A Hero Found in a Baby

Whenever I look at babies, especially after becoming a father, I think about how our Savior came into this world as a baby. The preciousness. The innocence. The fragileness. The vulnerability. All these describe any and every baby that is born. It doesn’t matter if they were planned or not. They are all just waiting to be nurtured.


Jesus came in the form of a human, starting out as a baby. He came from a heavenly palace to an earthly sin-sick shack. God may have asked Jesus, “Hey, I need for You to leave here, go down to earth, experience pain, temptations, trials, and heart-ache for people who won’t appreciate it and who will abandon you. Are you up for it?” You and I would probably never agree to that kind of a deal. Humans have a hard time giving up their parking space for someone else, let alone giving up their life. However, thankfully, He did.


He came down to earth and He was found in an unexpected place – a manger. Our King, in a manger? Our hero, wrapped in His blanket? No paparazzi was covering this event, snapping pictures at each available opportunity. This was a quiet setting. This was God, the Son, coming down from His throne, abandoning His home. This was Him who was great becoming the least, coming to a world that needed a fix. Why did he do it, it was all for you and me.


Have you ever looked at a baby and wondered how God could have allowed His only Son to leave Him to die? What about thinking how Mary must have felt knowing that when she kissed Jesus, she was kissing the “face of God”? It seems so surreal to think about how Jesus came to be our hero. It seems difficult to comprehend how one could die to take the place of every single person who is born. It is unfathomable that the worst of criminals and the most respected citizen “all sin” and are doomed to suffer eternal torment if that unlikely hero, found in the baby, doesn’t grow up, remain innocent and die for the sins of others.


How many people would do that? Maybe a few would consider it, but how many would follow through with it? Only one needed to and He did it for you and me. May the hope that comes through the hero, found in a baby, make your Christmas a little merrier this year!


(article inspired by the song “How Many Kings” by Downhere)





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Don't Take Down the Christmas Spirit

When I was in high school psychology my teacher said a comment about the psychological side of Christmas that I will never forget.  He commented that studies had been done to ask kids to draw Santa Claus before and after Christmas.  The pictures before Christmas were depicting Santas that filled up the page; whereas the Santas drawn after Christmas tended to be much smaller.


The Christmas "spirit" tends to die about the 27th of December.  This is a shame, even though I am as guilty as anyone.  It seems the more work you put into the more you dread taking it all down and putting it away.  Your house may look more bare than before, as the Christmas decorations were really filling up your house.  Though the tree may have to be put away, may spirit of kindness continue on...which brings us to this week's quote...

Christmas is forever, not for just one day,

for loving, sharing, giving, are not to put away

 like bells and lights and tinsel, in some box upon a shelf.

The good you do for others is good you do yourself...

~ Norman Wesley Brooks - "Let Every Day Be Christmas," 1976

This year, though the presents will be unwrapped, the stockings will get emptied, may the spirit that goes along with Christmas be something that continues well into the 2010 year!

Let's not put away the spirit of loving, sharing, giving and kindness!

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How Many Would Do That, For Me? - II Corinthians 8:9

It is very difficult to imagine that someone would be willing to take a position that is less desired over a preferred one.  Or go to a less desirable place over a preferred one.  Could you imagine if you were traveling to an all-inclusive resort on a beautiful island and the pilot comes on the loud speaker and says, "Folks, we're not going to be stopping at Everything's Glorious Isle, instead, we're going to go to an island that hasn't been built on.  You will have to come up with your own food and shelter.  We'll be departing in 4 days, like you were planning."  Your jaw drops.  This isn't what you signed up for, nor did you pay to go to this type of an island.  You're getting ripped off! You look down as you fly near the island, and you are not planning on having a good time.

I doubt going to a different place, that is less desirable would ever sell you on this company's offers!  We, simply, wouldn't like that.  We want a better life, not a lesser life.  We want...!  Simply put.

Our Savior was able to look down at us and tell us that He would be willing to leave a place that was "all-inclusive", the greatest paradise we could ever think of, to come to this place...Earth.  He was able to put His desires aside for our sake!  Yesterday, we looked at Jesus being willing to take the less desired position.  Here are some applications to choose from to use this week...

1. When given the opportunity to help out, when the task is "beneath" you, take the opportunity to participate.  There may be a learning opportunity hidden in the task.
2. When someone meets you at a crossroads and it is not known who will go first or get the "spot", take the second chair.
3. When someone asks you to go with them one mile, be willing to go with them two miles.
4. When someone's getting irate or irritated in public, take the position to try to calm the situation.
5. When wondering why Jesus did what He did by coming to this earth for you, offer a praise that He was willing to come to this sin-filled earth for you and me.

I can only imagine what it was like for Jesus to come to this earth, start out as a baby, born to sinful parents, born into a sinful world, rejected, and beaten, and to still being willing to die for you and me.  It was not for His pride, but for you and me.  That is something we need to digest once in awhile.

Kings won't step down from a throne.  Lords won't abandon their home.  Greats won't give up their position for the least.  Fathers do not give up their sons for others.  However, only one did that.  All for you.  All for me.  Jesus did that for us!  (this paragraph paraphrased from "How Many Kings" by Downhere)

How many of you would take the less desired position?  May the example of Jesus give us a reason to do so and a reason to praise Him!

Have a Merry Christmas!

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Life is Full of Change

Life...it is a game and it is also what we live, day in and day out.  If we were to draw a line of our travel paths throughout any given day, we'd probably have the U.S. practically covered in a solid color.  Our paths cross someone else's many times in any given day.  If we were to write about our life, each day, it would be cool to see each person's perspective on a shopping trip, their response on a speech, their reaction to a movie, how their dining experience was, and the list could go on.  If each person told, in a real way, how their experiences were in each of those situations, we'd have quite a diverse set of experiences.

Life also changes and we have to be able to adapt to that change.  Change is always happening.  We need to be able to understand why the things we care about are changing.  We need to be willing to understand how that change is going to affect us and how we can adapt to the change.  The more we fight it, the more it will beat us up.  If we're willing to accept change then life will come a bit more easy to deal with.

I love quotes about change, and this one is no exception.  Here's this week's quote...

Life is known only by those who have found a way to be comfortable with change and the unknown. Given the nature of life, there may be no security, but only adventure.  - Rachel Naomi Remen

The unknown, after a change is introduced, is what makes life rough.  We can analyze things to death because of the "unknown".  As life hands you many unknowns, take an opportunity to flex your change muscles, even if they are a bit tight!

The more you stretch the more comfortable you'll be with the changes that may come about in your life!  Even if it is an issue where you just cannot change, which we all have those areas, if you are stretching your 'muscles' you may not change but you will have a mindset to not be so resistant to the idea of change.

Change and life are hard...trying to stretch...and hold...1-2-3-4..8-9-10....21-22-23-28-29-30! Whew!!!

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Excitement Behind a Birth

Last week, I learned that a friend of ours had a baby.  We knew the mom when she was a teen.  She meant a lot to us.  We didn’t even know she was pregnant, so the news of her having a baby was a total shock.

Because of her closeness to us, I gave her a call.  She is not married and lives with her parents.  She’s had ups and downs in her life.  I don’t think she’s been baptized, and has struggled with her faith.  Regardless of her past, the present is that she is now a mommy.  The father of the baby will most likely not be in the picture.  With all that being said, you couldn’t help but to hear the excitement in the mom’s voice, along with the grandma’s voice.  It seems it doesn’t matter how babies arrived on the scene, there is a lot of excitement when someone has a child.

The nice thing about the near-40 week gestation period is that there is plenty of time for excitement to build.  First, comes the news.  Next, comes the “baby bump”.  Thirdly, the palpable kicking/moving.  Finally, the birth.  All can’t wait for the time when that baby is out to hold and nurture.  The news runs wild.  Now, with electronic intervention, the news is spread even quicker. 

Nearly twenty centuries ago, there was an announcement that was made about a birth that would take place.  This announcement would change the world, literally.  This announcement was telling of a Savior.  This Savior was born to a lowly peasant girl who was getting ready to marry.  Her soon-to-be husband almost left her to be a single mother. (Can you imagine how that would have played out?) This birth, like all, was exciting.  He wasn’t born in a hospital or a nice room, but in a “barn”.  He was laid in a manger, but that didn’t stop any of the excitement.  People came and visited and the excitement rang out.

This time of year is a great time to be excited.  People are thinking about the birth of Jesus.  Look around to see how you can join in with their excitement to be able to share with them what He means to you! It is a season of open doors, so don’t be afraid to walk through them!

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