Christmas

Today is Christmas Eve. It's been a great Christmas season so far. It's the only year I can remember teaching a series leading into Christmas, and because of that I've been thinking about Christmas a lot this year. One thing that has struck me the most in the Christmas story is the way in which it all happened. Let me explain.

You know how every mom loves to talk about how beautiful the package, the wrapping paper, or the bag is that holds the present? They are so careful when they open the package so as to not disturb the beautiful paper. I always wonder about that. I mean, sure it looks nice, but are you really going to reuse it or something? After all, it's not the paper that has value - it's the present inside. But I've been thinking about this concept in terms of the Christmas story. I mean, you can tell when someone has really taken their time to wrap a present. The way it is wrapped becomes part of what makes it so special - it displays the care and love that this person has that wrapped the present. So aside from the amazing fact that God became flesh and dwelt among us, and then eventually died and rose again (I realize that's a HUGE thing to set aside), I have been thinking a lot this year about the package. That is, the way in which this amazing gift was delivered. In one respect, God seems to have taken great care to communicate a certain message to us through the package - the part that many times we skip over - the way the gift was given. In another sense though, it's almost like God took this incredible gift and wrapped it up in toilet paper or newspaper or something. I mean if I was writing this story, I think I would have had a lot more bells and whistles surrounding the birth of the God-man Jesus. But instead, we have a story about a teenage pregnant girl, who when discovered to be pregnant is almost divorced and a family torn apart before it even gets a chance to start. Then, that same woman is forced to ride on a donkey miles and miles while almost ready to deliver. Eventually, when they get there she is forced to sleep with animals in a stable and to give birth to the King of Kings surrounded by animal poop, hay, and who knows what else. What an incredibly humbling, and maybe even lonely experience. So why is this the kind of wrapping paper that this amazing gift comes in?

I think it's because God is speaking to us in that wrap job. I think he's telling about the accessibility of this Savior to all people. He is telling of good news for the poor (Jesus' own message later on in life), and for the oppressed, the lonely, the helpless. This isn't just good news for the elite, the rich, the powerful - in fact this good news is for all. God is on the side of the poor. He always is. It's the reason that this good news was announced to shepherds, one of the lowliest jobs one could have. The fact that in many households there is a nativity set up with animals, hay, etc. is a constant reminder to us that God is not far - he isn't out of reach. He has come in the most accessible, most humble manner anyone could think of. And that fact makes the actual message and ministry of Jesus that much more powerful.

So anyway, don't be so quick to discard the paper for what's inside of this gift. Because I think that in this case anyway, the message that the wrapping gives us is just as important as the message that's inside. But when it comes to Christmas morning - go ahead and rip and tear.

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Labor?

Twice now in the last week or so we've had labor scares. About a week ago after our refresher course on having a baby, the nurse suggested that Kimi get checked out because of her frequent braxton-hicks contractions. She was definitely having some contractions so they gave her a pill and that stopped things. Today Kimi called in tears saying her stomach was hurting, so I raced home and sat with her as we timed things and called the doctor's office. After a bit they stopped, so that's good. However, it really looks like this baby is wanting to come out. We really want her to wait until at least the 1st of January, because that's about the 37 week mark - which they say is ok. So two more weeks - that's all I ask!

It makes me realize that despite the nine months of waiting for this baby (add to that the time waiting to conceive), we aren't ready yet! There's still much to be done. Kimi had nothing packed yet, nothing for the baby is washed or ready to go, and I'm still trying to build a dresser for the baby's room - which is proving more difficult than I realized it was going to be. Not to mention that right now everything is gearing up for Christmas and we have all of that stuff still to think about. So yeah, those two weeks are really important right now.

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Parade

Today was a nice relaxing day. We slept in this morning until 9 which was amazing, because Hannah hasn't done that in a long time. She sleeps longer when she comes in our bed, which is what happened last night. She tends to hog the bed, but seeing as how I got to sleep in, I didn't mind. After spending a couple hours around the house not doing much of anything, we remembered that the Yucaipa Christmas parade was today. Hannah has been looking forward to this for a while. Last year mommy went shopping and Hannah and I walked over to the church and watched the parade. They throw candy - which is what she really remembered and looked forward to. So even though mommy was driving, Hannah remembered that we walked last year, and wanted to walk again. She's a lot like me I guess - traditions are great! We watched the parade from in front of the church again, it was a lot colder this year. The bands and cars and floats went by, many of them throwing candy. Hannah was hilarious because she would run out in the street when they threw candy, but unless it was chocolate she would leave it laying there and come back empty handed. She knows what she likes and won't settle for anything else! Hopefully the same goes for boys one day.

After the parade my neighbor and I went Christmas shopping for the wives. I pretty much hate shopping - there's so much crap for sale, there's a billion people, and the whole thing just makes me want to run away. Despite all that, we had a good time. I was able to get a few things for Kimi which is great. I usually am one of those last minute shoppers so this is a bit unusual for me.

Mommy and Hannah are making Christmas cookies right now - another great tradition. I look forward to the benefits of that one - that is, the eating of the Christmas cookies. Anyway, it was a good day today. We've got church tomorrow and I need to get to work writing out my lesson.

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Peace on Earth

I had a conversation this week with some friends about the gospel. We were talking about politics, about the church, and ultimately about the role of the Christian in the world. One of the questions we were discussing was in raising children - how much do you expose a child to in order to help them learn to live as a Christian in the world. My friend talked about how growing up in a Christian school didn't really prepare him for the reality of the world. I fully understand wanting to protect our children, particularly in the most formative times of their life. I protect Hannah from things like TV - I don't want her to see certain things. I don't want her to watch commercials even if I can help it, because I realize that the ads are attempting to feed her a lie about what satisfies in life. Does that mean we keep our kids inside, turn off the TV, home school them all, hand pick their friends? I live in a rough neighborhood. Most police in my city call it the ghetto. In a few short years since we've lived here, we've had drug deals, race riots, graffiti on our garage door, hit and run car accidents, home invasion robberies (not my home), cars broken into (mine), an attempted break in to my house, arrests and more arrests, domestic abuse, sexual predators, and lots more. Part of me thinks that this is exactly where a follower of Christ needs to be. I know that God placed us in this neighborhood, and maybe that's because he wants us to be aware of the needs of a seemingly small peaceful city. But does God want me to put my family at risk for the sake of the gospel? Even asking that question seems silly to me. I know the right answer - the gospel is about bringing hope and healing and restoration to those in bondage. It makes sense that God would put us in a place of significant need. But again, how do I teach my daughter about the reality of sin in the world, and the hope of the gospel, without jading her, or putting her life in danger? I know the danger for myself, and I've chosen to live with that. But a four year old? What does the gospel look like for her? What does it expect of her?

So anyway, back to this conversation at lunch. I shared about how I don't want Hannah to be unaware of pain in the world. We talk to her about orphans in Africa, and she struggles to understand how kids could live without their parents. We take her with us into Mexico - where she has gone door to door, shack to shack, handing out invitations for VBS programs. She has seen poverty first hand. We talk to her about kids that go without food. She understands that. I don't think she's at a place yet to understand salvation, or a divine God-man who came and died for our sins. We talk about that, but based on her playtime when the occasional kitty "dies on the cross", I'm pretty sure she hasn't grasped that idea yet. But, she gets the gospel of meeting needs. She understands that when a homeless man is hungry, we feed him. She gets that when people living in a dump in Mexico need a home - we build them one. She knows that daddy went to Africa to help kids and people who were sick. And she connects that with Jesus. She knows that we do these things because of him.

But last night it was as if Jesus was asking - how much do you really believe that the gospel is good news for the world? I was sitting on my couch, about ready to head off to bed when I heard three gun shots, which to be honest is something I've heard before. But soon after the shots I heard lots of yelling and noise. So I went out on my front porch to see where all the noise was coming from. At that point a saw a man running away from the area of the noise, and he ran right past my house. Honestly, I don't know who this person was or their connection to the situation. But it very well could have been the shooter, or someone just scared running away. Soon after the police were all over the neighborhood, a helicopter was circling with spot light on, people were yelling and screaming, it was nuts. This morning, one man is dead.

When people fight, they do drugs, they break things, they vandalize - all of that doesn't really affect me. People heal, stuff gets fixed. But when bullets start flying - it's way too easy for someone innocent to get hurt. So again, the question of the gospel. Would Jesus ask me to put my family at risk for the sake of the gospel? My daughter is pretty unaware, but my wife is scared. I can't blame her. I'm really wrestling with it all this morning. I realize that my first priority is to my family. If the gospel doesn't give them hope and peace, then something isn't right. But I don't know if that's the same thing as safety. Living out the gospel in the midst of brokenness is not a safe thing. But it's what Jesus calls us to do. I guess I'm just realizing that the gospel demands much more of me than living a nice, safe, comfortable life. I know that Jesus has us here right now. In the meantime, I will protect my family from those that would seek to harm us. I mean, we lock our doors, we have an alarm, I own a gun. But I won't hide inside, and I won't run away. I will live my life as a follower of Jesus. I will be available to meet the needs that arise. I will do my best to add to the peace and hope of people in this neighborhood. The gospel not only brings hope to those that need it, but it also stands up and fights what is evil, and it takes on injustice. Ultimately, it brings peace, because love wins.

Peace on earth. I long for that.

What do you think of all this? Does the gospel ask us to put ourselves and/or the ones we love at risk?

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