Accepting the Unexpected

If you don't know, I'm an Aggie, meaning that I graduated from Texas A&M University. So I was happy when the Aggies beat t.u. (University of Texas) at Thanksgiving.

What I didn't expect to see was an ice fishing shack with a burnt orange paint job and big "T" painted on the side on Forest Lake up here in Minnesota.

We see the strangest things when we're not looking.

John saw Jesus coming to him to be baptised. It was his calling to prepare people for Jesus' coming, not to prepare Jesus.

But John accepted the unexpected, and allows us to see GOD in the unexpected.

The voice from the heavens: "This is my beloved Son"

The dove from above

The Christmas visitors we didn't expect.

The friends and family who didn't make it home for Christmas, at least not to our home.

A Savior born to Shepherds, and truck drivers, and garbage collectors and tax collectors

Salvation for poor young women, and carpenters, and prostitutes, and priests.

A Texas ice shack, seen by an Aggie. (What is it I'm doing in Minnesota!)

Letters from good friends, and old friends.

A savior who came for me.

Amen

I couldn't say it better..

It's nearly Christmas, and we're all waiting for the birth of a Son, and Savior, a Child. Births are wonderful, full of hope and joy. Somewhere in the waiting, though, we know that our Savior has to die for us.

Why? is the question many of us ask around Christmas, when we suffer loss, especially around Christmas, when the world tells us to be happy, and merry.

I'm convinced that God still speaks to us. It's just that as we get older, we get hard of hearing.
Children must still be able to hear God, I've heard too much wisdom come from children.

This child, Logan, gives his account of God's answer to that eternal question; Why?

Ice Storm

Today I drove to work in a winter wonderland. The trees were covered in a layer of frost that made it look like the whole landscape had been covered with Martha Stewart's ultra fine glitter. Now, its falling off the trees and it looks like it's snowing unde a clear blue sky.

How wonderful! How Beautiful!

The sign at church said "Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile objects, but look what they can do when they stick together"

When frost turns to a coating of ice, no more flakes, just a solid mass of frozen water, it aint pretty anymore.

Mom and dad are without power for the second day, following an ice storm that has crippled the mid section of our nation. The new agencies are saying that it may take up to 1o days for some people to get power, and it's December! Dad bought a generator in preparation for the storm, and Mom stored up water. They have enough food to last quite a while, but what if you didn't get a generator, and you house doesn't have a fireplace?

How aweful, how dangerous,how deadly.

It's amazing how the form or amount of water can make such a big difference.
Water brings life, and beauty, and cleanlieness.
Ice and floods bring death and destruction and disaster.

It's still just water, just too much in the wrong place.

The living water that Jesus promises is always just the right amount in just the right place. The frost on the trees, the rain that nourishes the crops, the river that fills our taps. Enough to share, enough to live, and to live abundantly.

God sends us what we need, even when the world sends ice storms and floods.

God sent a child when we needed a savior.
No need for a soldier, God sent a Son.

Oh Come, Oh Come, Emmanuel!

I think I need glasses

Christmas is coming! It snowed in Minnesota this weekend, so it's beginning to look alot like Christmas, too. I'm beginning to think I need some Christmas glasses, so I can see the beauty and joy of the season. I want the "take 40 years off your perception" prescription.


One of the looks, of course, are the Christmas lights that decorate the houses sometime after Thanksgiving. I admit, I like the lights, but there are people who add a little more bling to thier yard than I appreciate. The proliferation of huge holiday inflatables is one tradition I don't intend to start in my own yard.


So, when we were driving home one evening, and saw a rather tiny yard with about 20 inflatable santas and more lights than JFK airport, my inner decorator cringed.


Jonah piped up from the back seat, "Mom, isn't it bee-u-ti-ful!" in the unadulterated accent of a four-year-old. Miriam "oohhed" from her perch in the car seat.


It was pretty, and I had dismissed it as overload.


Even yesterday, driving home in the snowstorm that put a damper on our pre-school fundraiser, Jonah declared again, "It's bee-u-ti-ful!"


To the heart of a child, zipping up a coat, the first snow, and a glass of chocolate milk are reasons for celebration.



May my eyes be cleared of the haze of age and adversity, and see this season with the eyes of my children.


A baby, lying in a manger, cold and alone, is always "beu-u-ti-ful!"