May Christmas remind you how far God came just for you. While the story is simple, the message is profound and life-changing. God broke through the boundary between heaven and earth To come to us as we have asked over and over In a way we could touch and see and understand. However, over time, we decorated the story, Cleaned up the stable, And removed the inconvenience. But God did nothing without purpose. Review the story again. See the straw scattered stable. Hear the anima

If Advent teaches us anything, it is that waiting is the introduction to God’s best gifts. The stories of waiting in the Bible reveal great stories of perseverance as well as heart-breaking stories of people who would not wait, who pushed their own agendas and paid dearly for it. There was exiled waiting, wilderness waiting, imprisoned waiting, unanswered prayer waiting. Only the people who persevered through waiting received what God had been preparing during their waiting

Startle me out of my complacency, God, this and every day. Dec 4 reading from The Daily Feast. Are we so used to the story of Christmas that we are no longer startled? Think about young Mary, startled by an angel announcement that changed her life and the lives of everyone who lived after her. Think about Joseph, startled by a dream that told him what to do about Mary’s unexplained pregnancy. Think about the shepherds, startled on a hillside by mysterious light and song, so s

I love a decorated house. Getting it there, is another story. No matter how I store, organize or try to schedule; decorating the house for Christmas is messy, chaotic and usually frustrating. I’ve come to understand that maybe it’s because I start at the wrong place. Where does the most important part of Christmas begin? Not in the kitchen, Not by the fireplace with a decorated mantel. Not with a tree, even when loaded with memories. Christmas starts in the heart. It’s wh

So Christmas is over for this year. You have probably already made mental notes about what you will or will not do next year. And perhaps everything that has to be wrapped, boxed, and stored begins to overwhelm like an sudden downpour. Christmas with all its lights and merry-mess has had its day. You begin to think about getting back to the normal routine and maybe dreading it just a bit. But wait. Why do we make Christmas a season or a day? Isn’t Christmas much more tha

The family has gathered and gone, opened presents may still wait to find their new homes, the refrigerator is crammed with left overs. December 25 has come again, ready or not. Now it’s time to get things back to normal. Or is it? If your journey to Christmas was about a family gathering, keeping traditions, a new way to decorate the house, or indulging in a season of excesses; you might be glad Christmas is over. However, if Christmas isn’t a day but a season of preparatio

At Christmas God turned His heart inside out to give us Jesus. He sent Himself, all love and all God. He came as a baby: God wrapped in flesh; God crying in a manger. That's an interesting picture isn't it? God in a manger, crying. Why is it that we want to take the baby out of the manger and give him a decent bed, but we find all kinds of reasons to ignore the same God when He cries for us? He cries for our unnecessary complications. He cries for our woundedness. He c