Advent, Day 24

Christmas Eve 2006.

What a day. First, church in morning. The choir was excellent. And there's nothing better than singing Christmas carols. Some of the most successful evangelists were probably never called that. I was reminded today of Charles Schultz. How many times have I seen "A Charlie Brown's Christmas" -- every year for as long as I can remember. Which means that every year, Linus explained the meaning of Christmas to me. I didn't get it until about 4 years ago.

And I also was reminded of the people that wrote Christmas carols. How many times have I sung "Angels We Have Heard On High", "Joy to the World", "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem", "Noel", etc., and my personal favorite "Silent Night". I've been in choirs and sung these things, and I'm sure I wondered about them.

The arts - in this case, television and music - have provided wonderful ways for people to share the gospel of Christ with an audience that is often not receptive in any other way.

So, I came home from church and made bruschetta -- it turned out decent, but the bread (I used a french bread) was a bit chewy for my taste. I don't honestly know if they lost their crispiness in the bags I put them in or what, but I need to figure that out for the next time. The recipe I make for the topping contains shallots, chives, ricotta salata cheese, balsamic vinegar, and tomatoes. Yum, Yum......................Yum. Can't beat it for flavor burst.

So, it was off to the Candlelight Service at 6 pm, after picking up Peter. It was an awesome service indeed.

Then I spent the evening with friends, and we had fun playing games -- first Jenga, then a pig game, then Mad Gab. Mad Gab is hysterical. Then home (actually house sitting) .......just under an hour ago. The kitchen is a disaster area -- sorry Steve -- so I should probably clean it up tonight.

This year, I've missed being with my family a bit more than usual. Perhaps because it has been a really, really tough and disappointing year all the way around. To keep it in perspective, though....let's take a look at some of the biblical people -- were there any people in there who had tough and disappointing years?

Hmmmm....I wonder how David felt hiding from his king, Solomon, for 7 or 8 years. What did he do on his holidays? Or how about the year he got kicked out of his own city by his son Absolom? Or the year when he fell so far into sin that it cost his son his life -- not to mention the man he unjustly killed?

Elijah probably did not enjoy the holidays after running for 40 days straight when threatened by Jezebel.

In prison, wrongly accused by Pharoah's wife, Joseph probably did not dance with glee at any holiday gatherings.

How about the year Cain killed Able. Probably not such a good year for Adam or Eve. Mother's Day would not have been a good one for Eve that year.

The list just goes on and on and on.

Imprisoned for his faith, I'm thinking Paul, though he made the most of his circumstances, probably may have "dreamed" of or at least thought of better holiday celebrations that could have occurred.

In fact, I can't think of one person in the bible who never had a bad, bad, really bad year at some point. My problems seem really, really insignificant at best in comparison. Other than Jesus. By my standards, his last year would have been horrendous, wouldn't you say? After being sent to save us, he got rejected, beaten, jailed, tortured, and crucified. That would be far worse for me than this past year. And yet, might he not say it was his best year? He fulfilled his mission and with his sacrifice, he saved any who believe in him.

The activities today certainly, including the writing of this post, have certainly kept the self-pity at bay! Thanks, friends! Thank you, Jesus. I hope to get to know you better this year.