You've got to be seriously bad to get that!

My great-grandmother was a wonderful woman. I miss her still today, even though she died 25 years ago. I spent a lot of time visiting her as a young teen, hearing her stories, sharing a glass of milk and a cookie or two... But not everyone felt the same way about her as I did... namely her step-father. He was a mean man, or so I was told, and one Christmas my great-grandmother didn't get a stocking full of coal... she got a stocking full of chicken droppings! How sad for a child to wake up to that on Christmas morning.

That story (as well as many others) have been told a time or two to my kids, and this Christmas it came back with a twist. While joking with our four little ones, my wife made a comment about how "naughty children might get a stocking full of coal", to which my oldest daughter, Breanna (age 10), added "or chicken poop!" Without missing a beat, my youngest daughter, Meagan (soon to be 4) chimed in with "or horse poop!" My, you've got to be seriously bad to get that!

Thank you, God, for not sending what we all deserve and instead giving us your Son to die in our place! I'm so glad you are a loving, caring, faithful Father to us all, despite how naughty we are and can be repeatedly!