Here is a little video with 2 Christmas songs by our nephew Benjamin when we were in Scotland…enjoy!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We are currently in Scotland, enjoying our time with the Gibson family, as well as Mum and Chris (photos will come later). What a blessing to be able to remember the day our Savior was born into this world!

Whatever else be lost among the years,
Let us keep Christmas still a shining thing:
Whatever doubts assail us, or what fears,
Let us hold close one day, remembering
Its poignant meaning for the hearts of men.
Let us get back our childlike faith again.
~ Grace Noll Crowell

Here is our little gift to you, 11 free, 100% legal, Christian Christmas music that I have found on the web (right click and save as…):

1. Sara Groves: Toy Packaging
2. Shane and Shane: Away in a Manger
3. Go Fish: It’s about the Cross
4. Sixpence None the Richer: Angels we have heard on high
5. Barlow Girl: Angelic Proclamation
6. Jars of Clay: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen
7. Chris Sligh: When You Come Home Again
8. Aaron Shust: Silent Night
9. Aaron Shust: God Has Come to Earth
10. Aaron Shust: O Come O Come Emmanuel
11. Josh Wilson: Angels We Have Heard on High

Merry Christmas from the Hockleys

You will find as you look back upon your life that the moments when you have really lived are the moments when you have done things in the spirit of love.
Henry Drummond

As Christmas and New Year approach, I look back and realize that although the years may not always be as I have planned or expected them, God’s hand is always there, steadily guiding us. Here is a little glimpse of our lives in 2008.

Some glimpses of 2008

• Moving to Norway, and into a new apartment that God provided for us.
• Leading a team in Oslo, called the Headquarter team, in charge of the running of the missions base.
• Travels. I traveled in France and Germany with a concert team and saw people saved and healings on the streets.
• Summer Team in Italy, where Guro instructed dance, and I led a group of crazy young people for outreach in the south. Here also people were saved and healed on the streets.
• Holidays. We gladly had  some time of rest in both France and Spain.
• Teaching. I enjoyed teaching both for YWAM in France, and our Mission Training School in Oslo.
• Work. Guro has been working part time for a Norwegian company, and will start working 100% for Jesus Revolution again, in a couple of months. I have had an great time working with the Jesus People project.
• Church. We became members of Jesus Church in Oslo, and have a great “house church” fellowship.

We are looking forward to see more of God in action in 2009!

We had this idea a few weeks ago, and it was a success, attracting quite some people in the streets of Oslo. We were able to share Jesus with them afterwards. Enjoy the video (by Katrine Whinnett)

The first feeling embraces me in October; with the smell of mandarins. It’s like I’m carried through time and can touch some of that special season of the year. Why is it that the month of December is so much better than all the other “cold” months of the year? Surely, we all enjoy the traditional food that follows, not to speak about the cakes, drinks and sweets that we devour in our nicely decorated homes. Still, within there is something more that is stirred up…

The feeling of Christmas

I remember how I would wake up the 1st of December and run towards the calendar that my mum had carefully made. Small gifts wrapped up in shiny paper and attached to a green board with red flannel hearts. At school, my favorite teacher would start the day by letting us light the advent candles and singing: “…waiting for the small child in the manger”.

My grandfather, the best and funniest old man I know, lives in a big house with a lovely garden and his own forest. On the 23rd we would bring a sledge out into the forest where the trees were loaded with snow to find a spruce. I still remember how fun it was to be able to decorate it with my older sister, and how it was to be pinched by the pines from time to time. The smell filled the living room, and when my father would turn on the small lights, Christmas was at the door.

Then finally it arrives: Christmas Eve. Excitement, keen impatience and butterflies within. I could hardly wait for the unwrapping of all the gifts that caught my attention under the tree. My grandfather or one of the grandchildren would read the Nativity story from the Bible before we prayed and thanked God. My thoughts, I have to admit, were mostly on what I would unwrap in a few moments.

This year, I decided to reflect more on why we actually celebrate CHRISTmas. And that is partly why I write this article. It is easy, at least for me, to set my mind on all the things associated with Christmas; food, gifts, decorations and so on. All these things are nice and I will still appreciate them, but at the same time ponder more upon the real Father Christmas. To thank Him for giving the most precious He had; His own Son. The greatest gift of all.

By Guro Hockley

The snow has been falling these last days in Norway, and the streets are full of it! Here is a little video from around our house. If you can’t hear what I am saying on the video, I was just explaining that it has been snowing for the last two days…