Adoration

      Hey everyone! It is Christmas time! (like you hadn't already figured it out.) We just got back into the states a week or so ago. It was nice to miss the big commercial push for christma$ that you usually have dredge through each year. It is always a struggle for me to really stay excited for Christmas, frankly because christma$ always got in the way. The places we have been in Mexico for the last several months didn't have much started yet for Christmas. It was nice. It was nice to come back and be able to get into the Christmas spirit. I haven't had the pleasure in many years. It reminds me of growing up. When I was a kid it didn't seem that Christmas took up so much bandwidth. We didn't even think about it until after Thanksgiving when dad would take us all out to go look for a Christmas tree. (Well that is except for a Christmas when we didn't get a tree till just a little over a week before!) It was a magical time, a spiritual time. Somewhere we lose that in the shuffle of growing up. I probably held onto it longer than most. I made a point of decorating the family tree and always looking for a way to bless someone for no reason. Through the years though I had lost my edge and just became another lemming charging headlong over the edge into christma$ burn out. This year it is like I found the reset button and everything is new again.

      I believe that there are many things that contribute to this reconnection with my long lost Christmas spirit. First of all this year will be the first year that Cathy and I will not get to spend Christmas with family and in their absence the heart feels the void. We have both grown to appreciate our families and networks of friends more than ever. We miss our moms, dads, brothers, sisters, extended families, pastors, church families, friends, and just about everyone else. This makes us remember how much our loved ones mean to us. Then there is also the fact that we won't be running around crazy this year to go to parties, to brave the malls, or to pick up that last thing that we promised to bring or supply. Instead of focusing on getting our list of tasks completed, we are blessed with time to savor this season. Finally I think that the most important contributor to this renewed enthusiasm for the Christmas season is that this is our first Christmas as missionaries. We are realizing more each day what it means to carry out Christ's last commandment on this earth. Christmas is not just about the birth of Christ. For if Christ was the son of God, lived on this earth a blameless life, and then decided to not die on the cross for our sins, would we still be celebrating Christmas? To properly celebrate Christmas, we must celebrate his birth, life, death, resurrection, and ascension! To bring the glory to Him that He deserves we don't need another party or holiday, but just to obey His word. Christ told us that all obedience can be summed up into two principles: 1. Love God with all of your heart, mind, and soul and 2. Love your neighbor.

     This Christmas that is my challenge to you (and me). You don't have to be a missionary or live in a grass hut to really be serving God. I believe it is more of a challenge to be right where you are, especially in Western culture, and hold strong to your faith by loving others as Christ would. When you are in extreme circumstances, it is easier to rely on God for everything, to obey His every word, but at home we find it all to easy to limp along on our own terms.  So this Christmas the try this: Don't do some drastic reroute of value driven events, but do whatever you do with love. Go to the office party with love for your coworkers. When you visit grandma and grandpa in the nursing home, don't be rushed. Give them your love in time. Spend less time checking off your holiday task list and more time working on God's task list for your life. It has one item. There is a big number one with an asterisk by it. The task is “Adore Him”. The asterisk is “Adore Him by adoring others for Him, because of Him, by Him, and through Him.” So, I will end this Christmas message in a candy encrusted sentimental but pertinent fashion. O, Come let us adore Him, for He alone is worthy, for Jesus is our Savior...Christ the King.