 Hi everybody, I'm Don Sweeting, President of Colorado Christian University. It's Christmas and this is a season of giving. It's a season when we make our lists, we check them twice, we exchange gifts, right? And then we sometimes even wear ourselves out from trying to find the perfect gift. Well, have you ever wondered how this whole giving thing got started in the first place? Some trace the tradition all the way back to not Santa but Nicholas, known as Saint Nicholas, who was a pastor, bishop, who was born about 280 AD, a long time ago, but he was known for his legendary generosity giving to people in need. Well some go further back than that and they trace the giving tradition to the wise men. Think about it, in Matthew chapter 2, the Magi came from the east and they brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh and worshiped baby Jesus. But of course scripture goes back even further and it traces the origin of this gift giving to God himself. You think about John 3.16 which reads, for God so loved the world that he gave what his only son that whoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. Paul in his letter to the Corinthians, 2 Corinthians 8 says, for you know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich yet for your sake became poor so that you through his poverty might become rich. Paul ends that section of Corinthians by saying, thanks be to God for his inexpressible gift. Well, as we all think about giving this season, we do need to keep in mind the words of Jesus who said, it's more blessed to give than receive. As you make out your list, would you please remember Colorado Christian University? We wouldn't even exist without your faithful prayers, your wonderful encouragement, and your generous support. Let me tell you about one of our projects that we're working on right now. We are currently designing and raising money for the William Armstrong Center which we hope to build within the next few years. This new center will include a new chapel, the university library, and it will provide a new home for our school of music. We're so excited about the opportunities that this will bring to our student body to further the mission of Christ-centered higher education, transforming students to impact the world with grace and truth. But we need to get to the finish line. I'm so thankful that I can tell you that recently a generous donor came forward and made a $5 million pledge with a match attached for this building, which means we'd really like to get to the finish line as soon as possible. So I'm asking you, would you prayerfully consider being a part of this, helping us fulfill part of Bill Armstrong's dream, and certainly helping us to provide a great campus for our students here at CCU? Thank you for even considering this. Thank you for being a blessing to Colorado Christian University in 2018 and from all of us here at CCU to you and yours, we wish you a joyful, blessed Christmas.