As a company, we are fortunate to work with companies and customers on both sides of the US / Canada border. The last 10 years or so has been tough, particularly with, arguably, a full blown recession going on in the US. Well, perhaps good news is on the horizon – – enough good news for us to look toward 2018 with optimism.
According to pollsters it seems that most of us are living paycheck-to-paycheck, while some are about one check away from living paycheck-to-paycheck. However, we can be encouraged going into 2018. Since 2014 unemployment, in the US has dropped 2.5% and average hourly earnings are claimed to have risen by 4%. Although the US has not had a 3 percent growth economy since before the great recession in 2008, the direction is encouraging with a projected economic growth of 2.6% in 2018, up from 2.3% in 2017 and well above the 1.5% growth in 2016. And it is not all doom and gloom globally, where the global economy is expected to expand 3.2% in 2018.
So with all that financial mumbo jumbo set aside, we are encouraged going into 2018! We will go for the growth happening in the DIY markets and will continue to invest in Home Porch & Patio Kits Inc. We are excited, looking forward, and will continue to serve and service our customers with the highest quality products.
Now to the heart of the reason for this post, for there is a ‘good news’ that is even more important. So what is our Christmas wish? Simple; that you consider Christ this Christmas.
Humility is hard thing. Be it a person, a corporation or a nation, humility is often foisted upon us. I think for many of us the challenges of 2004 and then again in 2008 was a lesson in humility. This Christmas, we would ask you to consider the person of Jesus Christ, who humbled Himself of His own accord, voluntarily leaving the highest position, above all creation, to take on the role of servant. He did so in order to provide a way to be reconciled to our Creator… a way no mortal man could ever achieve on his/her own. Mercy was manifest in unmerited favor; grace came to earth, and took on human flesh. There can be no greater example of lowering oneself than what Jesus Christ did on our behalf.
If your heart is cold toward the things of God, it is our prayer that you to find and understand why Christ’s coming was necessary. Think on who Jesus is, investigate the historicity and claims of Christ, the prophesies fulfilled in Christ and the evidences that abound. It will fill your heart with love and devotion and help you realize that no personal sacrifice we make, no humiliation we go through, can ever match what our glorious Savior did for us!
At this time of year, we wish for you to take the time to marvel at the incomprehensible… that our Creator God would take on flesh in order to establish and reveal Himself, as God, to His creation. That is what the incarnation is! With an investigation into the Christian world view, this miracle, this divine intervention, makes sense. With God Himself being central, in terms of explaining the world around us… it makes sense.
“Incarnation” is just a fancy word used by theologians to indicate that Jesus, Emmanuel (God with us), came with a purpose in mind, and took on human flesh. The purpose… walk among men, teach & perform miracles as only God could, be killed for it and take that which was meant for evil and turn it into THE redemptive act for all men, by way of the resurrection.
The apostle Paul called the resurrection a matter of “first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:3) and wrote, “if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins” (1 Corinthians 15:17). He realized that apart from the death and resurrection of Jesus, Christianity’s foundation would not exist.
The miracle of the Incarnation, and Christ’s subsequent death & resurrection is worth investigating (sadly most do not!)… it is not simply a myth of a babe in a manger. It is the tip of the spear that laid bare the only way we can be reconciled to our Creator.
May the Christmas season reverberate with the sweet knowledge of Christ’s work and purpose in the Incarnation and 2018 return to you some of the promise it holds!
Home Porch & Patio Kits Inc. 