sorry, all we have are no birthing rooms left

we've all seen the CHRISTmas pageants at churches and schools.  we see the little girl playing mary and the little boy reluctantly playing joseph knock on the door of the inn and the boy with the fake beard playing the innkeeper tells them to go away, that there are no rooms left.  the innkeeper then offers them the stable out back and the young duo says ok without an argument and they go to the other side of the stage where a quaint little stable with a wooden feeding troth is waiting on them.  by this point, mary has already had her baby boy, usually a baby doll, because nobody wants to see a 5 or 6 year old girl pretending to give birth on stage!  it's all cute, and we love them, but if you go back and read the story, you will find something interesting.  there is no innkeeper in the story!  one can infer that there must have been an innkeeper, being that there was an inn, but the elusive innkeeper is not explicitly mentioned in any part of the story.  you ask the average person, though, and they will tell you that there is one in the Bible.  it becomes like the little kid who shows up at his CHRISTmas pageant with a pillow under his shirt and when his teacher asks him who he is supposed to be, he matter-of-factly tells her that he is "round john virgin"!  we end up adding more to the story than is there, much of our misinformation coming from things like children's plays and CHRISTmas carols.

while the innkeeper is not specifically mentioned by name, we can see a lot of what an innkeeper's characteristics would have been like in society today, especially at CHRISTmas time.  the town of bethlehem was a small town geographically isolated from much of the surrounding area, and the census implemented by caesar augustus would have brought a tremendous amount of commerce to the local merchants for the weeks and months during the census.  this was primarily an agricultural town, so business was limited to goods bought and sold by the local community and the occasional traveler stopping through on the way to other larger cities within palestine.  with this booming influx of business, the inns would have been full, and the last thing that an innkeeper would want was a screaming early teenage girl giving birth in one of his rooms, and making the room unclean as well as scaring off all of his guests.  so it would have been convenient for all of the rooms to be taken.  there is no validity to the misconstrued notion of mary and joseph going from inn to inn trying to find a room, since her delivery would have occurred just as they got to bethlehem (probably from either walking or riding on the back of an animal during the journey there).  so if we acknowledge that little fact, then we can reasonably assume that there was no time to go door to door. 

let me throw another proverbial monkey wrench into the story here and point out that the word used for "inn" is kataluma, which could also be translated "guestroom".  it is quite possible, and actually more probable, that mary and joseph sought lodging at a relative's house, since that was the town of joseph's family.  however, being that everyone else from his lineage would have been there, and being that mary was late in pregnancy, their journey would have been slow and they would have been the last ones to arrive, only to find all of the guest rooms with family occupied.  however, most families had a stable behind the house where they kept their most prized livestock, which mainly would have been oxen.  the family probably would have considered that to be a more suitable place for giving birth, due to the tremendous mess it caused, and allowed joseph and mary to use it for that purpose.  also, it is quite possible that the reputation of mary's unwed pregnancy would have preceded them there, so there may have been an element of keeping them out of sight, out of mind. 

regardless, the overwhelming attitudes we see in either the innkeeper or the family are quite prevalent today.  the innkeeper would have had the birth of the Messiah right at their back door, and he missed it.  he was so busy with business that he had no time for someone who interfered with his making money.  we see that today beginning at halloween and even earlier.  many businesses fall prey to seeing CHRISTmas through money colored glasses and are too busy with the commerce of the season to actually recognize what truly is being celebrated.  we see workers being forced to work long hours, and now even working on thanksgiving, to stay ahead of the competition and bring in the most capital.  especially in the united states, where CHRISTianity is the predominant religion, people are so busy with the rush of CHRISTmas that they miss the CHRIST of CHRISTmas.  so they are in effect, just like the assumed innkeeper, having CHRIST right outside their door, and they miss Him.

still others are like joseph's family.  this attitude is the most prevalent in churches.  CHRIST is just outside, but nobody bothers to make room for Him.  He is an inconvenience.  i'm sure the family went out to check on them, and possibly even went out to see the baby Jesus, but she had to lay him in a feeding troth filled with hay and ox saliva because the family did not make room for Him in the house.  Jesus even referenced this attitude in revelation 3, when He said that He stands at the door and knocks.  the sad thing is, the door He is knocking on is the door of the church!  His own church, His own family if you will, has no room for Him!  they have been doing things their own way, and for Him to come in would be a huge inconvenience because they might have to change how they are doing things. 

this year, is CHRIST in your CHRISTmas?  or are you so busy with the rush that you miss Him?  or maybe you no longer have room for Him because of all of the "tradition" and "religion" that has taken His place.  it's never too late to repent and to make room for Him.  after all, He also promises in revelation 3 that if anyone opens the door to Him, He will come in and restore the relationship.      

but i'm the emperor! i can name a salad after me if i want to!

whenever i read about julius caesar or caesar augustus, the line from "bill and ted's excellent adventure" comes to mind:  "so what you're telling me, is that caesar was the 'salad dressing dude'".  by now, you've probably figured out who the next character is.  most already know this part of the story.  this is how the most commonly known portion of the CHRISTmas story begins:  "in those days, a decree went out from caesar augustus that all the world should be taxed (registered), each to his own city."  this is the census that the caesar implemented that forced mary and joseph to make the journey to bethlehem, with mary being in her last months of pregnancy.  so who was this "caesar augustus" guy? 

history tells us that he was born gaius octavius thurinus, the great nephew of julius caesar.  he was part of the ruling party of rome, along with mark antony and marcus lepidus.  however, unlike his great uncle, octavius was far more ambitious, and a conflict grew with the other members of the triumverate over who held power, and octavius self-assumed the name "caesar" from his great uncle and like the rock star "sting" changed his name to augustus, thereby becoming known as caesar augustus, the first emperor of rome.  augustus seized power from mark antony, which led to cleopatra's and subsequently mark antony's suicides that have now become infamous.  augustus was a very ambitious emperor, choosing to focus heavily on religion and reestabilshed the pantheon of gods that had been all but forgotten in the empire and also declared himself a god in the process.  he expanded the roman empire to include much of europe and the near east, which leads us up to the passage in the CHRISTmas story.  augustus grew increasingly frustrated with the decline in numbers in his empire, so he enacted laws to benefit the married and specifically the married with children.  he lambasted the single men for the "murder" of the empire for their refusal to marry and have children.  some years after the laws were in place, he ordered a census be taken of the entire roman world.  there were three done under his rule, each around 20 years apart.  the first one was around 28 b.c., the second around 8 b.c., and the final one around 14 a.d.  the census involving mary and joseph would have been the one around 8 b.c., but it would have taken a couple of years for news of the census to reach palestine, so that is where we get our approximate birth date of 6 b.c. for CHRIST. 

so how does this translate to today?  what parallels can we see of caesar augustus in today's society?  well, first, we know that augustus saw himself as god, and was completely oblivious to the birth of the CHRIST in bethlehem.  many today are what i call "functioning atheists", choosing to see themselves as god of their own lives and destinies.  they are religious relativists, saying that it is ok for you to believe in whatever god you want to believe in, as long as it is personal and not forced on others.  many professing CHRISTians (notice i said "professing") actually fall under this category as well.  the ones who only choose to acknowledge the lordship of CHRIST on two days a year, are in essence acting as their own gods.  many people today are actually oblivious to the true meaning of CHRISTmas.  sure, most know the story, but the actual implications of the story are unknown to them.  you may doubt me on that, considering that we live in a nation where churches are very much in abundance, but i can assure you, this sadly is the case.  it is because churches today have become so stagnant and internal, that there is very little new growth or evangelism, and the church has become sick with inbreeding.  most new members are transfers from another church, and very few new converts.  this has led to an ignorance of the gospel in society as a whole.  it is because of this disobedience that society has shunned CHRISTianity as just another of many world religions.

this leads us to the second parallel.  augustus was in a sense a pluralist.  he chose not to force one particular god on the people, but instead, set up a whole pantheon of gods for them to choose from.  with america being already an extremely diverse society, most today that have the attitude of caesar choose to stay neutral on the topic of religious belief, stating that you can believe whatever you want as long as it works for you.  there are even professing CHRISTians who have fallen into this mindset.  there are those in our churches today, of every denomination and background, that say that CHRIST is not the only way to heaven.  they have fallen prey to the "false prophets" who "tickle their ears" and have adopted a moralistic gospel and a form of deism rather than biblical CHRISTianity.  they have stopped seeing God as the supreme, righteous, holy, and jealous Deity that He is, and have instead taken the view of "grandfather God", who loves everyone and won't send anyone to hell, because that's not politically correct and causes division and hurt feelings.  so when it comes to CHRISTmas, they choose to focus on everything but CHRIST.  they have their pantheon of gods in the form of material goods, nostalgia, santa claus, trees, etc.  these are not bad things in and of themselves, but when they become the focus, they in essence become gods. 

finally, you can see a parallel in caesar's ambition.  he was a narcissist, who wanted absolute control of his life and everyone around him, regardless of how much it inconvenienced them.  there are people just like that everywhere at CHRISTmas!  they are the ones who stress out every year at CHRISTmas and become the CHRISTmas nazis.  everything around them has to be perfect, from the tree (they usually have the designer tree with a set theme every year), to the dinner, to the family coming over, etc.  they are the clark w. griswolds trying have that "good old fashioned family CHRISTmas", much to the chagrin of those around them.  i had a friend in seminary that used to tell me that he hated CHRISTmas because of the memories he had associated with it.  his memories consisted of stressed out parents, arguments, and general high tension around the house.  for him, he echoed the sentiment of clark's wife in CHRISTmas vacation when she said, "it's CHRISTmas, and we are all in misery!" 

so this year, don't be a caesar.  keep your name.  realize that you are not God.  there are no vacancies in the trinity.  no need for you to apply.  and keep CHRIST the focus, and if you can do that, then peace on earth and good will can be yours.  "seek first the kingdom of God, and all these other things will be given to you!"

but she's so old...she's just so....old!

in college, when i first started getting into martial arts, i participated in a regional competition.  at the time, i was only a green belt in traditional shotokan, which basically means i would have gotten my tail handed to me against pretty much anyone i went up against.  at this particular competition, there were different competitions one could enter, such as kata, hand to hand, and breaking.  since i was put out fairly early in the hand to hand, i decided to go over and observe the breaking competition.  one particular participant caught my eye, and i remember thinking that he would be put out fairly early.  the reason was, the participant was an 8 year old boy, maybe 80 lbs worth, and that was a liberal estimate.  here he was, against full grown men that had 100 lbs on him, about to break boards and cinder blocks.  but this kid never wavered in his determination, and was fairly impressive in his ability to break boards.  perhaps it was the black belt around his waist, or the fact that he had broken everything they had put in front of him so far, but whatever the reason, he was not detracted at all when they placed a stack of 7 1x8 pine boards in front of him.  they actually had to bring a stool for him to stand on because he was not tall enough to reach the top board with enough force to break the stack.  needless to say, he went through the stack like it was made of toilet paper, and ended up winning the competition. 

i imagine that was how people looked at elizabeth, zechariah's wife when they first saw her with the tell-tale bump of her baby boy growing inside of her.  in contrast with her husband, elizabeth actually believed God when she was told that she would have a baby, even in her post-menopausal state.  however, to take away fodder from her possible detractors, she went into seclusion upon learning that she was pregnant.  while in seclusion, she received a visitor, her cousin mary.  mary's story is one we will get to later, but mary was there from her home town to possibly avoid a stoning sentence for the child also growing inside of her.  we know that mary stayed for about three months, probably until the delivery of the baby was accomplished.  in that time, women would give birth to a baby by hollowing out a hole in the ground, placing bricks on each side of the hole and then squatting on the bricks over the hole with women helping to hold them up by the arms during the process.  so it would have been normal for mary to help with the delivery. 

what is striking about elizabeth is her tremendous amount of faith.  we never see her questioning in the way that her ancestor sarah did.  perhaps it was because of her husband's plight with muteness that convinced her, but for whatever reason we know that elizabeth kept faith.  she also removed herself from temptations to doubt her cridibility, validating her pregnancy as being from the Lord, and setting the stage not only for herself, but for her cousin mary as well.  we know that she firmly believed mary's story when she came to visit, and provided a safe place for her to stay.  having witnessed her own pregnancy, perhaps it was not hard for her to believe mary's story about the immaculate conception.  but regardless, she took a risk to her own reputation and welcomed mary into her home.

there are people like that today.  we all know them.  they are the ones that have the faith that the Bible says could move mountains.  they are also the ones who reach out to others, choosing to share that faith with everyone they come in contact with.  granted, there are those that believe something blindly and without merit to their belief, which is very dangerous.  that is how we end up with cult leaders like david koresh and jim jones.  but when a belief comes from spending time with a living Saviour, and studying His Word, then it is a belief that has merit and can be counted on. 

as we look around at this time of year, we see those like elizabeth.  we see the champions of the faith in our churches and in our lives.  they are the ones who are not detracted by the naysayers around them.  they are the ones who guard their faith, and choose not to get into pointless debates with others about their belief, but rather stand firm as an example and a testament to those around them.  they help others when the world around them writes the afflicted off.  they are obedient to God despite their circumstances.  but most importantly, they don't make excuses as to why they can't do something.  when God commands, they obey.  they walk up to the stack of boards that God has placed in front of them, they look at the black belt God has placed around their spiritual waist, and they proceed to accomplish the task for no other reason than because God has told them to.  they are the missionaries going to the closed countries, despite the objections from family members.  they are the ones who are obedient to God with their money, even when their own pocketbooks are light.  they are the ones that listen to the Holy Spirit's leading and take the time to share Christ with someone they meet in the store, even though they may not be very good at communicating.  the ladies that defy gender barriers to share Christ to a culture that looks down on them, the youth that defy age boundaries to minister to an elderly nursing home patient, the churches that defy color boundaries and open their doors to all races, the suburbanite that defies their fear to minister in the inner cities, and the CHRISTians that defy death on a daily basis to hold secret church meetings in a home in a foreign country that outlaws CHRISTianity; all of these are in the spirit of elizabeth. 

so this year, will you be a person of faith?  or will you be the voice of "reason", detracting from what God has called someone to do in obedience?  will you be a safe haven for someone, whether it means being someone that is willing to listen, or taking a needy family under your care for the CHRISTmas season, or even welcoming a single mother into your home who has nowhere else to go?  today, more than ever, we need people of faith.  the question is, if not us, then who will fill that role?

characters of CHRISTmas: zechariah

as promised, so begins my journey into the exploration of the characters of CHRISTmas, and going one step further and drawing parallels to character types we see today.

have you ever just sat and read the whole CHRISTmas story?  if not, then i encourage you to sit down and read it this year.  most people know the luke 2 story, and even the matthew 1-2 portion, but the story actually begins back in luke 1.  it begins when the angel gabriel appears to zechariah, who was an elderly priest serving in the temple of the Lord.  the angel informs him that his elderly wife elizabeth (we'll get to her later), is going to have a son who will pave the way for CHRIST, and that zechariah is to name him john.

now, i don't know about you, but if an angel ever just appeared to me, and then told me something, i think i might be inclined to believe him.  but what does zechariah do?  he questions gabriel, and says something along the lines of him and his wife being old (sound familiar?  read the story of abraham in case you have forgotten).  as his punishment, gabriel renders zechariah mute until the baby is born.

have you ever been asked to believe the unbelievable?  what was your response?  caedmon's call has a song called "there you go", and there is an excellent rephrasing of john 3:16 within the lyrics:  "for You so loved the unlovable, that You gave the ineffable, that who so believes the unbelievable, will attain the unattainable."  every year at CHRISTmas, we are called by God to believe and outrageous story of a young girl who miraculously becomes pregnant, yet claims to never have had sex, and that baby is born into poverty to become Immanuel, God with us on earth.  some religions deny this, and say that mary was a liar and a fornicator.  yet we are called to believe it based on some words that were written over 1900 years ago.  you say you believe that, but what do you do when God calls you to believe a promise He has made to you?

i can remember a time in my own life, when i, like zechariah, had my faith tested.  God has promised in His Word, that He will supply all my needs, yet when i was without a job, i began to do like zechariah and look around me at my circumstances and say, "but God. . ."  the Bible is filled with those who doubted God's promises.  so why should it be any easier for us today?  i mean, if zechariah actually saw an angel, and still didn't believe, then how much harder is it for us to believe without a personal visit from an angelic being?  it becomes that much harder when God actually asks something of us in the midst of our crisis of faith.  i can remember when God told me to move back to mississippi (even after i said i would never go back there).  i had no place to live there, no job, and a pregnant wife and son to move with me.  i remember praying, "God, if you want us to move there, you have to tell my wife that, too, because she is going to flip when i tell her that You want us to move to mississippi!"  the very next day, while talking to my wife on the phone, she asked me had i been praying about where we were to move, and i told her that i had, but that she was not going to believe me when i told her.  she said, "it's tupelo, mississippi, isn't it?"  keep in mind, i had not talked to her at all about this.  i was in rhode island at training and she was in texas at her mom's house at the time.  she said that God had told her that as well.  long story short, we obeyed God, took a huge leap of faith, and God was faithful to provide jobs for both of us while there.  now, before you start saying, "wow, chris, i wish i had that kind of faith!", let me confess.  after about a year and a half, God began telling us it was time to move on from tupelo to my ultimate calling as a navy chaplain.  however, i used my own logic again, like zechariah, and saw the super nice salary i was bringing in, no offers of active duty, and refused God's offer.  since i ignored God's gentle prodding, He decided to give me a violent shove in the right direction, which was not a fun time for my family or me.  i, like zechariah, was rendered powerless. 

but if you read the rest of the story of zechariah, you will find out that he was faithful in spite of his unbelief and silent punishment, and when the baby was born, he wrote that he was to be named john as gabriel had instructed.  after that, his voice returned, and he began to praise God and to prophecy about his son.  the prophecy came true, and his son john, would become the man known to the world as john the baptist, the forerunner of CHRIST.

perhaps this CHRISTmas, you find yourself like zechariah.  maybe God has called you to do something out of the ordinary such as provide a meal or CHRISTmas gifts for a needy family, serve in a soup kitchen on CHRISTmas day, step out of your comfort zone and do something that otherwise would seem outlandish.  or maybe it's the commands already revealed to you through Scripture:  attend church on sunday even if it is CHRISTmas (i know, novel idea, right?), actually spend this CHRISTmas focusing on CHRIST instead of presents and the rush, or be the voice of the angels proclaiming the good news of the birth, life, death, and resurrection of CHRIST to someone who desperately needs to hear it this year.  it could be that you have not believed God on something He has told you, and you are suffering in silence as a result.  as in the case of zechariah, God can still use you despite your unbelief, provided you obey Him despite your lack of faith.  and i know that there are some, that have found this whole CHRISTmas business nothing more than a fairy tale, a children's story in the same vein as santa claus.  my prayer for you this year is that God sends someone to reveal the truth to you.  who knows, somebody's obedience and belief may give the world its next billy graham or martin luther.    

happy CHRISTmas, merry hanukkah, or season's holidays?

a few years back, when i was still but a young, aspiring seminary student, i had an encounter with a store clerk that stuck with me, yet i had all but forgotten about it until recently.  one day during the CHRISTmas shopping season, i begrudgingly went out into the chaos that is the CHRISTmas rush to purchase a present for someone at work whose name i had drawn in the secret santa game.  while standing patiently, but teetering on the edge of madness, i found myself two shoppers back from the register, and i began to see light at the end of the tunnel that i would make it out of the store with my sanity somewhat still intact (for those of you that know me, you will know that is relatively speaking, of course!).  when what to my wandering eyes should appear?  a very well dressed lady, who took it upon herself to break into full three points and a poem sermon right there in the line, with her congregation being the unsuspecting clerk.  i can almost still hear her treacly inane tone as she smugly commented, "i know you can't say it anymore, but i can, so merry CHRISTmas!"  her tone then descended into one that can only be considered toxic as she berated the current state of society and the materialism that it had degraded into (nevermind the hundreds of dollars of presents that she herself had just paid for with her visa gold card) and that the stores were trying to persecute CHRISTians by saying "happy holidays" and "season's greetings".


i say this, because i recently received an email from afa (american family activists, er, association) with their latest cause they were championing and calling CHRISTians to action on, which happened to be the saying of "merry CHRISTmas".  as i thought about it, i began to get angry.  ghandi once said, "i like your Christ.  i do not like your CHRISTians.  they are so unlike your Christ."  who are we to try and force our religion down others' throats?  this does not lead to converts.  it leads to opposition.  we have seen what happens when a religion is forced on people, from examples of theocracies forcing subjects to choose between conversion or death, to religious extremism we currently see today in many of the muslim nations around the world.  it does not lead to greater support of, nor eager disciples of, your particular flavor of religion.  it only creates disdain and animosity towards religion and anyone who practices it.  so what shall we make of the "say merry CHRISTmas" campaign?

first off, let me say, that i absolutely love CHRISTmas.  i am not some scrooge who just can't wait for it to go away.  i look forward to it every year, and i enjoy saying "merry CHRISTmas" to those that i meet.  however, there are those today that somehow believe that our very existence as CHRISTians is threatened if we do not say "merry CHRISTmas" and force others to do the same.  after all, "america is a CHRISTian nation and blahbitty blah blah".  those people end up sounding like ricky bobby in talladega nights when he stated, "this is america!  we speak american here!"  ok, for those folks, newsflash:  america is NOT a CHRISTian nation founded on CHRISTian principles!  read your history books!  i know carman has the song that says otherwise, but it's just a song.  can't place much historical value on it!  truth is, america is a moral nation founded on masonic principles, as most of our founding fathers were masons.  true, many of them were CHRISTians, and each lodge within the masonic rite usually takes on the religious principles of its populus.  so yes, many of our laws were founded upon CHRISTian principles, filtered through the religion of morality practiced by the masons!  true, america was settled originally by those seeking freedom to worship Christ as they saw fit, but when it came down to establishing our country as a sovereign nation, that was only a part of the equation.  not all the founding fathers who wrote the original documents that defined our nation, such as the declaration of independence and the constitution, were CHRISTians.  so when they said, "freedom of religion", they meant just that: freedom of religion, not freedom of religion as long as that religion was CHRISTianity. 

now that our history lesson is over, let us return to the subject at hand:  CHRISTmas and the holiday season.  first off, Christ is still Lord, whether we pray in His name, or whether we say "merry CHRISTmas", or not!  as CHRISTians, we should not feel threatened that the mall has signs that say "happy holidays".  we should not feel like our faith is collapsing around us if we see a menorah next to a CHRISTmas tree (oh, and by the way, that tree, that everyone has their little CHRISTian parallels to its aspects, is pagan!  that's right, it's a carry over from the days of the festival of yule, the worship of the tree gods, and was assimilated into CHRISTianity during the missions to northern europe!)  the simple truth is, the retailers are catering to their greater population!  there are many other holidays (holidays=holy+days, present in all religions) that take place during december, and many of which involve gift giving (another pagan practice at its source, no matter how much you dress it in the story of the magi) such as hanukkah, kwanzaa (yes, i know it's a made up holiday), winter solstice (from wicca, where we get our practice of gift giving in december), etc.  so it behooves retailers to try and capitalize on the month and peddle their wares to everyone of every religion that shops in their stores.  so happy holidays (and since it starts well before thanksgiving, we can include it in the said greeting as well) is a very encompassing approach.

i will admit, that i do have a problem with the ones that go uber-pc and try and label things that are blatantly CHRISTian as "holiday", such as a "holiday nativity setting", etc.  of the holidays, CHRISTmas is one of them, and let's face it, is the major one of the month, no matter that 90% of those celebrating it have little to do with Christ or His Church.  so i say to them, "get over yourselves, acknowledge that CHRISTmas is there, and label things correctly!"

so what should we as CHRISTians do?  first off, say "merry CHRISTmas" to as many people as is prudent.  but do it with a smile!   show people that Christ who lives within you is the most important part of your life, and not just in december!  actually look like you mean it when you say it.  penn, the atheist from the popular magician duo penn and teller, made the statement that he has no respect for a CHRISTian who does not share his faith, as he had just had a "delightful" encounter with a gentleman who in a very polite, but non-pushy way, gave him a Bible.  he said, if you truly believe what you say you do, and people are going to an eternal hell, you would be arrogant and selfish if you kept the way out to yourself.  but you have to show that the Christ who lives within you is greater than anything this world has to offer.  however, if you know someone is a different faith, try and show some couth and greet them with the appropriate greeting for their faith!  for example, whenever i see rabbi sherwin on base, i will say "shalom" to him, and at hanukkah, i do not say "merry CHRISTmas" to him, but rather, a cheerful "happy hanukkah"!  it's not because i am ashamed of my faith, but rather that i am respectful of his.  and i have found that if you treat people with dignity and respect, and acknowledge that they are of a different faith than you, as paul did at mars hill, you open the door for future dialogues with those people where you can possibly show them what you have in your faith that is worth their pursuing! 

as i approached the counter of the clerk, i first apologized.  i apologized if i had a look of disdain on my face as i do not enjoy the shopping experience at the height of the CHRISTmas rush.  i then apologized for the rude customer who just launched into a verbal tirade on her.  after she rang my purchase and i paid, i told her that my Christ was about more than just a simple collection of words.  she was not a CHRISTian, but she told me that she would entertain coming to a church that i attended, but would no way in a hot place go near the church that the self-proclaimed "CHRISTmas greeting police" attended.  i then gave her my email address and told her that if there was anything i could ever pray on her behalf, or if she ever had any questions about CHRISTianity, that she could email me.  you know what?  she did!  we exchanged a few emails, and her and her husband actually visited our church a few times, but i lost track of her when she moved out of state for her husband's job.   i'm not sure if she ever became a CHRISTian, but i do know that she was exposed to the gospel and had a much better chance than if i had not been there to counter "sister bertha, better-than-you's" attack.

this year, be true to your convictions.  say "merry CHRISTmas" with all your heart!  but do not try and force your convictions on others.  a good friend once told me, "expect lost people to act like lost people".  that includes during the holiday season.  but be that light that draws others to the "peace on earth, good will toward men in His favor!"

please, no cutting allowed in the holiday line

wow.  my lovely bride pointed out that it has been almost a year since i posted on here!  looking back, i have no good excuse.  i have plenty of excuses such as no time, can't access my blog at work, etc., but no good ones!  well, there've been a few things bugging me here in the last weeks, so i decided to dust the old soapbox off and get a few things off my cyber-cyber chest, so to speak. 

my first post of the group is on the holidays.  many of you who have spent any time around me know that i have a strict policy concerning thanksgiving.  while it may be popular for retailers to decorate for CHRISTmas immediately following the fourth of july, and our neighbors may already have their lights and trees up, i remain adamant:  one holiday at a time!  much to the chagrin of my bride, who would love to follow suit and have our CHRISTmas decorations up (after all, we are only allowed to keep them up until january 15th, according to our housing agreement), i remain steadfast on my commitment to observe one holiday at a time.  i have been called scrooge, old-fashioned, and even silly, but until today, i was never questioned as to the reasoning for my stand, and i had never really had to answer it. 

so, what was my answer?  i know that is what you are thinking as you shiver with antici..........pation. 

while at first, my resistance was simply out of nostalgia for the past that i remembered as a kid, the magic in the air following thanksgiving and leading up to CHRISTmas day, but now, there is far more substance to my resistance than mere memories.  before i state my case, let me first say that i am not against CHRISTmas.  i believe as scrooge said in his tale, that CHRISTmas should be kept in our hearts all the year long.  what i am against, is the CHRISTmas rush that is forced upon us by over-amorous retailers trying to make money.  why am i against the rush?  it has to do with two principles that are in direct conflict with each other:  thankfulness and greed.

the problem with the current relationship of thanksgiving and CHRISTmas is that the rush starts earlier and earlier and thanksgiving becomes nothing more than a speed bump on the way to CHRISTmas.  in today's society of greed and entitlement, thanksgiving is not something that should be neglected or taken for granted.  yet every year, we are faced with a barrage of commercials and advertisements designed to initiate want and desire in us for things that we don't have, and usually don't need.  by the time the retailers are done, our desire for "stuff" gets misconstrued in our minds into need.  so instead of focusing on what we have and what we should be thankful for, we focus on what we don't have and become materialistic and selfish.  the stores know this, and throw their materialistic gasoline on the public's fire of desire for stuff, to the point that many stores now are opening at noon on thanksgiving for black friday sales.  thanksgiving has become nothing more than another shopping day. 

in the 1800s, the average kid received one, maybe two presents, which were usually something useful, such as new clothes for school.  today, we have families calling our marines working "toys for tots" with a list of extravagant items their kids want, and even have the audacity to get upset when they don't receive what they want!  we have truly become what the apostle paul prophecies, when he says in the last days, that men will be selfish, loving themselves more than God.  we have stripped what should be one of the most sacred holidays in the christian calendar and turned it into an occasion for one of the seven deadly sins:  greed.

i admire nordstrom for taking a stand and saying that they will not begin their CHRISTmas rush until after thanksgiving.  i had a friend from overseas tell me upon driving past a mini-storage facility, "americans have so much stuff they have to rent extra space to hold it all.  they have no idea of what it means to be in need!" 

so i choose not to focus on all of the propaganda and the allure of the lights and the decorations that serve as distractions from a time that should be focused on being thankful for the sometimes countless blessings that we have been given by God.  so this year, at thanksgiving, enjoy your turkey and football, and the time with family, and take a moment to take inventory of all of the things you have to be thankful for.  and especially be thankful for Christ, who was sent at CHRISTmas (which, by the way, was more than likely in the spring rather than in the winter, and sure not december 25th!), to die on good friday, and rise again, so that we could experience true freedom. 

lessons learned in childbirth

as most of you know by now, we are now the new parents of our third baby boy, logan jeremiah.  and if there is one thing that i have learned in life, it's that God can teach you anything, anytime, anywhere.  all you have to do is look around (and having a decent working knowledge of His Word doesn't hurt either).

while watching my little baby be born, i was taken aback by the miracle of it all.  but the thing that struck me most is how being a father is an idea that originates with God, and His relationship with us as His children.  when Jesus was talking to nicodemus in john, He told nicodemus that unless a person is born again, they cannot enter the kingdom of heaven.  watching my son, and being overjoyed, i could not wait to tell everyone i saw.  i even made up birth announcements in the form of candy bar wrappers that i spent hours creating, just to tell everyone everything about logan's arrival.  the nurses in the mother-baby ward commented that i was "bouncing" around the hall.  it then hit me how God must feel when He sees a person being born into the kingdom.  stop for a minute and imagine the celebration that must take place in heaven.  can you imagine the conversations?  how Jesus might go around and tell everyone that another new birth happened and a new babe in Christ has arrived into the kingdom!  this may seem ludicrous to most, but God mentions being a father more than a few times in Scripture, and if God is our model for fatherhood, then He must have put in us the same emotions and feelings He feels as well.

the other thing i learned was while watching two of my family suffer.  after a cesarean, lori was naturally very sore, and even in what i would call excruciating pain.  and the first few hours after logan was born, he was having serious breathing difficulties and had to spend the day in the level 2 nursery hooked up to a cpap.  the common sentiment i felt in seeing both of my loved ones in that condition was one of helplessness.  while God is not helpless, He must feel some sort of grief in seeing His children suffering the consequences of a fallen world and being unable to stop it and still be true to His holiness and justness.  but the thing that struck me most is that if i could have, i would have gladly taken the place of my wife and son to ease their suffering.  the difference between God and myself, is that not only was God able to, He actually came down and took our place, so that we could escape the eternal suffering we would have experienced otherwise. 

so the next time you look around you, think about what God could possibly teach you through whatever circumstance you find yourself in.  you might just be surprised at how God reveals Himself through that still, small voice.  we just have to learn to be quiet to hear it.