journey onWord with us

Last Monday was an interesting day of getting into the Christmas spirit. My wife and I traveled with friends to New York City. Our day began with BREAKING NEWS of a terrorist attack in the subway system of New York. Typically news like that would get my attention, but since we were nine blocks away on the same street, it really got my attention. Quickly enough things settled down and we were off to explore Christmas in New York. The crowds were enormous and fast paced, which didn’t help me reflect on what the Savior’s birth means to mankind. The highlight of our day was watching Radio City’s Christmas Spectacular. The portrayal of our Savior’s birth was pictured as well as I have seen in any church, and the Christmas hymns were majestic. But then it was back to the streets and crowds of people celebrating anything but our Savior’s birth. To me, our NYC day reflected a Christmas problem … the true meaning of Christmas surrounded by crowds and pace and anything but the love that caused God to send His Son to redeem mankind.

The Christmas Problem
(Anonymous)

Once upon a Christmas Eve, a man sat in reflective silence before the fireplace, pondering the meaning of Christmas. “There is no point to a God who becomes man,” he mused. “Why would an all-powerful God want to share even one of His precious moments with the likes of man? And even if He did, why would He choose to be born in an animal stall? No way! The whole thing is absurd! I’m sure that if God really wanted to come down to earth, He would have chosen some other way.” Suddenly, the man was roused from his reverie by a strange sound outside. He went to the window and saw a small gaggle of blue geese frantically honking and aimlessly flopping about in the snow. They seemed dazed and confused. Apparently they had dropped out in exhaustion from the flight formations of a larger flock on its way from the Arctic Islands to the warmer climes of the Gulf of Mexico. Moved to compassion, the man tried to “shoo” the poor geese into his warm garage, but the more he “shooed” the more they panicked. “If they only realized I’m only trying to do what’s best for them,” he thought to himself. “How can I make them understand my concern for their well-being?”

Then, this thought came to him: “If for just a minute, I could become one of them, an ordinary goose, and communicate with them in their own language, they would know what I am trying to do.” And suddenly … suddenly, he remembered Christmas and a smile came over his face. Suddenly, the Christmas story no longer seemed absurd. Suddenly, he pictured that ordinary-looking infant, lying in the manger, in that stable in Bethlehem, and he knew the answer to his Christmas problem: God had become one of us to tell us that He loves us.

Sometimes our hurried and stressful lives draw a comparison to those panicked geese.  The solution and the peace are right at our fingertips … and yet we keep running, struggling, striving for something we can in no way grasp without the realization that, “God had become one of us to tell us that He loves us.” This Christmas season, if you are a believer, take the opportunity to meditate or talk as a family about the real reason we are celebrating.  And if you have never given your heart to Christ, please reach out to us at journeyonword@gmail.com. We would count it a privilege to share God’s love for you.

Merry Christmas and remember, He is the Reason for this Season.