Advent #7- The first Christmas

Thinking over the last 10 great years of marriage I can say without a doubt my Christmas mindset and understanding changed forever. My wife loves Christmas and has the spirit of the season in her heart all year round. She puts her heart and soul into the celebration of Jesus birth. Since we have been married we have started new traditions as a family and I have watch more Christmas movies and different versions of the carols than I ever knew existed. Just this weekend away we have watched I think maybe a dozen different movies.

Christmas changed because I never realized the joy that my kids would bring to the season. Watching them open their gifts and the joy in their faces as we sit around as a family and celebrate the season is a treasure that I will never forget. Staying up all night on Christmas eve building their gifts.  Even watching them as babies play with the boxes rather than the gift is wonderful and a blessing to me.

But I will never forget my first Christmas with the love of my life. It started to snow on Christmas eve to the point where I ran over a stop sign with her car on the way back to her parents house from a party. Then my car got stuck in her parents driveway and we had to drive her car to my parents house. That night while sleeping in my sleeping bag in front of the fire a spark flew out and burned right threw my bag and into my leg, waking me up.  Then on Christmas day I spent at least 2 hours in the car with my sister-in-law to be and her husband listening to Christmas in the Caribbean because it had snowed so much we could not drive her car. But through all of that I realized from that year on how my Christmas season would never be the same.

And the biggest thing I realized is that my Christmas season would never be the same because of others in my life. That is the reason for the season, others and bringing joy and blessings into their season. Jesus came to bring us joy and blessings with His life and that season I realized that that is what my Christmas season should be about from then on. Do for others what Jesus did for me. Make others more important than myself and bless others through my life. So honey, turn on the next Christmas movie and lets cozy up and watch it together.

Advent #6

For my wife this year for our 10th anniversary I got her a new Christmas book. It is Peace by Dr. Stephen Nichols. Having read through the book I discovered some amazing, thought provoking, and joyful quotes for the advent season. I wanted to share some of them tonight.

To perceive Christmas through its wrapping becomes more difficult with every year. - E. B. White

Jesus, Lord, we look to thee,
On this day of thine own
Nativity; Show thyself the
Prince of Peace; Bid our
jarring conflicts cease.- Charles Wesley

Infinite and an Infant. Eternal, yet born of a women, Oh the wonder of Christmas.- C.H. Spurgeon

Celebrating Advent means being able to wait.- Dietrich Bonhoeffer

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Shepherds sing;
and shall I silent be?
My God, no hymn for thee?- George Herbert

Advent Day#5- Jesus in the womb

With the advent season now almost a week in, I have been thinking a lot about Jesus and what His birth actually means. During the Christmas season we tend to think most of the time about Jesus in the manger and the story around His physical birth. Some others of us will realize that Jesus physical birth to Mary happened so that He might then 33 years later have a physical death to save His people from their sins. Some others will even contemplate about the fact that His physical birth in the manager sets the stage for His physical 2nd coming on the white horse with His people mentioned in Revelation 19. But I have been reminded of an amazing truth that I seem to forget about Jesus and a verse from Hebrews that goes along with it.

Hebrews 1:3
The Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word.

I forgot an important truth that this verse points out. Jesus is one person with two natures, divine and human, such that He upheld the world by the word of His power while living in His mother's womb. The baby born in the manger with the physical blood and screams of a new born was at the same time caring for and loving them, in His powerful sovereign way, the women and man present as His birth. The baby being born was at the same moment in supreme control of those events. Wow. The incarnation of Jesus is an amazing mystery that we should be praising God for everyday, because without those divine truths we are all hopeless.

Advent #4

Here are the lyrics to a Christmas Carol that we defiantly need reminding of. During this time of year we need to remember to share with others the joy, peace, and love that Jesus birth brought to the world. This should be the time of year that Jesus lovers should be shouting from the roof tops what why He came to save us.

Go Tell It On the Mountain
While shepherds kept their watching
Over silent flocks by night,
Behold throughout the heavens,
There shone a holy light:
Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.

The shepherds feared and trembled
When lo! above the earth
Rang out the angel chorus
That hailed our Saviour's birth:
Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.

Down in a lowly manger
Our humble Christ was born
And God send us salvation,
That blessed Christmas morn:
Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.

When I am a seeker,
I seek both night and day;
I seek the Lord to help me,
And He shows me the way:
Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.

He made me a watchman
Upon the city wall,
And if I am a Christian,
I am the least of all.
Go, Tell It On The Mountain,
Over the hills and everywhere;
Go, Tell It On The Mountain
That Jesus Christ is born.

Advent #3- Fight for Joy

Joy- it is an important character trait or state of being, during this time of year. It seems that most people are either filled with joy during the celebration of Jesus' birth or they are lacking joy completely. So over the last week as I began to prepare for the advent of our Savior (and also teach this past Sunday on joy in our lives) I began to formulate some actions that I can do to fight to keep this joy in my life. As lovers of Jesus and His witnesses to the world we need to continually be filled with joy so a fight to keep it in our lives is paramount. So here are some of the actions and mindsets I have come up with that we can put into practice first during this advent season and secondly all year round.

1-Joy is a gift. We need to realize that ultimately joy in our lives is a gift and blessing from God the Father. We cannot have joy in our lives if first Jesus did not come and die in our place. Then we need to realize that in reality that is all the joy we need to sustain us in this life, the joy in Jesus and His death for our freedom. But above all that God then gives us joy in our lives as a gift to carry us through all of life and its moments.

2- Joy tied to faith. Where our faith in God goes so goes our joy. If we rest steadfastly in God and who He is and what he has done then joy will spring from deep within us.

3- Joy is connected to sin. I have come to realize that my level of joy is connected to the sin or level of sin in my life. If I am open to the prodding conviction of the Spirit in my life driving the sin out of my life, He will then allow and guide my level of joy to increase as the sin leaves my being. The more sin in my life and the more confessed and unrepentant sin in my life the less joy I will have.

4- Joy in the Bible. The more we read God's word and mediate on what it says to us the more joy we will have. The deeper I dive into what God is telling about Himself or the plans He has for me the more filled with joy I become. I realize the depth of His love from His words and how much He reveals to me drives the engine of joy.

5- Joy from Prayer. I find and I do not believe it is coincidental that the more I pour out to God the more He gives me joy. When we spend time in prayer to God the level of joy in our lives will increase. The longer we pray and the frequency of our prays will sustain us in the fight to keep our lives filled with joy. The level of joy in our lives goes up and down with the level of praying we do and the closeness we stay with God.

6- Joy in friends. When my level of joy is low and my tank of joy is empty I go to my close friends to get a fill up. When we find that the fight for joy is waning we need to find those in our lives who can fill us up with joy.

7- Joy in generosity. This one is very simple. When we think of others before our own self and when we pour our lives into others around us, especially those around us in need, our level and fight for joy will overflow. The opposite then is true- want to have less joy in your life? Then think only about yourself and be self focused.

8- Joy sustained by health. This is an important one to remember and realize during this time of year as we eat a lot of food, party with family, and struggle to get exercise. The level of joy in our lives can be effected by the diet or amount of food we eat. It can be effected by the rest or lack of it we get. And joy can be effected by the exercise we take. Remember that a fit more healthy body will affect the mind and soul and then our joy in turn.

As lovers of Jesus we need to be filled with joy and during the advent season joy is a huge character trait we must be showing to others.

Advent Day #2

Today I would like to share my favorite quote on the advent from C.S. Lewis. C.S. Lewis, who I consider the most influential theologian of the 20th Century, had many good things to say and remind us of during this important time of year but this quote is what I believe to be is most powerful and important thought on the celebration of of the coming of God into the flesh.

"In the Christian story God descends to reascend. He comes down; down from the heights of absolute being into time and space, down into humanity; down further still, if embryologists are right, to recapitulate into the womb ancient and pre-human phases of life; down to the very roots and seabed of the Nature He has created. But He goes down to come up again and bring the whole ruined world with Him. One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders". 

I pray that we never forget why Jesus actually came into that manger so long ago. Without the manger we would not be able to have the cross.

1st Sunday of Advent

So it is the Christmas season. We have now less than a month until Christmas. I am going to blog over the next month about attributes we as Jesus lovers should remember this time of year, blog about characters in the Christmas story, and talk about places in the Christmas story. I will also include quotes and important verses for the Bible that will draw us to remember the real reason for this season. I pray as you read my blog over the next 25 days we all will remember and celebrate the importance of Jesus coming as a baby and breaking into our world to save us all.

Today I would like to look at the traditional text and celebration from the 1st Sunday of Advent.

Isaiah 9:2-7

²     The people who walked in darkness

have seen a great light;

those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness,

on them has light shined.

³     You have multiplied the nation;

you have increased its joy;

they rejoice before you

as with joy at the harvest,

as they are glad when they divide the spoil.

⁴      For the yoke of his burden,

and the staff for his shoulder,

the rod of his oppressor,

you have broken as on the day of Midian.

⁵     For every boot of the tramping warrior in battle tumult

and every garment rolled in blood

will be burned as fuel for the fire.

⁶     For to us a child is born,

to us a son is given;

and the government shall be upon his shoulder,

and his name shall be called

Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Everlasting  Father, Prince of  Peace.

⁷     Of the increase of his government and of peace

there will be no end,

on the throne of David and over his kingdom,

to establish it and to uphold it

with justice and with righteousness

from this time forth and forevermore.

The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

Almighty God, give us grace that we may put away the works of darkness and 
put on the armor of light now in this this time of mortal life, 

in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit in great humility; 

that in the last day, when He will come again in His glorious majesty 
to judge both the living and the dead, 

we may rise to the life immortal, through Him who lives and 
reigns with You andthe Holy Spirit, now and forever. Amen.

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