As I fell asleep on Christmas night in my bunk bed on top of a mountain in Africa, I couldn't help but to reflect on the day and realized how content and joy-filled it had been.
I never thought a day like this would come…the day I would not wake up to the cold winter's air and my mom's Christmas tree shaped cinnamon rolls but instead to 65 squealing children who have gifts under a tree that never made it out of the ground or under a living room roof.
I never would have thought that instead of playing Santa for my six youngest cousins, I would be with my sweet seven year old buddy opening up gifts with him and getting a premature glimpse of what it's like for parents to watch their kids open up presents on Christmas morning because it really is more fun to give than to receive.
Instead of spending hours in Hobby Lobby and then locking myself in my room to make and wrap gifts for my family, I would be making cards for my squadmates and wrapping my gifts in ziplock bags that I dug out of the bottom of my pack.
That instead of hunting down an ornament hidden in the tree each Christmas Eve so I can continue to rob my brother of his previously long lasting bragging rights, I would be hunting down a black mamba that crossed my path [true story].
I thought that not being with my family would be really difficult, yet I had no idea that the strangers I met in May would be the family that surrounded me this year while we sang Christmas carols at our very own candle lit service…That we would share prayers, and songs, and tears while we reflect on the child that was born and the King that is coming.
And while these new memories do not replace the old or that any of them overshadow the others, it just shows that the joy found at Christmas time can be found in more places than one. That simply because I'm not curled up on my Grandma's green chair next to the fire that Jesus is any more or less present there than he is here in Africa. I've realized that's how life with Jesus is anyways. He can be found in the old memories, the new friends, and a dirty manger. He's everywhere. So while this Christmas looked different than most, Jesus overflowed my life with his gifts in ways I never could have imagined before. What an awesome Santa Claus he would make.
