Episode 7 - Jim and Dinah Cooke

All right, this is David, and I'm here with Jim

and Dinah Cook, and I wanted to have them share

an element that pointed to Christ for the season

for them. Well, you've got quite a list here

to choose from, David, but out of those items,

I think I would choose a highlight because there

are three or four times during the year when

our family, close family, extended family, and

fringes get together, and Christmas is one of

those times. And I get to see not only our kids,

three daughters and a son, but I get to see their

children. And we have graduated one more step.

We're seeing the little ones now, the great -grandchildren.

So that's a big event for me and influence throughout

the year. Two of my favorite times of the year

are Thanksgiving and Christmas because all of

my children and grandchildren and great -grandchildren

come to our house and we just have a wonderful

time. Sometimes we have to share them with their

other in -laws. Oh, yeah. But we're very blessed.

All right. Thank you all for sharing. And I've

learned a new word from you today. Fringes. You

just said fringes, the family and the fringes.

Yeah. I think I'm going to borrow that. OK. OK.

Because that's like your friends that are like

family. Yeah. And that does fit, David. Yeah.

So I think I might borrow that. Isaiah 40 from

the Revised Standard Version of your Bible. Comfort.

Comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly

to Jerusalem and cry to her that her warfare

is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that

she is received from the Lord's hand double for

all her sins. A voice cries, in the wilderness

prepare the way of the Lord. Make straight in

the desert a highway for our God. Every valley

shall be lifted up and every mountain and hill

be made low. the uneven ground shall become level,

and the rough places a plain, and the glory of

the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall

see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has

spoken." John chapter 1, verses 19 through 28.

John 1:19–28

And this is the testimony of John when the Jews

sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask

him, who are you? He confessed. He did not deny,

but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they

asked him, what then? Are you Elijah? He said,

I am not. Are you the prophet? And he answered,

no. They said to him then, who are you? Let us

have an answer for those who sent us. What do

you say about yourself? He said, I am the voice

of one crying in the wilderness. Make straight

the way of the Lord, as the prophet Isaiah said.

Now, they had been sent from the Pharisees. They

asked him, then why are you baptizing if you

are neither the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?

John answered them, I baptize with water. But

among you stands one whom you do not know. Even

he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal

I'm not worthy to untie. This took place in Bethany,

beyond the Jordan where John was baptizing.