My college age son has been telling me for 6 months that I needed to read Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins.  When that boy’s right, he is really right.  Hunger Games is an exhilarating ride of a book that visually grabs you into another time and space and doesn’t let you go!  Set in the future, the government has devised a way to remind everyone that they are in control and take their most prized possessions anytime they want. How?  By lottery, 24 teenagers are chosen to go to the Hunger Games and battle one another to the death.  The last survivor wins wealth, fame and a year of rewards for the district they represent.

Now if you’re not a sci fi person and you’re already vetoing this book, don’t.  The suspense is nonstop and the characters become deep three dimensional figures you are sad to let go of on the last page.  And of course there’s a unique and puzzling romance.  Buy the book for your teenagers, boys and girls alike but don’t wait like I did.  Read the book for yourself.  It’s a delight.

At Christmastime I like reading a book that relaxes me, restores my hope and washes me with the sweetness of the coming of the Lord.  That is what Remembering Christmas is all about.  Rick Denton is a young guy that built a life away from all the reminders of family and Christ.  Not so unlike many of us in our 20’s.  Through a crisis at home, Rick is forced to give up his vacation time to watch his parent’s Christian Bookstore during the holidays.  Through a long array of characters and of course a little romance, Rick is reintroduced to his parents and his Lord.  If you need a good Christmas book to snuggle up with, give Remembering Christmas a try.

http://www.danwalshbooks.com/index.html

“Christmas is the surprise of light coming back, Easter is the surprise of spring returning.  Our faith is the ability to be open to surprises.”

Everybody has their favorite Christmas reruns.  Maybe yours are those animated shows like Rudolph or Charlie Brown.  I like the old movies like It’s a Wonderful Life and White Christmas.  It’s weird that I can watch these same shows year after year not only knowing what’s going to happen next but many times recite whole portions of the show line for line.  Each Christmas as I watch the same reruns I have seen for years there’s a comfort that comes from knowing what’s coming next.

Television and DVD technology may provided the comfort of familiarity into our Christmas celebration but you know the first Christmas wasn’t like that at all.  Take the shepherds.  Now there’s a lesson of how life can go from ordinary to extraordinary in a flash.  Mary and Joseph, even the Wisemen knew the Messiah was coming but not the shepherds.  They were just busy minding their own business, doing their job and bringing home the paycheck much like you and me. Luke 2:8 says “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.”  To me that’s like saying “And Bob was sitting at his desk checking email” or “And Susan was standing in the kitchen cooking dinner”  Like watching a Christmas show rerun, the shepherds were in a place in their life where they thought they could predict what was going to happen next.  They were just doing ordinary things when something extraordinary happened.

Luke 2:9 tells us “An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.”  Can you imagine?  You’re sitting in your ordinary life when all the sudden an angel shows up and the glory of the Lords shines around you so much you are scared out of your mind.  I’d say that would totally blow up your ordinary life and catapult you into the EXTRA-ordinary.  But the whole angel, glory of the Lord thing was just the beginning of the shepherds trek into the bizarre.  Then the angel tells them “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.”  Think of that.  A Savior has been born to you too.  That’s what Christmas is all about.  As you are living your ordinary life checking emails and cooking dinner, a Savior has been born to you. Think of how extraordinary that is.

With a Savior, your life no longer needs to be filled with pressure that you have to make everything all right.  Jesus came to let you know you are all right with Him and everything else is details.  Really.  Facing the list of things to do, problems to solve and people to care for looks totally different when you first rest in the assurance that you and Jesus are doing alright.

Don’t let this Christmas be a rerun of predictable routines and expectations. Like the shepherds, rejoice that you not only have Jesus as your Savior but that He’s come so you may live knowing He thinks you’re alright.  Then you’ll see that Christmas means living in the unpredictable with Christ and loving it!  Merry Christmas!

There is something magical about a White Christmas.  Maybe it’s those special snow filled Christmas Morning activities like trying out brand new sleds, or building snowmen that make a White Christmas so coveted.  Many places are pretty much guarantee a white Christmas but not my hometown—St Louis.  We’re kind of in that place where sometimes we might get buckets of snow in December and arrive with beautiful layers of snow on the 25th or we’re just as likely to spend the whole month of December with nothing more than a few flurries.  It sure would be nice to be able to make this Christmas be white.  But I guess thinking I can make it snow whenever I want is kind of ridiculous.

To be honest, Christmas has the tendency to make me think I should try to do a lot of ridiculous things.  I should make sure that every present I give is special and heartwarming.  I should make sure that throughout the holidays I cook every person in the family their favorite dish.  I should make sure I stay rested and the kids stay healthy.  I should make my husband stop working long enough to enjoy the holidays.  See what I mean?  Kind of ridiculous.

Let’s face it, I have as much chance of pulling any of this off as waving my arms and giving St Louis a white Christmas.  So what’s my problem?  Why do the holidays make me want to suddenly be in control of the uncontrollable?  It’s simple really.  I want everyone I love to be joy filled this Christmas. Have you ever gotten so carried away trying to make Christmas “perfect” that you totally missed the Christmas joy for yourself as well as for those around you?

But what if Christmas joy is not something that can be planned, orchestrated or delegated?  What if the joy of Christmas did not rely on what you do but on what Christ can do?  In Luke 2:10 when the angels say “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.”–the good news was not that the present you want to get for your husband is 50% off.  The good news is not that the turkey was cooked to perfection or that your mother-in-law thought your Christmas tree was spectacular.  That may all be good news but the REALLY GOOD NEWS is that “in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord.”

At some point every December, I need a good head thump to remind me to quit trying to make Christmas special for everyone else.  Instead of trying to accomplish the ridiculous, join me to stop and drink in the good news that a Savior has been born; and He is Christ the Lord!  There is no amount of snow or presents or food that can bring the joy of Christmas into the lives of those you love.  They can get their joy from Christ just like you.  So let the joy of Christmas live in you…then for you this Christmas, who knows?  Maybe the Lord will decide to do something really ridiculous.

This may the purest, sweetest song I have heard in a while.  Marine Master Sgt. Robert Allen wrote and performs this wonderful song for his wife.   There is something about seeing a marine, in uniform, sitting in the middle of Afghanistan singing about not only the wife and family he misses but of all the things you and I so easily take for granted.  Watch the video, thank the Lord for the small blessings of Christmas and thank a man or woman in uniform.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k76haWHvXSc

Can Christmas time really bring unexpected blessings to anyone?  In Christmas at Harrington’s Melody Carlson takes Lena Markham, an unlikely receipient of Christmas Blessings and leads the reader into believing in the goodness of Christmas time.  Lena has been released from prison just in time to work as Mrs. Santa at the local department store.  Through a series of unexpected events what was likely to be a disaster of a Christmas turns into one that touches not only her life but the lives of those around her.  It’s a fun, quick Christmas read… Enjoy!

http://melodycarlson.com/Christmas_novellas.shtml

Is Christmas getting crazy?  Need a little time to exhale?  Sit back and listen to this precious song–Winter Snow with Audrey Assad and Chris Tomlin.  I love the quiet rhythm and the deep rich tones of their voices.  It makes me feel the peacefulness that surely was intended when the angels sang about peace on earth.  Think about the truths of these words as you prepare your heart for the Christ Child.

Could’ve come like a mighty storm
With all the strength of a hurricane
You could’ve come like a forest fire
With the power of heaven in Your flame

But You came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below

You could’ve swept in like a tidal wave
Or an ocean to ravish our hearts
You could have come through like a roaring flood
To wipe away the things we’ve scarred

But You came like a winter snow
(Yes, You did)
You were quiet
You were soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below

Video is perfectly set to grab you and pull you into the peace and quiet the song intends.  Take a minute from the craziness to enjoy…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpHiAmL8-b0

“In the Christian story God descends to reascend… He goes down to come up again and bring the whole world up with Him.  One has the picture of a strong man stooping lower and lower to get himself underneath some great complicated burden. He must stoop in order to lift, he must almost disappear under the load before he incredibly straightens his back and marches off with the whole mass swaying on his shoulders.”

My first job in Chicago was at an agency up near the Wisconsin/Illinois border.  That meant after 27 years of living in Florida, I found myself trekking up a two lane country road early one wintery morning to go to work.   At the end of my day, I wiped off the snow on my car only to find a layer of ice clinging to my windshield. After diligently scraping the windshield I motored off towards home only to find the ice had also stuck to the roadways.  Having never driven on ice before, I crept down the back road until I hit a stretch of road that ran between miles of barren fields.  There I saw for the first time in my life snow drifts as big as houses beginning to cover the road.  I distinctly remember thinking “I can’t be living in a place that has giant snow drifts.  I’m from Florida!”  I felt like I had mysteriously landed in someone else’s’ life.  Maybe the hardest part of a journey isn’t always the first step; it’s just continuing to take the next step.

I wonder if Mary, Jesus’ mom ever found it hard to take the next step?  When the angel Gabriel visits her, Mary seems pretty confident.  After hearing  she’s to be the Mother of the Messiah,  Mary’s a little frightened and confused , but  eventually she says “I am the Lord’s servant.  May it be to me as you have said.”  Such confidence, such faith.

But what about 9 months later when Mary is sitting on that donkey, knowing  that baby’s coming no matter what  and the inn keeper says there’s no rooms available?  This is after her cross country donkey trek, her village bad mouthing her because she was an unwed mother and her fiancé almost disowning her.  Did she wonder if she’d done something wrong?  Maybe she thought she took a wrong turn somewhere.  Surely it was hard to see her current circumstances as part of God’s plan.

It’s like lying in your marriage bed trying to remember the last time you and your spouse talked about anything other than events to attend, or chores to be done.  Do you wonder if your marriage ended up in the wrong place?  Or sitting in the counselor’s office talking about your worries and frustrations with your child that you dearly love.  Is this the place God intended you to arrive?  Difficult circumstances can make it harder to see God but he’s there.  Trust me, He’s there.

Mary had plenty of negative circumstances that would tempt the average person to believe God had abandoned her, but not Mary.  It was said of Mary in Luke 1:45 “Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!”   Mary didn’t just believe on the day Gabriel showed up.  She believed enough to take each difficult step along the way.  There are no wrong places in your life where God is not with you.  Just look towards Him and go ahead,–take the next step.