​Did you ever notice that it is impossible to focus on two points at the same time? If you put your hand up in front of your face and try to focus on it and whatever is in the background it is impossible. You can notice what is generally there, but it will not be in focus. I think this is an amazing thing that God instilled in us as human beings. Not because of the physical ability of the eyes but because it is an example that translates into life in general.
 
What is your life focused on? Maybe you are focused on your career and ambition to be the best in your field. Is it focused on temporary things like the newest smartphone, a new car, bigger house or even just money? Maybe your total and complete focus is on your family or friends and making them the highest priority. 
There is nothing inherently wrong with any of these things but the advantage in life comes from keeping a focus on Jesus and knowing that he is taking care of all those other things in the background. This is not saying that you can be lazy in your vocation, that you don’t need money to pay bills, a form of transportation, a way to communicate with people or that family and friends can be ignored.
The supernatural element of being a true follower of Christ and his teachings in the Bible is that when you put God first in everything and keep your focus on Him, all of your needs are met and all the people in your life get the BEST version of you.

A couple of GREAT scriptures to keep in mind about the focus of your mind and the power of the Bible!

Isaiah 26:4 - You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
 
2 Timothy 3:16 - All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.

Focus in life can be evaluated on a few levels. What do you spend the most time thinking about? When you are alone with your thoughts and nothing is pressing on you, what is the first thing you think about? If you are naturally a worrier (as I am, but I am working on this area of my life) then the things you worry about are probably things that you think personal actions can change or control.
 
The “control” we feel in life is a myth. The only thing we have control of in life is how we spend our time. Spend it focusing on Jesus and everything else will be taken care of! Today, do a “focus evaluation” and consider some changes in life for this coming new year.

​John 3:16 & 17 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him."

The real Christmas story is the story of God becoming a human being in the Person of Jesus Christ- Because He Loves Us.  Why does God love us so much?  Because God is Love (1 John 4:8). God loved His own and provided a way—the only Way—for us to spend eternity with Him. He gave His only Son to take our punishment for our sins.
 
It’s Jesus that gives meaning to Christmas. It’s Jesus who was God in flesh, perfect, pure, holy, and who died on the cross and rose from the dead. Jesus is the one who gives the true meaning to Christmas, which is LOVE. So Christmas calls us to honor, respect and worship His name. Philippians 2:11 says that ALL will confess that ‘Jesus is Lord’.
 
So live loudly for Jesus and may the joy and love of this Christmas season be with you and your family throughout the New Year.

Merry Christmas, 
Ken~ Master Control Operator

Wednesday, 21st
    4-5pm: A Musical Christmas
Friday, 23rd
     8:30-9:30pm: Christmas Funniest Moments
Saturday, 24th  
     2-3pm: Gaithers Christmas in the Country
     9-10pm: A Musical Christmas
     10-11pm: Christmas Funniest Moments
Sunday, 25th  
     7-8am: Fireplace and Christmas Music
     1-2pm: Fireplace and Christmas Music
     2-3pm: A Musical Christmas
     4:30-5:30pm: The Spirit of Christmas
     5:30-6:30pm- Fireplace and Christmas Music

Don't forget that you can stream our programming on our website:
http://www.rockymountainctn.com/ 

Well, my ski career is finally over. I am still healthy and will still do outdoor things in the beautiful state of Colorado year-round, but it will not be controlled falling down snow covered hills with wax sticks strapped to my feet.

I was on my way to ski and there was an accident on I-70 heading up the hill so what should have taken me about an hour took three hours. Once I got up to the hill, it took me forty five minutes to put on all my ski “apparatus” which only prolonged my late start getting up to the mountain. I felt like Ralphie’s little brother in “A Christmas Story” who couldn’t get back up once he fell down he had so many layers on. Haha Then I put on my plastic boots that would eventually make my feet super uncomfortable and cold by my third or fourth run not to mention that it makes me walk like a robot...when I am a human. I am also at a place with my skiing abilities that I can ski everything with no moguls, no matter how steep, but don’t want to put in the time to really learn how to ski anything more aggressive not to mention the toll it takes on your knees and feet. It was about three degrees outside so my face, hands and feet were all freezing by the time all of these realizations came into focus for me.
 
Maybe there is an area of your life, if you really stepped back and evaluated it, needs to change. I am not saying that skiing is inherently wrong in any way, but just that I was not willing to make investments of time, money or energy anymore.
We can get stuck in ruts of life and making emotional, physical or even spiritual investments in things that we need to take a hard look at and really evaluate.
Maybe it is an unhealthy investment in a love of your sports team for example. I know I had to come to grips with how angry I would get when my team lost. It was just not worth the emotional investment I was making and the results were stress and making everyone around me nervous.
 
This is just one example of something to evaluate and then make a change to in life but I encourage you to think of this coming new year as a time to not make a resolution as much as a simple change of where you invest time, money and energy.
 
Have a great end of the year and know that we are praying for God to reveal things to you that need a shift of time and attention to maximize your 2017.

I heard a preacher last week talk about the story of Elijah and Elisha and had a revelation that I had never considered before even thought I have read the story numerous times.
​In 2 Kings chapter 2, it describes a conversation between Elijah and Elisha before Elijah was caught up in the chariot of fire. Three times Elijah told Elisha to wait for him in locations because of the errand that God had for Elijah. Elisha denied the request each time and the two end up staying together and eventually crossing the Jordan River on dry land from Elijah’s rolled up cloak. Elijah asked Elisha what he wanted from him and his request is at the end of verse 9 “Elisha said, "Your life repeated in my life. I want to be a holy man just like you." Elijah responded that he would only get what he was requesting if he was “watching when Elijah was taken up into heaven.”
 
When I read verse 10, I was struck with a fact that exemplified persistence. If Elisha had not been persistent in turning down the instruction to wait and not go with Elijah he would not have had the opportunity to be granted his request.
 
How many times do we take the easy road? How many times do we opt for the “easiest” instead of the best? I began to review my own life and the times I have taken the sideline when it was offered to me instead of saying, “No God. I want to stay in this for the long haul.”
 
As humans, we are built for the path of least resistance. Why do you think it will be so hard for people after the new year to promise themselves that they will go to the gym everyday in 2017 to only have 19% make it the whole year? (That is actually a proven fact)
 
One of the chief things I learned when I got sick with my eye was that my relationship with God was based on the least resisted path. I would be an amazing studier of the Bible for others and come up with great sermon illustrations and ways for others to walk out their faith. Then when I got sick, my belief of all the powerful and important things that I had told others for years went out the window and I wanted to quit and had thoughts of killing myself because I could not think of living in a world where I was blind. Study of the Bible and spending time with God was something that I felt like I needed only when I needed something or that it was my job.
 
Today, think about your resolve to look past the things that seem like an easy path in life when you know you need to step up and stay in the game. Not to quit and miss exactly what God has for you in life. Maybe this in one of the hardest holiday seasons you can remember. Don’t quit on God and a relationship with him. Stick with it. I am praying for you and believing for God’s VERY BEST this holiday season and new year for you. 

We have flown a bit over the holiday season and it is still amazing to me that anyone can travel anywhere in the world in hours by getting into a giant metal tube that really should be too heavy to fly anyway. Just to think about how far technology has come and how air travel has improved in the last forty years is really astounding.

The one thing that has really never changed, and probably never will, is the reactionary nature of the airline industry. When there is some kind of disaster that happens the first thing the FAA does is create some kind of rule that tries to remedy whatever happened. The incidents of 9/11 created a greater scrutiny of anything sharp or what could be conceived as a weapon. The shoe bomber incident created the smaller quantities of fluids that can be in your carry on. The Samsung phones smoking on a flight last year was the genesis of banning the Samsung Note 7 on flights.

I am not saying that any of these rules are bad in and of themselves because the airline industry is just trying to make sure that air travel is safe for everyone, but when safety is thought of as a RESULT of negative actions then it becomes a reactionary response only.

In our relationship with Jesus, we can fall into some of the same traps. We can think of our actions with Jesus only in the terms of the negative things that are happening in our lives. Maybe we don’t spend time reading our Bible and learning about his love until we are feeling a lack of love in some way in our lives. We get into some kind of financial trouble and then decide it is a good time to give to God and see if we can get some kind of financial blessing when we are not a consistent giver in the first place. This can become a terrible pattern of only doing things for/with God when we need something or trouble hits our lives.

Today, don’t wait for pain or discouragement to hit your life before you decide to spend time with Jesus. When we make the investment in our relationship with him preemptively, we set the stage for success in life not based on circumstances but in knowing that no matter what happens, our lives are in God’s hands. The things we do to help get through difficult times end up being birthed from our foundation in Christ and not on our surrounding circumstances.

​From Thanksgiving to New Years, the holiday season can overload your to-do-list! The year was going along good, and then suddenly, you are shopping for the ‘perfect’ gift, or hosting the season’s greatest spread. It can feel like you’re in this race to the finish line of a happy family and well celebrated holidays. When all along this ‘performance based’ Christmas will steal your joy and question your self-worth. You ask yourself, did I spend enough? Did I make enough? Are my decorations good enough? Will they like my gift? And so on..
 
I wondered for years why I didn’t like Christmas. Oh, I made sure the kids were happy and the family had a festive time, but all the while, deep inside, resenting the holidays more and more. Then one day one of my children came up to me and said we should sing happy birthday to Jesus. So we did and that’s when things started to change. I realized that I measured the holidays based on performance and not on the birth of Jesus.
 
Isaiah 7:14 speaks of the virgin birth. Not only will this birth be a miracle, but it is the promise that offered humanity redemption. In 1 John 4:9-10 “God showed how much He loved us by sending his one and only son into the world so we might have eternal life through Him~ This is real love: Not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
 
Christmas is all about God giving His Best, because He Loves Us.
 
In the midst of the hectic holiday season, where we’re desperately trying to keep up, we can be at peace, because we have already found worth and love in God. It doesn’t matter if you didn’t get the perfect gift or if your decorations are the best on the block. It is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ and the knowledge that we are loved just the way we are. No matter how much you battle with your self-worth, know that Christmas serves as the ultimate act of love.
 
You are worthy and you are loved, just look around you. There’s a whole holiday dedicated to just how divinely adored you are.

Ken,
Master Control Operator