“Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.” Luke 1:78-79

The above verse are from an amazing prophecy from John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah. It’s a beautiful picture of what was about to take place in the life of John and then the Messiah, Jesus. This time of year is always special. After all we are celebrating one of the most incredible miracles EVER, the God of the universe wrapping Himself in human flesh and becoming one of His creations. Wow. I mean really...wow.

But (let’s be honest) how many times in the past month have we really sat in the quietness of our lives (if we even have any) and meditated on this fact? Yeah...not many times for me either. In fact, as the 25th draws closer and closer the stress level increases and the money decreases and the thought of the glorious God in a humble stable who will then go on to die to redeem mankind begins to disappear from our radar.

Now, before I find myself calling on all Christians to move our celebration of Christ’s birth to sometime in February...let me get to something that hit me as I began writing that last paragraph. This losing of focus during Christmas is not just a December issue...it effects the other 11 months too. How many times this past year did we get stressed and freaked out and find ourselves forgetting the One who bled and died so that we may have eternal life? In CM this is something that happens too...because after watching 20 hyper kids for two hours it’s hard to maintain the attitude of “I’m doing this for the Lord who loves me beyond measure” and rather it downgrades to “GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!!”.

This week in staff devotions pastor David mentioned the verse above and made the comment that while this verse was speaking of Jesus being the light of the world...our Lord then handed that off to us, as His church. We are to stand as a beacon of truth and love in the midst of a dark and hurting world. The only way we can do that is to focus on the One who provides the light. We produce nothing on our own, but when we are focused on the love of our soul we shine like the stars in the heavens and cause people to say, “they must have been with Jesus.”

So this Christmas as you fellowship with loved ones as well as tolerate hard-to-love ones focus on our Lord and what He has done. Don’t just see a manger scene and go “how sweet” but open the scriptures and soak in the amazing miracle of the Word becoming flesh and dwelling among us. Immanuel (God with us) has come and He now sits at the right hand of the Father after conquering sin and death and calls us to shine with the brilliance of a billion Christmas lights to display His glory to a lost world. So celebrate Christmas this year with a renewed passion. May you all have a wonderful Christmas and thank you for being a light to the children we serve. You all are an amazing blessing to me and my family. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

So I was on twitter the other day and came across a very funny story from a guy named Jeremy Bell. I don’t know anything about Mr. Bell but he was writing a blog about a little incident that occurred with him, legos, and the SWAT team. You see, he had just purchased a lego set that was a realistic replica of a semi-automatic handgun. Someone must have spotted him through his window putting it together at work, because several hours later he hears his name being screamed down the hall and SWAT men tackling him and cuffing his hands.

In the end Mr. Bell shows them the lego gun and they let him go, but after I got done reading his story and looking at the cool lego set I starting thinking about something I read in K Magazine called, Redefining Maturity (by Sam Luce).

The fact is kids can spot a decoy a million miles away. If we are telling kids that Christ is amazing and that life committed to Him is awesome - it needs to be evident in our lives. In the article mentioned above it reads:

Perhaps [practicing the truths we teach] is the greatest gift we can give the kids under our care and ministry - a real life example that growing in Christ, indeed our spiritual formation, isn’t a plate of facts and knowledge but a dynamic relationship with Jesus that transforms and finds expression in the relationships and world around us.

Living examples - that is the key. All the teaching in the world is like a fake lego gun when it is not applied to our lives. But unlike that lego gun, a hypocritical life can do tremendous damage. The article goes on to mention that an important part of spiritual maturity is being able to feed oneself and includes a list of examples of ways to do this:

Read Your Bible - this seems like a big duh, but many times we get even too busy to read the very words of God. We all need to make sure this is priority in our lives.

Listen to Podcasts - I would also include getting into service or picking up a CD so that you have a steady diet of good biblical teaching encouraging and challenging you. As a servant in CM I know sometimes we have to double up & end up missing service, so make sure you get the podcast or CD .

Practice Transparent Faith - While we don’t need to air all our sins in front of everyone, being transparent about our faults and humanity helps bridge the gap between others. After all, it is only the grace of God that has saved us...not our super-spirituality.

Stay Connected - fellowship with like-minded believers who will encourage as well as inspire new ideas. This means beyond the walls of the church (ie: real life groups, servant fellowships etc).