MERRY CHRISTMAS!!! I had a different blog planned for today that was messy and honest and vulnerable, but today I’m wayyy more excited so I’m going to attempt to combine the two.
YALL IT IS CHRISTMAS! The best day of the entire year. (My team watched Elf and decided I might be Buddy the Elf, and I’m starting to see why. Bring me all the syrup and Christmas songs. No shame!)
I’ve always loved Christmas, and I’ve always, always put a little extra emphasis on the Jesus part. I mean, that IS why we celebrate! So this year, even though I’m so sad to be away from my friends and family and stockings and roast beast, I’m EVEN MORE excited for the birth of the Messiah.
Over the last five months, I’ve seen God move in the biggest ways. I’ve been constantly surrounded by people who believe so deeply in the Gospel that they’ve given up their comfy lives to raise their kids in developing countries to love on hurting people. I’ve met people younger than I am who have already committed to international super-secret ninja work. (If you didn’t read my last blog, the Vietnamese don’t love the m-word. And code words are cooler anyway!)
Which brings me to my point: Christ wasn’t born into a world waiting with open arms for him. He was born into a world that hates him. That was waiting to crucify him. And he KNEW that. God loves us SO much that he came down to be with us in the midst of our brokenness.
Y’all I just want to weep when I think about it. We don’t have to do anything at all to earn God’s relentless love. Let that sink in. Christ willingly came to earth and took on the pain and suffering WE deserve because we are so loved and adored.
You are loved. You are adored. You are pursued. To the point of death.
So this Christmas I get to celebrate all of that in a closed country. I get to be a super secret ninja in a place that doesn’t welcome Jesus on the day we celebrate his coming. WHAT?! THAT’S A BIG DEAL!
My team got to be involved with getting 75 orphans individual presents with their names on them and 6 disabled people now have a job and income for the entire next year. We celebrated Christmas Eve in a church with TWENTY FOUR nationalities. We busted open a reindeer piñata full of Asian candies and watched Christmas movies over the sound of Christmas karaoke in the streets. Southeast Asia loves some karaoke! We rented out a tiny restaurant in an alley and paid two days of food budget for all you can eat Korean tacos with our entire squad. We played White Elephant with things in our pack, and rewrote Christmas songs with World Race lyrics.
And with that I remember I have the coolest opportunity in the entire world to travel the globe and just love people. I’m spending the greatest day of the year with 49 other people who chose some stranger’s salvation over precious moments with their families back home.
So as I type through teary eyes, mourning my traditions and family at home, I’m also rejoicing. Y’all. I’ve said this before. God doesn’t need us. We aren’t even qualified. But he uses us anyway. We are fiercely loved by him and get to shower other people with that same love by just showing up. So when I remember that I get to be a part of somebody else’s Christmas magic, my heart just wants to burst. Even the smallest acts of kindness point people to Jesus. And it’s an honor to be allowed into the lives of people around the world. I pray that wherever you are this Christmas, you’re filled with lots of love and lots of joy (and Reese cups and cornbread dressing, too!).
