{"id":2060,"date":"2011-12-24T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2011-12-24T08:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/?p=2060"},"modified":"2016-01-06T13:48:04","modified_gmt":"2016-01-06T13:48:04","slug":"merry-christmas-from-carl-beech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/uncategorized\/merry-christmas-from-carl-beech\/","title":{"rendered":"Merry Christmas from Carl Beech"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Merry Christmas from Carl Beech<\/p>\n<p>I have some great memories of Christmas as I was growing up. \u00a0I was walking the dog early this morning and I had a vivid memory of playing a king at the infant school nativity. \u00a0I can remember being dressed up in a blue velvet robe and plastic crown on my head and thinking I looked the business. I can remember feeling excited that it was Christmas \u2026 because that meant Quality Street, presents and staying up a bit later \u2026<\/p>\n<p>When I was 18 I met Jesus, that was in April 1990. That year Christmas seemed very different to me. \u00a0Sure, it still meant presents, time standing still, family and a great meal \u2026 but the underlying reason for the day was for the first time right at the forefront. In fact that year was the first time I went to church on Christmas morning.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know what this year has held for you \u2026 I don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s in front of you. \u00a0But whether it&#8217;s been good, bad or truly awful, the one thing we can be sure of is that Jesus is amongst us. \u00a0We live with a great promise of hope.<\/p>\n<p>Isaiah 9 says;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div>The people walking in darkness have seen a great light!<\/div>\n<div>For to us a child is born<\/div>\n<div>To us a son is given<\/div>\n<div>And the government will be on his shoulders<\/div>\n<div>And he will be called<\/div>\n<div>Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God<\/div>\n<div>Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Have a fantastic Christmas and a brilliant 2012\u2026. And keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, the bright morning star \u2026<\/p>\n<p>In other words: keep looking up!<\/p>\n<div class=\"linkwithin_hook\" id=\"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/uncategorized\/merry-christmas-from-carl-beech\/\"><\/div><script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png?w=750\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Merry Christmas from Carl Beech I have some great memories of Christmas as I was growing up. \u00a0I was walking the dog early this morning and I had a vivid memory of playing a king at the infant school nativity. \u00a0I can remember being dressed up in a blue velvet robe and plastic crown on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n<script>\n<!-- \/\/LinkWithinCodeStart\nvar linkwithin_site_id = 897245;\nvar linkwithin_div_class = \"linkwithin_hook\";\n\/\/LinkWithinCodeEnd -->\n<\/script>\n<script src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/widget.js\"><\/script>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/\"><img src=\"http:\/\/www.linkwithin.com\/pixel.png\" alt=\"Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...\" style=\"border: 0\" \/><\/a>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5947,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[20,33,87,101,327,110,326],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/merry-christmas-from-carl-beech.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7PoLK-xe","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":233,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/uncategorized\/merry-christmas-from-cvm\/","url_meta":{"origin":2060,"position":0},"title":"Men and Christmas","date":"15 December 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Check out the December e:Quip from CVM. Find out what men want for Christmas this year ... Watch to the end to see a seasonal Greeting from Carl!","rel":"","context":"In \"carl beech\"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1967,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/carls-thoughts\/god-with-you\/","url_meta":{"origin":2060,"position":1},"title":"God With You","date":"2 December 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"As you may know, I have two daughters Emily and Annie. When Karen was pregnant we spent months thinking about what we would call them - obviously there were a few names we had to avoid with Beech as a surname! (Please don't email in with suggestions such as \"Sandy\"!)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Carl Beech&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1241,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/news\/cvm-christmas-appeal\/","url_meta":{"origin":2060,"position":2},"title":"A Personal Message from Carl","date":"13 December 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"We recently\u00a0launched our Christmas appeal, you can\u00a0view that here. I\u2019m writing to ask if you would consider\u00a0sending CVM a gift of say \u00a310.00 or more towards the ongoing work we are all involved in, of seeing men come to faith in Jesus. My aim is to provide you guys with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;News&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2447,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/carls-thoughts\/what-happened-on-easter-sunday\/","url_meta":{"origin":2060,"position":3},"title":"What happened on Easter Sunday?","date":"5 April 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"It was on Easter Sunday that Jesus rose from death. Jesus had told his disciples before he was arrested that he would be crucified and on the third day he would rise from the dead. Sunday was the third day from Good Friday (Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Day). The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Carl Beech&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/team-CVM-blog-640x360.jpg?fit=640%2C360&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1838,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/carls-thoughts\/93\/","url_meta":{"origin":2060,"position":4},"title":"93%","date":"10 October 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In 2003, Evangelicals Now published some research that suggested that in terms of seeing whole households come to faith, the following could be statistically proven. Lead a child to Jesus and 3.5% of the time the whole family will come to Christ Lead a mother to Jesus and 17% of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Carl Beech&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":529,"url":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/carls-thoughts\/an-awesome-weekend\/","url_meta":{"origin":2060,"position":5},"title":"An Awesome Weekend","date":"2 April 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Luke 24:5 says it all. This weekend is what its all about for us at CVM. \u00a0Following a captain, brother, rescuer and friend who gave up everything for us on Friday and on Sunday served death and hell its final notice. \u00a0We follow a risen Jesus. We are men with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Carl Beech&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2060"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6571,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2060\/revisions\/6571"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5947"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2060"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2060"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cvm.org.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2060"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}