Something for the Last Sunday of Advent

   

 Okay so here it is the Last Sunday of Advent and i hadn’t dedicated any post to the coming of our Lord and Savior. To some people that may not be a big deal, but in our house we enjoy using our advent calendar. Actually my oldest son who wakes up before anyone rushes into the living room to be the one to move the mouse. This calendar is something we use to countdown to Christmas, but why are we really excited to count to the day our Lord was supposedly born? Or are we just excited because we are going to be getting stuff? I think for most of us if we are honest it is the second option. I have done a post before about Christ’s birth and his death. 

     Why is this important? Because it gives us something to celebrate with the giving of gifts. NO THAT IS NOT THE REASON. The reason it is important is because it is to be a reminder of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. While I know that this is the season to celebrate his birth I feel we should take a closer look at his death. I know someone is going to say it’s not Easter why is this guy worried about his death? I want to talk about his death because that was the reason he was born. Christ was born to die for our sins. That was his sole mission here on Earth. While he did many great things during his time on the planet the greatest thing he did was die and rise again so that we would never have to fully taste death. Even though we imagine this sweet baby wrapped in swaddling cloths, I want you to never forget the blood stained cross. That is the greatest gift that anyone could give. Jesus said "Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 That my friends is the best reason for this season. 

     Don’t get me wrong I love the holiday season and the spirit that it brings with it. But I think we can give the gospel to people and see them changed for more than six weeks out of the year. We can see effectual life change. We could not have had the cross without the manger, we could not have the resurrection without the birth. As I once heard Pastor Ruffin Alphin say, “Christ is the only man who ever got to choose to die.” That quote has stuck with me for close to eight years. 

Tweet: We could not have had the cross without the manger, we could not have the resurrection without the birth.

Do you have any special things you do for Advent? Do you agree or disagree with this post?

Holiday Time: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

 

 Is it just me or is the most wonderful time of the year one of the most stressful times of year also? I have noticed that over the last seven years of marriage that the holidays tend to be more anwry than any other time of the year. When we were first married we had a huge fight our first Christmas because of something our son did to his cousin, it didn’t help that my wife was pregnant at the time. Then going back 20 years my father passed away just before the holiday season really got started on November 4, 1994. So that makes this a tough time of year for me. I do however remember one of the last presents that I ever got from my dad and i still have it to this day.  It was a stuffed teddy bear that was brown with a bow tie on we named it “Brownie” I know not super creative but it was the best I could do I was eleven at the time. This makes me sad thinking about it,  but it also makes me happy because I can still recall that last Christmas with my dad. 

     However, the holidays are not all bad. I have two sons who love Christmas and I know that one of them loves Jesus still not sure about the other. While one believes in Santa Claus and the other does not. That makes things a challenge around here trying to keep the oldest from spilling the beans. But each year we all get a new ornament from someone, usually the boys are getting the ornament from their grandparents along with my wife who gets one from her grandmother, and my wife buys me a new National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation ornament (that is my favorite Christmas movie). During Christmas break we will make cookies and generally watch a  lot of Christmas movies. The last several years we have gone caroling with members of our church through different neighborhoods. We are trying to instill in the boys the true meaning of Christmas that it is to celebrate the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. While I personally don’t believe this is the day he was born on, it is the day we choose to celebrate it with the rest of the Christians around the globe. 

     The sad thing is not every Christian gets to celebrate Christmas like those of us here in the United States, there are countries that being a Christian is agains the law and you could go to jail or even die for your faith. I hope that my boys will never have to experience that kind of persecution in their lives, but if they do I pray they stand up for what they believe in.  This is also a hard season because not everyone can afford to do for their families like others can and it makes people feel less than. While it is not intentional it still happens. What we have to hope and hold on to is the day when the New Heaven and New Earth will appear and we no longer have to worry about this type of celebration because we will be enjoying the presence of Christ. I now that this post was a little more personal than some of my others and I hope you don’t mind. If you enjoyed this post will you comment and let me know. Because my goal is to create content you enjoy not just for me to be spewing words on the screen. 

I leave you with this: What are some fond memories you have of the holiday season?