It's Christmas, officially!
And it's the weirdest/best Christmas I have ever had.
Tonight we celebrated Christmas Eve in style. It started out with a delicious dinner of baked spaghetti with a homemade white sauce plus cheddar cheese on top. Cheese. It's been a LONGWHILE since we've had that! And oh was it delightful. I may or may not have taken the cheese off of the remaining food and eaten it. And then, then there were homemade (from scratch) oatmeal + raisin + chocolate chip cookies. Whoooo. It was almost more than we could handle. Seriously.
After dinner, we held a candle light service. It was beautiful. We alternated between songs, worshipping and praising the God who came down to save us, and we read the Christmas story from Luke. While it was simple, it was also poignant and wonderful. We took communion and really just soaked in the fact that God came down. He. Came. Down. It was the beginning of the greatest love story in history.
Think on this: He could have left us here, all alone. He could have stayed in Heaven. Instead, he "sucked it up" if you will, and came down, knowing what He would suffer. When Jesus was born, God knew everything that was going to happen. He saw Jesus hanging on the tree, he saw Jesus being persecuted, He saw Jesus die. For us. To bring reconcilliation. Who does that?! A beautiful, merciful, loving Savior. That's who.
Think on that for a few hundred minutes.
Following our service, a large number of us watched The Nativity Story. What a beautiful portrayl of what Mary must have gone through. There's a song that's been in my head lately. Mary Did You Know
The lyrics go like this::
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would one day walk on water?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would save our sons and daughters?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy has come to make you new?
This Child that you delivered will soon deliver you.
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy will give sight to a blind man?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy will calm the storm with His hand?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy has walked where angels trod?
When you kiss your little Baby you kissed the face of God?
The blind will see.
The deaf will hear.
The dead will live again.
The lame will leap.
The dumb will speak
The praises of The Lamb.
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy is Lord of all creation?
Mary, did you know
that your Baby Boy would one day rule the nations?
Did you know
that your Baby Boy is heaven's perfect Lamb?
The sleeping Child you're holding is the Great, I Am.
After the movie, my team stayed up talking. 6 of the 7 of us are still up. We're kind of like the resident night owls.
I just read them 'Twas The Night Before Christmas poem.
And it kind of made us all a little bit homesick.
Rest in the sercurity that Papa is here, that He loves you so much that He sent his son. His only son. His only son knowing what would lie before him. For you. And you. And me. And the people in Mozambique. And China. South Africa, too. The Philippines? Yes. Them too. For all. Even those who don't love him, those who refuse him. His love really is amazing.
Praise. God.
