Why I Love Christmas...

Well, that has many answers, and many reasons. I could give you the Sunday school answer and say I love it because it is Jesus' birthday. That however, would be only a partial truth. I love Christmas because it is the day that a virgin gave birth to the Creator of the universe in a filthy stable and angels filled the sky and nearly scared those poor shepherds half to death. I love it because on that day the curse of Adam began coming undone. That some time later, the king Herod was so terrified by the birth of a baby and an unexplainable star in the sky that he had a mental breakdown. That wise men made fools of themselves to kneel before a toddler and that the Son of God was being raised by Jews from Nazareth. I love that He grew up and became the Savior of His people on that cross of wood and rose from the dead and ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of God the Father and sent His Spirit and the His Kingdom is coming on earth as it is in heaven. I love that Saint Nicholas gave to the poor and now Coca-Cola has a chubby suited version of him on their soda cans. I love that candy canes are red and white and Christmas trees smell like a forgotten winter and that malls and movie theaters and billboards and signs scream the good news all in the name of a nice tradition. I love Christmas because it is an inescapable reality that Christ has come and conquered and that He will come again to judge the living and the dead. I love it for it's carols and gifts, it's incessant joy and piles of wrapping paper. I love that when it leaves it will comes again and Easter is on it's way. I love that it never leaves and it never will. I love that the broken, the busted, the filthy all made it into the story and was redeemed by the Son of God so that Christmas is Charlie Brown and "sore afraid", and manger scenes and family baking days, and shopping and laughter and new socks. I love how "Peace on Earth" is heard all around and yet people have no idea where that peace truly comes from. Yet when they sing "Joy to the World" they feel it for just a moment. That's why I love Christmas. This messy, broken and twisted world was redeemed by it's perfect, humble Creator and now every December 25th, the whole world sings about it, even when they try not to. Merry Christmas. Gloria in Excelsis Deo

Friendship...

My whole life I have had many friends come and go in and out of my story. I have lost some and gained some for one reason or another, each one leaving a line on the pages of my story, some a paragraph, some a chapter. There are only two that I have remained close with my whole life, and one new close friend. One lives far away and the other, well she is my best friend and I see her all the time. Our friendship has had its up and down seasons, but the one thing that our families have taught us over the years is that friendship is not the beginning and end all of life. Christ, His bride the church and His Kingdom are what our lives are to be built around. I know for certain that if my best friend and I had based our lives or our joys on our friendship, we would no longer be friends. It is so easy for us to make our families, our friendships or any relational thing an idol. My best friend is reliable, always there, funny, makes excellent coffee, can draw while I have zero ability to make a round circle. She is a much better piano player than I am and she is very tall and skinny. I am neither of those things. So you are probably thinking, Why are they best friends? Well, if we based our friendship off those kinds of things we wouldn't be. I would be jealous of her tallness and artsiness and she of my writing and academic mindset. Our friendship is based on our shared commitment to God, His Church and His Kingdom. I know that her part to play in His story is playing the piano for church, making beautiful art and amazing coffee and being an excellent girlfriend to her godly boyfriend of whom I very much approve. She knows my part in His story is to teach children, help administrate things at church, write blogs and books and study Latin. God has given each of us a part to play in His story, and graciously gave us our friendship to mutually encourage one another. Best friends, or friends in general are not meant to be the basis of your life. They are not meant to be your everything and all. Jesus is our everything and all. He is the basis of our life. His church and His Kingdom should be our main priorities. Friendships fall apart and severely disappoint when the expectation is laid on them to fill a void. They are not meant to be that. True relationships and friendships spring from rightly ordered loves and lives. We will lose these things and be truly sad and lonely if we idolize our friendships. We should encourage and fight for our friends, but Jesus and His first things must remain our first things. My best friend and I do not have it down perfectly, but we try to keep our lives ordered properly and when we do, our friendship works as it should. If we are not, well it's not so pretty. So order your lives according to Christ and His Kingdom, not your friendships and relationships. Then you will find what true friendship is.

Just a Poem...

Here is a poem I wrote recently. Blessings on your day!

Jesus Saves

Chaos rages through man’s heart

defying You how great Thou Art

searches to erase Your face

You creator of all space

Folly of man and wicked hearts

us from You it did part

Yet not alone You leave us here

on Your majestic blue green sphere

You Yourself Your Son came down

to win His bride by a thorny crown

to give His love and redeem the lost

even though He knew it’s cost

In our broken state You bled

on Golgotha Your blood was shed

from hell and tomb You rose again

and death no longer rears it’s head

King of Heaven You I praise

The answer profound and simple

Jesus Saves

You are my King, Savior, and God

In my heart Your Spirit plods

Hold my faith till my last breath

when I enter Your sweet rest

and one day rise whole and new

to forever feast and give praise to You

Praise the Lord!

Starting Tuesday I will be blogging poetry, thoughts or Scripture everyday. My schedule will take on it's fall routine so I will have time to do this. But for today, I will leave you with one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 150.

Let Everything Praise the Lord

150 Praise the Lord!
Praise God in his sanctuary;
    praise him in his mighty heavens!
² Praise him for his mighty deeds;
    praise him according to his excellent greatness!

³ Praise him with trumpet sound;
    praise him with lute and harp!
⁴ Praise him with tambourine and dance;
    praise him with strings and pipe!
⁵ Praise him with sounding cymbals;
    praise him with loud clashing cymbals!
⁶ Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord!

The Example of our Savior...

Sorry I have not blogged in so long. The last week and a half have been very busy and full. Yet, today I find I have time to sit down and write about some things that I have been meditating on. In my devotions I have been reading through the Gospel of Matthew. As I read this I have been struck by two amazing things about Christ. Firstly is just how patient, humble, gracious and kind He was to His disciples, the weak, the sick and the sinners. To see how gracious He is with sinners has been such an encouragement, since I am a sinner, yet by His grace He has saved me. Secondly it struck me how bold, righteous and straightforward He was with the Pharisees and hypocrites. He had no shame in proclaiming the truth to them, and He had no problem enduring their persecution. It's easy for us to think that this is just what He needed to do. Yet remember, He is God, and He was being mocked and being made fun of by the very people He had spoken into being. Can you imagine? In my depravity, had I His power, I probably would have given them some horrible disease or something. Yet He did not. He continued to warn them of the judgement that would come if they continued on this path of self righteousness and he continued to preach to them. Even on the Cross, He asked the Father to forgive them. That brings tears to my eyes when I think of it. He is Love incarnate, He is Mercy and Grace. I am daily overwhelmed by this. Man chose to try to be God rather then to trust God, for this we deserve eternal damnation. God is just and right to punish us for our sin. Yet, because He loves His people, He paid the price for us and saved us from sin and ourselves. We must daily preach the Gospel to ourselves and daily drink in His Word. It is too easy for us in our depravity to forget, feel as if we must work for our salvation, or be sucked in by worldly thinking.  The Bible tells us that we are to follow Christ's example. So this means in light of just these two reflections  from Matthew, that we follow His example of patience, humility, graciousness and kindness to one another, the world, the weak and the sinner. Yet, we also must not be ashamed to speak the truth boldly. We have been given the truth, we should not hide it. We cannot be afraid to preach the Bible, stand up against self righteousness and evil; and we must also be willing to endure persecution and forgive those who persecute us. Our story ends in victory! Death has no hold over us and we have nothing to fear because of Christ. Live each day for His glory, give thanks for His good gifts and live boldly and humbly for Him.

Singing Out Loud...

I love singing. I am not especially good at it, but I love it nonetheless. I find myself singing many different kinds of songs. I was raised in a home by a father who loves 80's rock. I know a lot about this genre, and I love it almost as much as he does. My mother grew up in Virginia so naturally she loves country, so do I. I also enjoy some of the contemporary music of my generation. However, I was also raised in a home saturated in Psalms, hymns and Spiritual Songs. I often find myself singing Psalm 98 which is in four parts, and attempting to sing all four at once. Not a very good idea, but it's fun to try. I was struck some weeks ago by how easy it is for me to break out in Van Halen, Shania Twain, Taylor Swift, Matt Nathanson or Shinedown, but is it that easy for me to break out in Psalms? Do I have those words and those songs ready on my lips to praise my Savior? I hope so, but I know I don't as much as I should. He deserves all the praise I can offer. I should not be ashamed to hum those tunes or sing them out loud. If I am ashamed of Him, what does that say of my view of Him? He is my Creator, Savior, Father, Brother, Friend. He is my God and when I refuse to sing to Him I know my heart is in the wrong place. Now singing the above list is certainly not a sin, but it should not be my primary song. My song should be one of praise to my Savior. So in church, at work, home, school, in the car or in your room, do not be afraid to sing out loud. For He was and is not ashamed of you. Sing out loud to Him everyday. He deserves your praise and song. Be like David who was not ashamed to dance and sing before God and all the people of Israel.

Psalm 1

I will be blogging some thoughts on Psalm 1 in the coming week. So for now here is Psalm 1 for you to meditate on.

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

1 Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
² but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.

³ He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
⁴ The wicked are not so,
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.

⁵ Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
⁶ for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish.