What do you want for Christmas?

What do you want for Christmas?

We spend most of the Christmas season searching for that perfect gift, the best bargain, the right decorations, and a parking space at the mall.

This year when the family all gets together, everybody will bring only one wrapped gift. It will be placed on the table for all to inspect -still wrapped. After we have gorged ourselves with turkey, dressing, dumplings, green bean casserole, and pecan pie we will draw numbers to determine the gift selection order realizing that that gift we select may be stolen by the next person in line if they take a liking to it. We have seen grown men cry when their favorite gift is taken from them.

 We are so busy that we miss the season’s true meaning. It was the same at that first Christmas in Bethlehem. Almost everyone missed it. They were too busy looking for other things. The politicians missed the first Christmas. The business community missed the first Christmas. The innkeeper missed the first Christmas. In fact, even the religious establishment missed the first Christmas, because they were looking at other things. The only people who enjoyed that very first Christmas were the people who were looking for it. 

The Angel told the shepherds "You'll find the baby ... lying in a manger."

The Shepherds said: "Let's go and see!" They found Jesus because they were searching. They were seeking Him.

Later on another group, the wise men found Jesus because they were seeking Him.

Now let me ask you, what are you going to find this Christmas?

I'll tell you what you're going to find: You will find whatever you are looking for. In our society today there's a renewed emphasis on seeking spiritual truth. Sometime back Newsweek magazine had an article titled, "The Search for the Sacred." In it the writer commented;

"Maybe it's just a critical mass of Baby Boomers in the contemplative afternoon of life. Or maybe it's anxiety over the coming millennium, or maybe it's a general dissatisfaction with the materialism of the modern world. For these reasons and more, millions of Americans are' embarking on a search for the sacred in their lives."

The bottom line of this article is that people are asking, "Is there any meaning to my life? Does my life count? Is there a God? And if there is a God, can I get to know Him?"

That's what Christmas is all about, folks! The article continued,

" A lot has changed in the past century. We've stripped away what once our ancestors saw as essential, the importance of religion in the family, and people feel they want something they've lost; they just don't remember what it is they've lost."

The loss of a faith leaves a gaping hole and that, in essence, is a seeker's quest - to fill the hole with a new source of meaning. Why are we here? What is the purpose of our existence?

Now, if you're honest with yourself, at least sometime this past year, when you slowed down long enough, you probably asked yourself these same questions. 

"Why am I here? What am I here for? Why do I exist?”

Now, where do you think those questions coming from? It is God Who is putting those questions in your mind! He is creating in you a desire and thirst to know Him. God knows all about you; He wants you to know Him.

And there's no better time than Christmas to become a seeker like the wise men were. Wise men, women, and children still seek God.

Whatever it is you are Looking for, That Is What You will Find.

Find out more about yourself?

Peace That Passes All Understanding

Last night I lay awake thinking about all of the events of the recent past. Terrorism throughout the world, wars in the Middle East, political infighting in this country, the economy and our personal and family issues. It was not a peaceful time. It was then I remembered that day in 1992, 

Rita and I had scheduled a well-earned three day vacation at Lake Quinault, a mountain lake in the rain forest of Washington’s Olympic National Park. The gauge at the lodge measured rain in feet rather than inches. Annual rainfall is around 10 -12 feet. On the days we were there, we had only bright sunshine. 

Our cabin had no telephone, no television and no radio. Cell towers were scarce and we had no signal. It was indeed a time away. Our first evening we watched through our picture window as the golden sun set on the other side of the lake. The smooth lake surface was broken only by hungry trout leaping for low flying insects. It was so peaceful and relaxing. But, back down the mountain, the world was falling apart.

It was May 2, 1992. We left the world behind us and relaxed in our tiny cabin. The Rodney King verdict acquitting police officers of brutality had been released a few days earlier setting off riots in Los Angeles and San Francisco. More than fifty people were killed, thousands injured, and twelve thousand arrested. Over one billion dollars in damage occurred. 

In Guadalajara Mexico, sewers were exploding because of lack of maintenance. In Chicago, the river broke through its bed and flooded city hall destroying vital records. It took years to restore and some vital records were lost forever. The Soviet Union was splitting open and the residents of Nicaragua were recovering from a large earthquake.

That was a million miles away from our lakeside retreat. After the best sleep in months, we got up, purchased trail mix and water, and set off on a hike through the legendary rainforest. The walking was easy as the under-brush was thin and the trail well marked. Beams of sunlight occasionally penetrated the dense canopy of old-growth hemlocks and cedars. It seemed we were totally alone. 

We had encountered no one on the trail and only the soft whisper of a breeze or the sound of an animal scampering away broke the stillness of the place. At noon, we stopped by a waterfall and ate sitting on a bench watching the snow melt pour over the rocks down to the lake, and then to the pacific ocean.

That night I wrote in my journal the phrase “Peace that passes all understanding” kept going through my mind and I thanked God for His respite in a crazy world. Closed the journal, I sensed the lord say, “this is not the rest I am talking about.” He continued, “it is easy to have peace when you are away from all your cares.  That is understandable.  But my rest is having that same sense of peace when you are in the middle of the trials and tribulations back in the world.”

There is so much that needs to be done to correct the problems of the world. When there is so much to do, people normally fall into two separate but equally disturbing camps. The first group sees the enormity of the problems and realizes they can’t solve them, so they give up and do nothing. The second group sees the problems and tries to solve everything and as a result, burns out and has a breakdown.

There is another way. Find out which piece of the problem God has assigned to you and do only what you are called to do. Only then you can be at peace.