A Different Kind of Christmas Experience

           Christmas is always one of those magical times that every family looks to embrace in their own special way.  For our family, we always said that once we had children we would celebrate Christmas in our own house on Christmas morning and plan to be with our families at different times throughout the holiday season.  We felt that there was a great deal of joy that could be experienced as our children heard the Christmas story, opened their presents, and shared a special breakfast together in the comfort of our own home.  This year however was just a little, alright really a lot different.

            To set the stage a little bit we have working through the Adam Hamilton study The Journey as a church this Advent season.  As we have traveled this road together I learned some interesting new insights about the journey that Mary & Joseph took to the place where Jesus was born.  I was able to reflect upon the Christmas story this season with a true understanding of what it must have felt like for them because we to have been on a journey, where there has been no room in the inn for us.  On December 20^th, we were released from our rental house, with joyful hearts as it had been a difficult place to live for the past six months.  We were planning on closing on a new house and starting the next chapter of our lives, however there were some unexpected “speed bumps” that jolted our path drastically.  As we were loading the U Haul full of our earthly possessions we received a phone call that we would not be closing on our new house and may in fact have to wait even longer to be in our new house.  As the day rolled on we found out more troubling information about this house that we had thought would be a new start for us, which made us question our decision even more.  As time rolled on we found ourselves embracing the story of Joseph and Mary as we found ourselves without a home.  We were blessed with wonderful people from our church that opened their homes for us to hang out, store our belongings, and try to figure out the situation that was unfolding with our lives.  We found ourselves, homeless for Christmas, which was a struggle that had not nor could we foresee before it happened.

            Thankfully we are blessed with amazing family who welcomed us into their homes for this past week and friends who have extended grace towards our family in amazing ways.  It has truly been a humbling experience this Christmas season for our family.  The day after Christmas we ran into more issues with our “new” house and decided to walk away from the sale entirely.  This was a painful decision but one that we felt would best benefit our family.  After we walked away from the sale, the seller came back and tried to lure us back to their property, however, we knew deep down that we had made the right decision.  With all of this unfolding, we have started the process of purchasing another house, waiting for the underwriting process to start, and redoing inspections, appraisals, and loan conditions.  While this is not an enjoyable process, we believe that this is what God desires for our family during this season.  We have had several loving families from our church offer to “house” us for a week at a time and feel truly blessed to be surrounded by such a loving body of Christ.  I firmly believe that these people do not simply feel obligated to help us because I am on staff, have two small children, or simply because we need a place to go but because they genuinely love Jesus and want to share His love openly and freely.  It is amazing to see the body of Christ at work in such a mighty and powerful way.

            As we move forward in the coming weeks and towards the purchase of a new house, I would ask that you please keep our family in your prayers as we discern God’s plan for our house.  Please pray for our children, as we attempt to give them some sort of stability during this time of transition.  Pray for our church family as they freely and openly extend grace to our family, that their lives will be richly blessed for their generosity. 

            Despite our circumstances, we are truly blessed to have amazing people in our lives, to be serving at an amazing church, and most importantly to have a loving God that is guiding our path, even when things seem so uncertain.  Thank you all for your love, support, and prayers during this time in our lives as they mean more than words can express!

What Does “Loving All” Really Mean?

          This past week our students concluded their series in conjunction with the season of Advent entitled, Advent Conspiracy.  Here is a snapshot of this series, “We all want our Christmas to be a lot of things. Full of joy. Memories. Happiness. Above all, we want it to be about Jesus. What we don't want is stress. Or debt. Or feeling like we "missed the moment". Advent Conspiracy is a movement designed to help us all slow down and experience a Christmas worth remembering. But doing this means doing things a little differently. A little creatively.  It means turning Christmas upside down.”

Each week includes a discussion question/point that our parents and their students are encouraged to wrestle through together.  The second week’s discussion questions read as follows, “Is there something your family or friends could do together to love those who might be considered ‘the least of these?’” 

                Loving all is a theme that is often talked about, preached on, and wrestled with in Christian circles.  Despite the time we spend talking and hearing about it, I wonder how often we actually follow through with loving everyone.  How often do we look past race, economic differences, and religious backgrounds to truly love someone who is different than us?  How often do we love those people that society deems invisible or detestable, outside of the Christmas season?  How often do we really seek to love others in the manner that Jesus instructed us to in Matthew 25:35-36?  Do we really embrace the idea of “loving all” or is it just something that we like talk about?

            For me personally, this concept of “love all” began to take shape a few years ago when I was attending a youth workers convention in the fall.  We were in Nashville, Tennessee for the convention and it was a wonderful time.  We were blessed to worship with thousands of other youth workers from around the world, hear inspiring messages, learn about how to more effectively reach teenagers, and acquire several “loads” of free stuff from the various ministries in the exhibit hall.  Each night we would go back to our hotel rooms and shift through the various “treasures” that we had acquired.  This was a wonderful feeling that came once every year and we loved it, however this particular year something different happened that changed our thinking about loving other people as Jesus did.

            Each evening as we would leave our sessions we would find ourselves walking through the cold to get back to our hotels, however many of us completely ignored the homeless men/women that were laying on the heating grates, asking for money, or simply wanting to talk.  Many times we would rush off to our hotels completely oblivious to the immediate needs of the people that we walked by, over, or around every night.  One particular evening one of the individuals that I was with, stopped us and asked us to look at a homeless person trying to sleep on a hard metal heating grate for the evening.  They asked us to look through our bags and see if there was anything that we could do to help this person.  We began to dig through our bags, ashamed that for several nights we had walked right by this person (or others like them) without even a second glance.  We found ourselves wrestling with the fact that so many of us had been worshipping and hearing about God’s love but failing to share it.  That night something changed deep in my soul, causing me to look differently at how I love everyone.  I realized that it was not a choice of whether I wanted to or not but something that God called me to do as a Christian.  God doesn’t call us to act when it’s convenient, often times it’s not.  He doesn’t tell us to love others only if we feel like it.  He didn’t back out when He died on a cross for me (and you) so I can’t back out on Him.  Sure, loving everyone the way God loves us may cause us to be uncomfortable or challenged but isn’t that what the life of follower of Christ should embrace?

            So my challenge to you this week is to think of ways that your family or friends can seek to love others as God loves you.  This may put you in an uncomfortable or challenging situation where your stomach knots up but think about the love that Jesus gave us with His death on the cross.  Shouldn’t we be willing to do the same for others because of His love for us?

How Do You Celebrate?

          This past week our students started a continued in their series in conjunction with the season of Advent entitled, Advent Conspiracy.  Here is a snapshot of this series, “We all want our Christmas to be a lot of things. Full of joy. Memories. Happiness. Above all, we want it to be about Jesus. What we don't want is stress. Or debt. Or feeling like we "missed the moment". Advent Conspiracy is a movement designed to help us all slow down and experience a Christmas worth remembering. But doing this means doing things a little differently. A little creatively.  It means turning Christmas upside down.”

Each week includes a discussion question/point that our parents and their students are encouraged to wrestle through together.  The second week’s discussion questions read as follows, “Most of us have struggled at one point with how best to celebrate Christmas.  For some Christians, things have gotten so out of hand that they no longer give gifts to anyone.  What are some of the ways that you have chosen to celebrate Christmas? 

                Celebrating Christmas is something that I have always had an internal struggle with.  Selfishly, I have enjoyed getting presents from a variety of people in my life.  There has always been something about the feeling of opening a present, the surprise of what it could be, and the joy of knowing that it is mine for as long as I want it.  Sounds a little sad, doesn’t it, but I think that if many of us were honest this is where we find ourselves every Christmas.  Personally, I think that this type of mentality is shaped by the consumerism of our culture which leads us to believe that if we have the latest/greatest thing we will be “happy.”  However, as we find this is often not the case and our desire to be left “happy” only leaves us feeling “empty.”

            However, over the past few years, my understanding of Christmas has changed drastically.  While I still enjoy getting presents, there has been a great deal of joy in giving presents through the lives of my children.  I enjoy seeing them, and my wife, light up on Christmas morning because of a special present that they have received and the joy that fills my heart is unexplainable.  There have also been times that we have been able to bless others through our generosity, which has helped change the way that we, as a family, celebrate Christmas.  The old saying, “giving is better than receiving” is starting to ring more true in my life each year. 

            One occurrence of this has become apparent through the life of my wife’s grandmother.  Nanny has always been someone who sought to bring joy to the lives of others through her generosity and loving spirit.  She would bless our family each year with special ornaments that included a handwritten blessing on them for something that she would pray for during the upcoming year.  This along with her personal stewardship of the gifts that God has blessed her with deeply touched my heart.  During the past couple of years, Nanny has been placed into an assisted living facility due to her ongoing battle with Alzheimer’s and dementia.  My mother-in-law decided that she wanted the legacy of her mother to live on, so she created a project that each of our families are to carry out every Christmas season.  Each family receives a certain dollar amount that they are asked to use to serve other people in need this Christmas season.  There are no parameters on what can be/should be accomplished, other than to spend the money in a creative manner, as a family, and to help others in need.  These projects have always been interesting as we seek to involve our children in the planning, purchasing, and giving of these projects.  This year, we chose to take the gift and “adopt” a foster child, who would not have a Christmas without the sponsorship of someone.  We talked about this project with our children, took them to the store to shop for gifts for this little boy (which was a small challenge considering our son is the same age and has several of the same interests), and wrapped the gifts for this special little boy to open on Christmas morning.  As I mentioned, this is a challenge to involve a two and four year old in the project sometimes, but the teaching moments that have come from this are wonderful. 

            This is simply one way that we have chosen to celebrate Christmas each year.  I am thankful for my wife’s family, their giving spirit, and their desire to carry on the legacy of a wonderful woman for many years to come.  So as you reflect upon, your Christmas season this year, what are some ways that you are seeking to celebrate Christmas?  What are some steps that you can take to work together as a family to share the blessings that God has given to you?  May you find a new or special way to celebrate Christmas this year as a family!

How Are You At Waiting?

          Currently our family is undergoing a challenge of waiting.  I have to be honest that as someone who likes to have some sense of control and direction on things, this is extremely challenging.  While it is challenging it has caused me to think about a couple of different items in my life.

First, I think it is necessary to provide the context why we are waiting currently.  We made a decision six months ago to move to Ohio to start in a new ministry position.  This opportunity has been incredible as I am blessed to work with a great staff, amazing volunteers, and students that are hungry for the Word of God to make a difference in their lives.  As with any move to a new setting you need a place to live, which we found in the form of a rental property that we were going to call home for a year.  However, after six months of encountering challenges with this property we have been released from our lease and free to find another housing option.  It was amazing how God paved the way for us to get out of our rental property, have the necessary funds to purchase a home of our own, and provide the perfect house for our family.  As we moved through the process things have progressed very well, however with almost everything being completed we were asked to wait before we find out our closing/moving date.  Maybe this is challenging because Christmas is coming and I wanted to be in our own home for that special day.  Maybe this is challenging because I like to have some form of control in my life, which I think we all secretly really want.  Or maybe this is challenging because I am not willing to trust God completely.  This last one caught me off-guard as I have been wrestling through some thoughts this week, but may be the most accurate. 

I have been working through the book Greater by Steven Furtick recently and I stumbled across this prayer/explanation yesterday in my reading.  “Here’s my life, Lord.  It’s open ended.  And it’s pointed the direction of the next step You call me to take.  No matter what it costs.’ This is what’s crazy about fully surrendering to God in this way: On the one hand, it feels as if you’re losing control.  Because essentially you are.  But on the other hand, an amazing freedom comes from praying a prayer like that.  Because when you do, your heavenly Father takes the outcome of your obedience into His responsible hands.  You no longer have to carry the weight on your own.’”  I have to be honest and let you know that after reading that quote some things in my life started to come in a little clearer.  I started to reflect on everything that God had done for me in my life, things like, all of the times that He provided for me, the times that He took care of my family even when I couldn’t, the times that He guided me through difficult situations / circumstances / conversations, just to name a few.  I then wondered why is it so hard for me to trust God with this situation.  As I was thinking about that I read another quote from the same book that said “God does not necessarily tell you how He will do it, only that He will do it.”  In the pages that followed the book reflects on the story of Abraham, who God calls to leave his home and go to the land that God will show him.  God didn’t tell him where or when he would find it but simply that God would lead him there.  Our family currently finds ourselves in a similar boat in that we know where God is leading but we don’t know when.

After reflecting on these thoughts for almost a day, I wondered if anyone else is having this same struggle right now in their life.  Maybe it’s with a situation of where to move.  Maybe it’s with a situation surrounding your job.  Maybe it’s with a bold dream that you’ve never had the courage to pursue.  Maybe it’s waiting on God to reveal the next step for your life, family, or ministry.  Whatever the case what would your life look like if you began to trust God more, became comfortable in the waiting stages of life, and celebrated the arrival when you got to your destination?

What Are You Really Saying?

          This past week our students started a continued in their series in conjunction with the season of Advent entitled, Advent Conspiracy.  Here is a snapshot of this series, “We all want our Christmas to be a lot of things. Full of joy. Memories. Happiness. Above all, we want it to be about Jesus. What we don't want is stress. Or debt. Or feeling like we "missed the moment". Advent Conspiracy is a movement designed to help us all slow down and experience a Christmas worth remembering. But doing this means doing things a little differently. A little creatively.  It means turning Christmas upside down.”

Each week includes a discussion question/point that our parents and their students are encouraged to wrestle through together.  The second week’s discussion questions read as follows, “As parents what does your approach to gift-giving at Christmas teach your children/students about worship?  What does it teach them about contentment?”

Gift-giving is a part the consumerist culture that surrounds the United States today.  A few days after Thanksgiving this year I was listening to the radio about a report of the damages done by Hurricane Sandy, which totaled about $20 billion to date.  This number astonished me because of the thought about everything that was lost and the number of families that were affected.  However, what shocked me even more was that in the next breath, the voice on the radio began talking about the spending of the United States on “Black Friday” and “Cyber Monday” this year.  Those figures combined totaled around $59.1 billion that we spent towards Christmas gifts for others and ourselves.  I found myself stopping and thinking about the message that we are sending to other countries about our spending but more importantly our children.  As a father, I always want to provide for my children and see them succeed in life; however what effect does my spending/gift-giving have on their understanding of worship and contentment?  Hearing these figures caused me to stop and question the message that I am sending.  I understand that I am only person and while I may not be able to change the attitude of our entire culture, as that would be one huge battle, I can change the attitude/behavior of my household. 

I was recently having a conversation with someone in our office about this theme and they told me a story about their children and something that had assisted in changing the culture in their home.  Their children looked forward to getting a special gift from their grandparents each year, however about five years ago the grandparents started to change the trend by purchasing an animal for a family in need around the world.  They would then give the children a stuffed animal representing the animal that was purchased.  At first, the children seemed a little discouraged by the gift but after gaining an understanding of why it was purchased and who it was helping, the attitude changed.  Each year now the children look forward to seeing what animal they will receive with the hope that one day that will have every animal that was on the ark with Noah!  This change in attitude came from one family’s decision to move in a different direction than the culture that we find ourselves surrounded by every day. 

So how does this play out in your home this Christmas season?  What does your approach to gift-giving teach your children/students about worship and contentment?  This past week we challenged our students to work diligently on finding (or making) that special gift that would show their parents and siblings just how much they love them.  As soon as the words left my lips you could see the wheels turning about what they could do and I’m sure that they will come up with some wonderful things for their families during this Christmas season.  Please understand that by “spending less” you do not love your family any less but rather seek to cultivate the relationship you have with them because of the time, energy, and planning that goes into finding or making that special gift for them. 

As for me, I am working on this in my own home this season to help my children understand that Christmas is about more than presents.  It is about worship of the birth of our Savior and contentment with what God has blessed us with.  Will you join me on this journey to help our children gain a better understanding of how our gift-giving can reflect an attitude of worship and contentment this holiday season?