The Climax of Christmas

I was just thinking about Christmas as a kid: life after Christmas is unbelievably depressing because you've been waiting for the great big day, and then the day comes, and then its over. And for a few days you are stuck looking at the Christmas tree and Christmas lights, and all of a sudden it is very stale and the anticipation is over.

Well, this year, I am leaving for Africa three days after Christmas. Little different ring to that, I guess. The climax doesn't end, actually it sort of intensifies as I get ready to leave my own culture again.

And why, now, am I leaving my home and going to Africa for a month? Because I believe that this holiday represents something real to celebrate- that God came and wandered among humanity to offer us the cure to our sin disease. And maybe there are some people in Ethiopia who don't know that- don't know that Christmas is worth celebrating because of that.

So tonight while we sang "O Come Let Us Adore Him" at church I had this overwhelming sense of relief. Not the end of the climax, His birth was just the beginning. The beginning of putting everything right, of His ultimate rule that will never end. We have pain and dissonance in lots of places in our lives- I see it in our own family sometimes- but He came, and I thought to myself... its ok. Everything is going to be ok, no matter what happens, it will be ok. Because You came. You really came to set us right.

I hope my heart is preparing room for Him tonight.

I am getting ready to travel. I remember the way I felt coming back through the international terminal in San Fransico on my way to Israel last year- like coming back to life after living here. I think I do feel generally better and more alive outside the States- maybe that is because I am usually having more fun. I keep picturing the rooftop of the Jerusalem hotel, with me sitting up there at 6:30 or 7 in the morning- jet lag working for me- and reading my Bible, watching the sunlight hitting all the old buildings, and feeling crisp balmy summer air that I just don't ever feel here in California!

My trip still needs prayer, and some work. My job tonight is to get a handle on what, if anything, is missing from my wardrobe for the trip, and my job tomorrow is to get one box- Brian's stuff- all packed.

And is Christmas really less than a week away??

Funny, these wandering times. I cannot read very much I wrote since the time I first left for Ethiopia without crying. It is all that heart-wrestling and change and growing. I feel so much better this year than last Christmas, but I know my wanderings are not over, will we ever feel settled here?

I used to like using David's life as a model- all the years he spent on the run, hiding next to springs like En Gedi and crying out to God for help. I still like his example, but I decided in church yesterday I had changed my mind a little. David's model ended with David getting everything- after all the wandering, he got power, money, love, what else could you want? I don't want to be wandering just so I hope to get everything in the end.

John the Baptist, on the other hand. He wandered. He lived in the same Judean wilderness David hid out in. He was spiritual, looking ahead to spiritual comings.

And in the end, he was jailed, and then his head was cut off. No money or power or love in the end, just martyrdom for proclaiming God's truth.

So, God can do whatever He chooses with my wandering. He doesn't have to promise me anything. I can rest in Him as my Potter.