December 8

Felicia and I are beginning to pack up and prepare for the trip back to Texas. We have had a fruitful time here in Wilmore and praise God for the opportunity to have been here for the past 5 months. We are having a hard time saying goodbye to the new friends we have made here and the old friends who have grown even more dear to us.

As we look to our return there is a lot of excitement. Our first priority will be grabbing grandkids and giving hugs. (we'll hug their parents too.) We are going to have a wonderful family Christmas dinner and celebrate the birth of our Lord together. What a blessing it will be to all be together for that! We'll have to hit the ground running just to get the tree up and decorated - Oh, and then there's the little item of Christmas shopping that we haven't done yet! I guess we'll just have to join the throngs in the mall.

As we look to the future, I'm excited about a new focus. I wll continue to do renewal events in local churches, but I am going to focus more on writing than I have in the past. I'm excited about the new projects God has given me. I hope to record the new versions of the old Charles Wesley hymns this spring. (I've written 8 new songs for this project while here at Asbury.) I also plan to redo all of the videos of the stories and produce them on DVD. Then there are children's CD's and stories I want to produce and write.

All of this will mean that I wll be working more from our office in Bedford, spending less time on the road, and trusting God to provide the needed resources to move in this new direction. We've seen His faithfulness over and over again in the last 24 years and we trust Him with our future.

Felicia and I are deeply grateful to all our friends who have prayed and given sacrificially so that this sabbatical could become reality. Words fail to express the depth of our gratitude.

I close this update with yet another of the Charles Wesley rewrites. This is the new version of "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing". The new title is, "Listen to the Angels Sing". I offer this with a heartfelt prayer that this will be a glorious Christmas season for you and those you love.

Wesley

Listen to the Angels Sing
By Wesley Putnam coyright 2005

1. Listen to the angels sing
Glory to the new-born King.
He brings peace to earth,
and mercy has come near.
Rejoice, the Prince of Peace is here.
All you nations sing along
in this joyous angel song.
Help declare the Good News
Christ the Lord is born!
Behold, a manger is His throne

Cho. Listen to the angels sing
Glory to the new-born King.
Bow before this royal child
We, with God are reconciled.

2. Christ in heaven was adored
as the everlasting Lord.
Yet, He left it all
for such a humble birth.
Heaven's King now walks on earth.
Exchanging robes for flesh and blood
He chose to live as one of us.
To know our struggles
He came down, with us to dwell.
Jesus our Emmanuel
Cho.

3. Hail to Jesus, Prince of Peace
Shining dawn of righteousness.
Bringing light and life
To all who call His name
Bestowing healing for our pain.
He left His glory all behind.
born that we would never die.
born so we could be
delivered from our sin.
Born, that we'd be born again.
Cho.