Christmas celebrations have been around for a lot longer than
any of us have.  It's both historical and traditional, which means
it happened and then folks thought it was significant enough
to warrant it's own holiday.  Whether or not it is a spiritual
 "Holy Day" depends on each individual who participates in
 the celebration.  The fact that folks today want to replace
 the baby Jesus with a Santa suit makes me sad, but that
 is their celebration, not mine.

  From what I understand, many years ago,  some pagan
 folks threw a big party celebrating whatever they believe.
 The Christians watched,  thinking,"That looks like fun but
 we don't believe like they do. We would like to have a
 party but what do we Christians have to be joyful over?"
 Some one mentioned that we have quite a bit.  How
 about Christ's birth, to begin with?  So, then it was settled!

I agree with the early Christians.  Christmas to me is about
 the Son Of God taking on human flesh.  It is about a baby
 born in a manger who would later take on some pretty
 heavy stuff.  The Son Of God took on human pain and
 suffering.   But that is only half of it. He also took on the
 ultimate trauma; God laid the sins of us all, on Him.  That
 is a different kind of torture that I will not have to know
 because Jesus went there for me. He is my Savior ....
 and my Champion!

The world has many champions. You have to do something
 pretty special though to gain that title.  Like, winning the
 Super Bowl.  Everybody loves a winning football team!
 My Champion didn't carry a football though. He carried me.
Jesus carried me and my sins all the way down the field,
right past the devil and on through all of his best players;
over the finish line, we went.  There was no cheering or out-
ward expression of glory for Him though.  Instead of fame,
He got shame.  Few even knew what He was doing.  Heaven's
scoreboard lit up though and that was what mattered most.

The stories of a kind and jolly old elf named Santa Claus
amuse me.  Reindeer,  decorations, presents and cookies;
of course they make us smile. But what happens when the
presents are all opened, the cookies are eaten and the rest
of the Christmas Turkey is in the freezer?

Life goes on, three hundred and sixty five days a year.
Happiness fades and "business as usual",  takes over again.
Unless of course, you remember that the baby in the manger
didn't stay there.  He grew and lived out the rest of His earthly
life with one plan.  Making a way to reconnect fallen man with
his Creator, God. 

Unlike happiness, joy remains throughout the hardest of times.
It is God's gift and a promise that He will hold us up and even
carry us if need be.   His Word is alive.  God's Word became flesh,
and dwelt among us.  His name was and still is Jesus.

Yes, God did celebrate with a light show in the sky and angel chorus.
He even sent invitations out to visitors who came from near and far.
Sadly though, His Son's birth was more of a spiritual celebration, as
we all know.  He came to offer Himself up as a living sacrifice for
all who would believe.

That intimidating old hill of Golgotha, they called The Skull,
was chosen by God years before Jesus' killers were even born.
It simply did it's job and held tightly to the cross that day when
God's Champion, always in control, spread out his arms and spoke
this word: "Tetelestai", which means, "It is finished.   And it was!

The rock could not hold Him.  The Grave could not keep Him.
And I will never forget what He has done for me.  Celebrating His
birth is a pleasure.  What day that celebration falls on matters not to
 me.  He was born.  He lived.  He died and He rose again. Today, He
sits at the right hand of His and my Father, ever to make intercession
for me and you.  Knowing that, is the only thing I believe I need to
know to get it right.

Wow, with every moment that passes ....

Each time we reach a crossroad and need to make a choice,
if we could only realize just how very precious and powerful that moment is
and understand it's ability to change our lives for the better!

Then, we would also understand that we are
constantly reaching these crossroads every day ....
all day long and learn to pause and think about what we are doing,
how our future will be affected and hopefully care enough
to start making better decisions.

Gotta work on that caring part .....

Just finished watching and listening to "The Messiah".

When the Hallelujah Chorus began I was sitting

but every hair on my head was standing straight up;

So, I had to stand up too.

It's like a  practice Rapture each time, The Hallelujah Chorus plays.

I can only imagine it will be like that, only better,

when Christ actually arrives!

I am sure that this chorus is the National Anthem of Heaven.

King of Kings and Lord of Lords ....

who could sit through that?

Just thinking ....... 

We live in a society divided by many things. We all hold strong opinions and tend to think that we are right. That's ok. It's our freedom and right to do so. But when someone else disagrees, don't write them off. Friends don't try to manipulate and control each other.

Like iron sharpens iron, we benefit from our diverse friendships. When you can listen to someone relay their convictions, even when they go contrary to your own and still welcome their friendship, well, to me at least, that's the truest definition of a friend.

It seems that both sides of the equation, being equal .... we both want the same things. We just have different ways of achieving it.  That's how I see it anyway.

I will add, this was not a randomly inspired post.  I just realized that a person who I valued as a good friend, defriended me after the elections.  She was very sure of a Hillary Victory and devastated by the loss.

We obviously were on different poles when it came to the elections but had much to agree and work together on when it came to other things.

Today we all want to be heard, but are not such good listeners.    We demand respect but are not so good at giving it. We are quick to judge and walk away from those we do not understand.