I was up late last night, late enough to be awake for the first few minutes of Christmas morning. My sister was asleep on the couch next to me. We have had this tradition of sleeping in the living room every Christmas eve. It started when we both were young and believed in Santa Clause and had a hope of seeing him come through our chimney and eat the cookies and carrots we laid out for him. As the years have gone by, the magic of Christmas holiday has died down just as the belief in the red suited man has. So last night was different, but it was similar in many ways. Jess and I will probably sleep on the couch every Christmas eve whenever we are together for the holiday just for old times and traditions sake. But last night, instead of Santa Clause, I found my mind being swept away by other thoughts. Not magical or festive. These thoughts were of a different flavor. I opened the Bible to the second chapter of Luke and started reading... "And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flocks by night."
You know the story. We all do. We all have heard it. We all have seen it played out in a thousand different versions on a thousand different stages in a thousand different cities. That story has impacted our culture more than any other story. Everyone has an opinion about that story.
So as I am lying there on my couch I glance over at the couch across the living room. My sister is fast asleep. Memories flood my mind of the day I first saw her. As my dad wheeled her out of the international terminal of Logan Airport, the first thing I noticed was that red hood. She was sitting in a stroller and had a red hood. 3 and 1/2 years old. A precious child taken from an orphanage in Manila, Philippines and brought to become apart of our family. 13 years later I can't help but know that there is a reason it was her, and no one else, but her, that joined the Nims family.
"And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger."
As I think about the Christmas story... wow. This thing we all are experiencing. This thing we call life or human existence. That burning ball of fire we are spinning around at 1,000 mph. These relationships we enter. The time that passes as we move from childhood, to adolescence, to adulthood, to seniority. All this just really makes me stop and wonder. I have believed this story my entire life. But do I realize realize the gravity of it? What if this story that we have over-dramatized, culturized, and secularized is actually true? What if there truly is purpose behind this life?
What if we were actually created in a real garden with a real God that really loves us. And we actually chose to disobey him. But this God loved us so much that He really did put up with us for thousands of years of rebelling against Him. And then, when He could not take it anymore, He did the craziest thing ever. God became one of us and walked in our world for three decades only to get nailed to a tree. He lived to die the death we deserved. But then He comes back to life and tells us to go and tell everyone we know about Him and how much He loves us. And then He tells us that He is coming back for us and He is gonna make a new heaven and earth it is gonna blow our socks off.
That is the story. Do I really believe it? Do I really believe that right now, the God of the Universe is with me and is watching me. That He knows my inner most parts. He knows my entire future. He knows where I am gonna be ten years from now, how many kids I am gonna have, and how many bowls of frosted flakes I am gonna eat on my 40th birthday? That He has defeated death and has overcome the world?
Do I live like I believe it? Like it is the best thing that has ever happened to me?
Am I anxious and excited to tell people about my Heavenly Father? Do I really know He is listening to every word I tell Him?
Well, as I think about all that I realize that most of the answers to those questions are probably no, not all the time.
Today, I hope you make some time to read the story. Ask yourself, if it is not the truth, than what is this life about? What are we doing here? Who cares how much stuff we have. Who cares about the ipad and if the Lakers win another championship. What does it even matter if this is all one big cosmic and biological accident?
I know this story is more than just a story. I know it is the truth. O How amazing a truth it is. Would the truth of Jesus of Nazareth change how you live today, even if you have known him for years.
Merry Christmas
JN
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