For the past several Christmas seasons, I’ve read through a book each morning called Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus, which is a collection of writings from several well-known authors and pastors about different aspects of the Christmas story. It’s been so good for my heart to focus on Christ and why He came in the midst of a non-stop, always-seems-to-be-getting-busier kind of season.
One of the chapters I read recently was written by J.I. Packer on the incarnation of Christ. As I read through it, I was convicted. I’ve been taught this several times, and I know it to be true, but do I really grasp what it means? Continue Reading →
I am a true Christmas aficionado. I love this time of year. We have decorations all over the inside and outside of our home, including the “Charlie Brown” Christmas lights. I watch as many of the claymation movies I can (how can you not like Yukon Cornelius or Heat Miser?), I spend hours preparing our prime rib and Yorkshire pudding, and my excitement grows daily for our kids to open their presents, including our new son-in-law this year!
This December has been an especially spiritual time for our family because we purposed in our hearts to really focus on Christ’s birth and all that it means for us. One aspect of the “Christmas story” that weighs heavy on my heart in a new way is the desperation and destruction which followed the birth of Christ. As the only true hope came into this world, Herod did the unthinkable. In an attempt to kill the newborn King, he ordered all the male children 2-years-old and younger to be slaughtered, leaving many to ask, “why?”
It was Summer 2012 in Hinche, Haiti, when a man walked into the kitchen on one hand and one leg, with one leg gone since birth. His fingers were deformed, with some fingers missing and some glued together. This man has lived his 46 years of life blind, deformed and malnourished. Doctors say he is a miracle child. Medicine says he was not supposed to live past his infancy. But God had another plan.