LeTourneau - still very busy, but now it actually seems like it might somehow be manageable. I also ended up adding an Applied Science minor, but all that involved was 45 seconds worth of paperwork, as the work for it is already done.

This week has been, and will continue to be, very busy. I'm beginning to feel the pressure from due dates for projects, and would really appreciate your prayers.

Please also be praying for the missionaries where I worked in Ukarumpa, Papua New Guinea. Some of the locals are having conflicts with the security company hired by the missionaries. Sunday night, local time, someone went out to the SIL aviation facility (where I worked) and shot and killed one of the guards on duty. Pray for a peaceable agreement to be reached, as the culture is very much a culture of revenge.

Please, feel free to write to me and let me know how you are doing, and how I can be praying for you!

October's mostly gone? Really?

As hard as it is to believe that October is mostly gone, I am so ready for this semester to be done with.

Fall break was good, and somewhat restful, but not nearly as productive as it should have been. Basically, it was an average break.

The rest of the week was busy, but went alright. This week I'm already exhausted, even though it's only Monday afternoon. In addition to the usual work, I have to prepare for my part of a group persuasive speech on Friday, and I need to get some serious work done on a paper comparing and contrasting Jesus with the Jewish expectations of Messiah.

Sorry this is short, but wanted to give an update. Please be praying for the strength and energy to finish out this semester.