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Coming to Stay

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“The Word became flesh and blood,
    and moved into the neighborhood.
We saw the glory with our own eyes,
    the one-of-a-kind glory,
    like Father, like Son,
Generous inside and out,
    true from start to finish” (John 1:14).

Have you ever noticed how sometimes friends come and go?

I mean, have you ever had a friend completely disappear from your life? It’s like one day you see them all the time and the next you don’t see them anymore. It feels like they moved on and forgot about you.

Not all friends are meant to be in your life forever. Some are meant for only a season or two. Yet it still hurts when they’re no longer around.

I love how The Message puts it. Jesus moved into the neighborhood. He didn’t come to visit for a while. He came to stay. He came to take up residence and be among us.

Jesus may have physically left, but He’s still around. He promised He would be when He sent His Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself promised that He would never leave us or forsake us.

That’s what I cling to some days. I cling to Jesus as the only constant in a world racked by constant change and turmoil and instability. My pastor said that when the Bible talks about the glory of God, it conveys almost a kind of weight. It’s like saying that only God deserves glory because He’s the only one weighty enough to hold our lives in orbit and to keep us from spinning out of control.

That’s what Jesus does. He keeps us together on those days when it’s all we can do to put one foot in front of the other and to remember to breathe in and breathe out.

That’s what Immanuel means. God is still with us.

 

All Those Christmas Lights

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blue lights

I confess that I am not the biggest fan of all-white Christmas lights on a tree or on a house. To me, it’s like the person is saying, “Happy Generic Winter Holiday!” They are so bland.

I prefer the multi-color lights. But I’m old-school like that. I also really like the blue LED lights. A lot.

A few years ago, I went with the family on a tour of several homes decorated for Christmas. One of those homes on the tour was the late George Jones’ vast estate. That was one of the best and from what I’ve heard was always one of the most consistently festive houses around Christmastime.

Yet it all started with a single light. That one star shining in the night sky that drew those wise men all the way from the East to where the Christ child lay. That’s what started it all.

It was almost like a neon sign pointing the way and saying in essence, “Your hope lies here.”

Few saw it. Even fewer found what it pointed to. Just three wise men and some shepherds. So many who eagerly longed for Messiah missed it because it didn’t come in the way they expected.

I hope you and I don’t miss it this time. I hope you and I don’t get so caught up in the parties and tinsel and wrapping paper that we miss the child in the manger, born to be a sacrifice.

Truthfully, I like all Christmas lights. I prefer the colored ones because they catch my eye but I like all of them. I like how creative people get when decorating and  how they still manage to come up with new ideas after all these years. Plus, it’s so much easier to admire others’ ingenuity than to actually attempt to put up Christmas lights myself.

 

Just Call Me Joe

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Tonight at Kairos, Mike Glenn talked about Joseph. Not the one with the coat of many colors. The other one. You know. The one standing next to Mary in your nativity scene? That one.

Basically, most of us don’t know what to do with Joseph in our nativity scenes. He should be near Mary, watching over her and the baby Jesus. But what was his role that night?

Joseph was the one Mary handed her baby to on that night. Joseph was the one who named the child Jesus. Joseph would most likely have been the one who taught the growing Jesus a love for Scripture. Joseph was the one who raised Jesus who “kept increasing in wisdom and stature,  and in favor with God and man” (Luke 2:52).

Jesus was 100% God, sure enough. But He was also 100% man and the Bible says that He wasn’t born fully grown and knowing everything. He grew and learned the way any human would.

When it comes to the story of Christmas, Mary gets most of the attention. Well, Jesus, then Mary. Then probably the shepherds and the wise men. Joseph doesn’t get much recognition.

But sometimes when God calls us to do the work that nobody notices, that can be the most sacred calling of all. Sometimes, the most faithful men and women of God are the ones nobody knows about who labor faithfully for years without awards or platitudes but with the ultimate reward of heaven’s applause. They’re the ones behind the scenes not in front the camera or front and center on the stage.

If you feel like no one sees what you do for God, God does. If you feel like what you do makes no difference, remember that even the smallest act of kindness done in the name of Christ can make all the difference in the world.

Just ask Joseph.

 

Christmas is for All the Creepy Rob Lowes

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directv-painfully-awkward-rob-lowe-large-3

I admit it. I love all those Rob Lowe commercials for Directv. The painfully awkward, crazy hairy, creepy, and less attractive Rob Lowes are all hysterically funny (at least to me).

But I also admit that I have at times been some of these. Thankfully not the crazy hairy version with the arm hair curtains. But I have been the painfully awkward Rob Lowe before. Probably you have, too.

The good news is that Christmas is for all of the Rob Lowes out there. It’s for all of us. Even those with the arm hair curtains.

When you end up looking like an idiot in front of your friends or (egads) in front of that someone you’re interested in, then rejoice and be glad that Christmas is for you. Even those of you with cable TV.

Jesus didn’t come for the well-off and popular as much as He came for the poor and downtrodden and outcasts. Those who feel more at home on the Island of Misfit Toys than a Fantasy Island. He came for those who can never seem to get their act together or say the right things. He came for you and for me. He came not for those who could help themselves but for all those who know they can’t.

Maybe the next ad will feature a fashion impaired Rob Lowe. I’d like that.

 

 

 

For the Third Sunday of Advent

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I’ve invited a special guest for tonight’s blog. Actually, I read something I really liked that he wrote and I wanted to share it with you. It’s from Henri Nouwen and I love it. I hope you will, too.

“Keep your eyes on the prince of peace, the one who doesn’t cling to his divine power; the one who refuses to turn stones into bread, jump from great heights and rule with great power; the one who says, ‘Blessed are the poor, the gentle, those who mourn, and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted in the cause of uprightness’ (see Matt. 5:3-11); the one who touches the lame, the crippled, and the blind; the one who speaks words of forgiveness and encouragement; the one who dies alone, rejected and despised. Keep your eyes on him who becomes poor with the poor, weak with the weak, and who is rejected with the rejected. He is the source of all peace.

Where is this peace to be found? The answer is clear. In weakness. First of all, in our own weakness, in those places of our hearts where we feel most broken, most insecure, most in agony, most afraid. Why there? Because there, our familiar ways of controlling our world are being stripped away; there we are called to let go from doing much, thinking much, and relying on our self-sufficiency. Right there where we are weakest the peace which is not of this world is hidden.

In Adam’s name I say to you, ‘Claim that peace that remains unknown to so many and make it your own. Because with that peace in your heart you will have new eyes to see and new ears to hear and gradually recognize that same peace in places you would have least expected.’

I have nothing to add to that. Except maybe to claim my own weakness and in so doing, that peace which defies human logic and anything the world and hell could ever throw at me.

Only 11 Days Left Until Christmas

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That’s right, people. There are only 11 more days until Christmas Eve. Have you bought all your presents? Have you left anyone off your list? Will those packages from amazom.com get there on time if you order them tomorrow?

There are so many questions. So many reasons to fret and worry and panic. But only one thing truly matters.

In 11 Days, we celebrate the most important arrival in history. Which also happens to be the least conspicuous arrival in history.

Who knew then that a baby born to a peasant couple in backwoods Bethlehem would end up being the Savior of the world? Would anyone have guessed that the baby laying in a feeding trough in the middle of a barn was the Messiah?

That is what Advent and Christmas are all about. Not gifts, not food, not even family. Christmas is about Emmanuel– God with us. God for us. God in us.

I hope that removes the stress of trying to buy the perfect gift or create the perfect Christmas Eve dinner. All that we really need to worry about has been taken care of by this baby in a manger who grew up to be the man on the cross who later became the Man who walked out of the tomb after 3 days.

That is what Christmas is really all about, Charlie Brown.

Great North Star But I’m Tired (Again)

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I’m tired. All I want to do (after writing this masterpiece of a blog, of course) is to go to bed. And sleep until Sunday. Or at least past 6 am.

I fantasize about sleeping. Porn for me right now is a picture of a Sealy Serta mattress with flannel sheets and NO alarm clocks in sight. That’s sad.

Sometimes, I’ve been so tired that I literally couldn’t sleep. That seems ridiculous when you’re wide awake, but the more tired you get, the more you realize how true that is.

I love the verse that says how God never slumbers nor sleeps nor tires in watching over His children. When I get too tired to carry on, He carries me. When I shut down for 5-8 hours a night, God never does. There’s never a moment when God isn’t thinking about me and acting on my behalf, doing what’s best for me.

The same goes for you. It still boggles my mind that God can give attention to all His children and treat each one as if he or she were the only created being. He can love all of us and yet still love each of us as if we were the only one to love.

I still wish I could be like my cat sometimes. She never ever has any trouble falling asleep any time in any place at any time, even after having slept through most of the day. Lucky Lucy.

Relationships and Such

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I had some random thoughts on relationships based on what I’ve been observing on my social media outlets. I thought I’d share some of them with you. Don’t you feel so very lucky?

1) If you want to date better people, become a better person. You don’t attract what you want, but what you are.

2) In the end, you don’t choose your family, but you do choose to love them because they’re the only family you’ll get and once they’re gone, it’s too late to forgive and reconcile and make things right again. The pain of reconciliation and letting go of your pride is nowhere near the pain of regret and of chances forever lost.

3) The wisest people aren’t the ones who think they know it all, but the ones who know they have a lot to learn.

4) As I’ve said before, the only thing that can truly be your world and fulfill you and make you complete is Jesus. Anything and anyone else– husbands, wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, sons, daughters– can’t. To try to make someone your world is to commit idolatry and to place a burden on them that they were never meant to bear.

5) As underrated a virtue as it is, kindness does matter. Long after the six-pack abs and GQ looks have faded, kindness is what will get you through the storms and dark passages of life. Choose a mate who is attractive but more than that who is kind and generous.

6) Now you have that Natalie Merchant song stuck in your head. My work here is done.

7) The old saying is true. You really never understand other people until you’ve climbed in their shoes and walked around for a bit. Until you’ve seen life from their perspective.

8) In the end, it really won’t matter that you worked 60-hour weeks or accumulated trophies and awards and accolades or made lots of money. What will matter are the people whose lives you’ve touched. All that you can take with you is what you’ve given away.

Tacky Christmas Sweater Update for 2014

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tacky xmas sweater

This just in. I have a somewhat tacky Christmas sweater for any and all upcoming ugly Christmas sweater contests.

As I am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to these things, I’m not completely satisfied. The aforementioned sweater does not light up or make annoyingly festive sounds of any kind. It is however, loud and obnoxious. Plus, I think the row of creepy Santa faces takes this sweater up a notch. In my opinion.

So the quest will continue. My size is still Large. If you see any extremely tacky and obnoxious Christmas sweaters, let me know. I will continue to keep at least one eye open whenever I am frequenting the local Goodwill or any of the other fine thrift stores in the general Nashville area.

That said, I at least have something to wear that has a slim to moderate chance of earning me a 3rd or 4th place award. It’s also sufficiently Christmas-y and is both joyful and triumphant.

The whole point isn’t really to win. The point is to be as obnoxiously and annoyingly festive as possible.

Why I Love Jesus’ Style

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Jesus didn’t announce His coming the way I would have. Definitely not the way most mega-churches would have. They’d have had a multimedia blitz of advertisements months in advance. They would have launched Jesus as the next Christian superstar.

Instead, Jesus chose to arrive via an unwed teenage mother in a barn, announced by lowly shepherds. While it is true that Mary conceived Jesus by the Holy Spirit, she wasn’t married to Joseph yet.

I love how a pastor put it: Jesus didn’t come as a Mighty Warrior so we’d step back in awe or as a King that we’d bow down in fear but as a Baby so that we might draw near.

But those shepherds? Who were they? Probably not the romanticized idea we have of them today. They were among the lowest of the low. They probably smelled like sheep, which isn’t a pleasant odor. They weren’t allowed in the temple despite the fact that they raised the sheep used in temple sacrifices. They were nobodies.

I love how the angels announced the good news to them first, of how this Jesus would be FOR all the people. For you. For me.

For all those who’ve ever felt unwanted and ignored in a crowd.

For all those who feel forgotten by friends and family and feel more alone than ever.
For those who can’t ever seem to get their act together or figure out their future.

For those who live daily with the shameful reminders of past failures and consequences of poor decisions.

For those who will never be popular or successful by the standards we normally define popularity and success.

For those who take care of smelly dumb sheep for a living.

For those whose good intentions and promises always end up as broken as they are.

For us. For all of us.