Fog

Aunt Ana and Ella in the fog.

The air cooled as I walked to the ocean. The white caps on the waves were barely visible as I rounded the top of the dune. 

How is the water? I asked the departing surfer.

Frigid and rough, he replied.

As I walked to the water's edge, the fog was so thick I could not see the life guard stands on the neighboring beach. Everything in front of me seemed to disappear into the fog when I walked along the ocean's shore. I could not see what was ahead, and what was behind me also vanished into the heavy white fog.

Like the future, we cannot see what is up ahead. Unlike the surfer, no one can come back from the future to tell us what is there. No one knows but You, Beloved Jesus. You are already there in the future. You will greet me with Your loving arms and only then will it be clearly seen. 

Ella feels safe with mom and
Aunt Chrissy

When I look back to my past, it too is clouded by my current knowledge, my attitudes. My heart cannot always rightly remember. Only You know, Beloved. And You will not tell me. 

Can I trust You with this secret? Can I have faith that You will be there?  Will I stay at peace while I still do not yet know?

Or will I trust these others who assert that they too can see into the future? I am sure they cannot, nor will they be there to depend on, to give me the provision and safety I will need. 

No! I will trust only You, Beloved. Only You.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. (Proverbs 3:5-6)

Happy 100 Years for Frank

To honor a great man who loved my mom well, and who we love so much. 

Today, he is 100 years old!

I met Frank about a quarter of a century ago, so I have only known him a quarter of his life. But I want to share with you today what I have learned about Frank Micciulli. 

My mom met Frank in 2001 and they hit it off immediately. Because she was newly widowed, honestly, at first I was a little concerned. Who is this man? I asked her. She replied, you’ll meet him and when you do, you’ll like him too. And of course she was right. 

Frank was strong and healthy in his mid-70s. Unlike most men his age, he had a full head of dark hair. He was smart and strong and very social like my mom. He generously took her out to dinners, to parties, to trips she never would have been able to go on if it was not for Frank. He was generous with his time as well as his money. We were especially grateful he was always willing to drive up to be with us at our family parties. Frank because a regular guest for Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Easter, Mother’s Day and whatever else we all were celebrating. 

At first, I referred to Frank as my mother’s boyfriend, always with a giggle that mom in her 80s and 90s would have a boyfriend. But as time went on, Frank became the only grandfather and great-grandfather my family knew. We loved him and he always showed love to us. 

It was when my mom had terminal cancer when we saw Frank’s best side, his love and loyalty to mom. I remember when the hospice nurse came for her first visit. She and I discussed how this was not only affecting my mom, but also Frank. In his late 90s now, we thought watching mom die slowly of cancer would be too hard for him. So I asked him if he wanted to spend the end of her life at his son’s house because it was going to get ugly. But Frank stayed and hung in there until the end. That really meant a lot to mom and to all of us. As she faded, he helped care for her. And when she needed him the most at the end, he stayed here with her and with us and helped her pass in a good way, in her home, surrounded by our love and his love. 

Frank at our home for holiday dinner

Now when I introduce Frank, I introduce him as my family. Because he is. He’s our bonus grandfather and we all love him and are so delighted to celebrate his 100th birthday. I am also so grateful for his new friends here at Cedar Crest and how warm and welcoming everyone is here. Thank you! 

Thank you Frank for loving us all so well. May God bless you with many more good years.

Love and Courage Passed Down

To my grandson Giovanni Emmanuel Moreau, on his 18th birthday 

Gabriele Micchelli was born in Italy in 1882. His wife Anna was born there too in 1885. At that time, Italy was a relatively young kingdom, formed in 1861, unifying the providences in that area under a single king. Note that in the USA, 1861 was the start of the Civil War. 

In the late 1800s, there was dire poverty among the common Italian people who did not own land, and even for those who did, the soil was poor. Exploitation, violence, malnutrition and disease were widespread. Because of this, more than four million Italians immigrated to the United States between 1880 and 1924 to look for a better life. Among them were Gabriele and Anna Micchelli. 

Gabriele and Anna settled in Newark NJ near other family and had nine children, six boys and three girls. As per tradition, the first seven were named after grandparents, uncles and aunts. The eighth was named Ann after her mother. Their last baby, born November 6, 1925, was a surprise as Anna was 40 years old and thought she was past child-bearing age. They named their baby son Gabriel after his father. 

Gabriel grew up in a multi-generational home. His oldest brother Louis was 20 when he was born. When Louis married, he brought his bride to the second floor apartment to live. There, they had a son who they also named Gabriel. He was about four years younger than his uncle Gabriel and they grew up together, as did the other cousins, as the oldest Micchelli children married and took their turn to live in the upstairs apartment. 

In 1929, when Gabriel was four years old, his father died of the flu at age 47. Anna was only 44. Gabriel had no memory of his father, only sharing with us the story of him playing in front of the casket set up in the living room for family to visit. The oldest sons were already working and contributed to the household so that they could manage to keep food on the table. Thus began a habit of the brothers bringing their pay home each week's end and placing their pay envelope (they were paid in cash) on the kitchen table, unopened, for their mother. This practice continued until Gabriel married, when to Louise's surprise, at week's end, he came home and placed his pay envelope on their kitchen table, unopened. Gabriel's older brothers and sisters helped raise him. He remained the beloved baby brother to them all of their lives. 

The language spoken in the home was Italian. Anna never learned English and taught all her children to speak Italian. Therefore, when Gabriel went to public school, he spoke only Italian and had to learn English there. 

The year of Gabriele's death was also the start of the Great Depression. Money was tight. Favorite meals included Pasta e Fagioli (pasta and beans) and pasta with gravy made with leftover bones bought at the local butcher shop. All the brothers at home slept in one room and Gabriel joked that since they all shared clothes, the first one up was the best one dressed. 

When Pearl Harbor was attacked on December 7, 1941, the United States declared war. Gabriel had just turned 16 years old. Therefore after high school, Gabriel did not go to college and he did not get a job. He enlisted in the Army and saw combat in World War II overseas. He was one of the fortunate ones to return home with only a hearing loss due to a bomb that exploded nearby. Another of his brothers, Joseph was not so lucky. He was wounded in the rear leg, had to wear and brace, and suffered with pain for the rest of his life. 

When Gabriel returned from the war, his future was mapped out for him. Like the rest of his brothers and one of his sisters, he learned the hairdressing trade because one well-established Micchelli uncle had a successful hairdressing shop in Newark. Gabriel worked there for several years. He worked as a hairdresser all of his life, until he retired. Then he continued to cut our hair until his dementia took hold of him. 

Gabriele and Anna Micchelli are your great-great grandparents. I have no memory of either grandparent, Gabriele or Anna. All I have are the memories of the stories told about them. But the love they had for their children has been passed on to me. The courage they had to leave their homeland, to come to a distant country for a better life, and to struggle through loss, poverty and war, that has been passed down to me as well. And so I want to pass that on to you. 

This week you turn 18 and graduate from high school. You will attend university in the fall. This is a great adventure, but also a great privilege. Always remember you stand on the shoulders of great men and women of love and courage who have made this possible for us. 

And remember to pass it on.

More on Gabriel Micchelli, click  here.

Put on Your Armor

Having just completed Priscilla Shirer's study The Armor of God, here are my notes and blessings received that I want to remember...

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in His mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 

For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 

Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 

In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God. 

And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. (Ephesians 6:10-18).

We talk about Faith being a journey. Sounds like a trip to Disneyland. But here we are reminded it is a battlefield. The enemy may be invisible but he is very real, clever and persistent. We may think we are immune because we are believers, but we are not. However, the Holy Spirit gives us power but we must employ the strategies Paul gives us to overcome the evil one. We must be alert and participate in the battle.

First we must be alert to the lies of the enemy. Refuse to allow trials or comforts to make us unaware of the battle. Pay attention to not only our areas of weakness but also of great strength. Pray the Lord would not only protect us, but also open our eyes to see where we need to engage in the battle. Help us notice the lies of the enemy and understand and desire God's truth. 

For me, my weakness is my desire for control, the lure of comfort, and my attraction to chaos. Father, help me to quiet my soul to hear when You want me to act, or silently pray and trust You. Help me not seek mere comfort but true peace, Your Shalom, which sometimes requires action when I would prefer to rest, confrontation when I would prefer to make nice, and being still when I feel I must act. Help me see, Beloved! Help me hear Your voice. You have promised to give us this wisdom when we ask; You are in our hearts always and all we need to do is ask You.

Truth is what God says. Jesus is truth. This is the starting place. Whether we understand--or  not; whether we agree--or not; whether we like it--or not; whether it is uncomfortable--or not. His Word is true and we must AGREE with it and LIVE it. God's truth may restrict us, but it also give us the pathway to peace with not only God, but also with others. His ways was never given to harm us but to give us the best future and hope.

Truth gives us freedom! It may look like restricted living but we all have a master, and we get to pick: rebellion or Jesus. Jesus is always the best choice and gives us true freedom.

The enemy tells us it's only a small thing, it won't really hurt, it's not really a problem. But it does hurt. It is a problem. Partial obedience is rebellion. Secret sins are not hidden from God. The enemy is always lying.

A life of righteousness, aligned with God's truth, is a demonstration to the world of the beauty and peace of holiness, testifying of God's love. Because of Jesus' sacrifice and resurrection, I am already the righteousness of Christ. I already have it. Before I do anything, I have everything I need. He has already been victorious, I need only to walk in its power. We have an invisible partner: the Holy Spirit. He is renewing our minds, changing our attitudes and desires, giving us strength. And our invisible partner is much stronger than the invisible enemy! Our focus must be on our spiritual health and the Spirit will supply all we need.

Peace with God should break down the dividing wall between us and others because we all fall short of God's glory. Jesus provides forgiveness for us all. We engage, showing others respect, listening, being kind but sharing truth. This allows others to see Jesus. Some will reject, but may it not be because we were not gentle and patient.

Peace means trust in God: being thankful, focusing on the good, taking our sorrows and anxiety to Him, doing what is right and trusting Him with the results. Then He promises us His peace. 

The shoes of peace He gives us are GO shoes. We are to go to others, bringing peace, joy, love and good news of reconciliation and salvation. He has created us for good works what He has prepared for us beforehand. What I say matters. What I pray matters. The enemy wants me to retire and I must not.

Faith is a shield to us to protect us from the distractions of the enemy. Faith is when we choose to act according to God's truth event when we can't know the outcome. "Faith is acting like it is so, even when it is not so, so that it might be so, simply because God said so." -- Dr. Tony Evans.

I can be absorbed by things I can't change (in culture and in politics), instead of paying attention to more important things in my own life that are truly my responsibility. 

God will help me when I take the first step. I will not run out of time--God is in control of that! As we move forward, God gives us a holy confidence and bold courage to push back on the things that had been overwhelming us. It is not about the size of our faith. It is about the power and faithfulness of our God. The enemy hopes we will be deterred by how feel and what we perceive. That is why he makes us feel unloved, insecure, incapable, or afraid. We can't let him win this war. We must trust God. He is always worth the risk.

Beloved Jesus, help me to have self-control: I don't want to do what my body and heart tells me to do, and allow myself to be ruled by my desires. Instead I want to allow the Spirit to rule me, to be alert and intentional.  

The helmet of our salvation protects our brains by reminding us our identity is in Christ. We are our Beloved's and His desire is for us. We must hold onto it and protect it. Our brain is affected by what our mind thinks. Science now demonstrates thoughts change the chemistry of our brain. When we change our thinking, we change our mind and then it changes our life. "Every time we have a thought, it is actively changing your brain and your body--for better or for worse." -- Dr. Caroline Leaf

We there must take every thought captive:

• Review each thought 
• Refuse idle and evil
• Replace with God's truth
• Repeat

When we agree with and rehearse the enemy's lies, we are a partner with him in building up walls that keep us captive. There may be a grain of truth, but entangle that from the other lies.

We always need the humility to ask the question: is it me, Lord? But with it we must have the peace to know that what is my sin, when I confess and repent, I can be confident God will be faithful to forgive and restore me. And the Holy Spirit will change me. But when the enemy uses others to tell me lies about myself, I must reject those lies  

We act out who we believe we are. Before I make a choice, reflect on the why--the motivation behind it. 

And always compare all to God's Word. It is our great weapon against the enemy. God speaks to us because He loves us. Listen to Him.

We are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared for us beforehand so that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:10)

Beloved Father, You saw who You created me to be before I became me! Before I'd even seen the light of day, the number of my days You planned for me were already recorded in Your Book... How precious and wonderful to consider that You cherish me! (Psalm 139:16-17 TPT) 

You cherish me not for what I do, but for who You made me to be, Praise God! 

The Desire of Our Hearts

When we allow the desire for any one thing to get ahold of our heart so strongly and we focus on it so much that we do whatever it takes to get it--strive for it, work for it, dream, scheme and manipulate for it--when we elevate it to a "need" we will die without it...

Then this is sin, specifically called coveting, and we have elevated it to kingship in our life. And then it begins to rule over us.

Our desires rule us. Not God.  

Our love for Him, our trust and devotion, must remove the thing we desired then "needed" from the throne and allow God to return and take His rightful place, as King of our hearts alone. He will have His way away! He loves us and knows all things and everything He does is Right and Good and Pure and True. 

We find as we lie in our bed mourning our loss and weeping with our faces to the wall that God is right. Eventually His way is true, His way will come true. Nothing will change that.

And we find that we do not die without it. We go on to other things, love other people, serve in other places and these things are good. Better even. Of course they are!

Father, I realize now that sometimes our dreams becoming coveting, a sin. Sin, when grasped and desired, elevated to urgently needed, held to our chest, it kills us as we drift into worshipping it instead of You. 

Allow me to always see this in my life in BIG and in small ways. Allow me to let go, or hold on loosely. Help me to accept the outcome with grace and celebrate whatever as Your truth, Your grace, Your goodness! Let obedience taste good in my mouth and allow me to pursue it for its own sake. 

Because in pursuing obedience I honor You and draw closer to Your peace. Let no thing, no matter how beautiful, desirable, or even good, distract me or deter me from following You.

And he did evil because he did not set his heart to seek (inquire of, yearn for) the Lord with all his desire. (2 Chronicles 12:14 AMP)

Way to Heaven

Today is the one year anniversary of my mom’s death. One year ago today we sat with the Hospice nurse. After examining mom she told us what we already knew. Mom was actively dying. She advised us to go in one at the time and then leave her alone to pass in peace.

Mom looking fabulous of course!

Mom always loved making an entrance. She would purposefully would arrive late to a party, so everyone would already be there and see her when she walked in. She was a firm believer in it’s better to arrive late than ugly.

Lying in her bed, withered and frail, unable to talk or swallow or even see at the end, there was no way she could have made that exit as her lovely vivacious self. So when we all left her, she left too. My prayer has been that when she met Jesus it will be in her age-30 body, full make-up, spike heels and beautiful dress.

Mom was a forward looking woman. She was still planning vacation cruises in her 90s. Of course, she was not able to go, but I think just the planning was comforting to her. She may have been in her sunset years, but life was not over and she intended to live fully to the end. Which by the mercy of God she was able to do. Until the last weeks when the cancer caused her body to fade slowly away, she did everything, joined groups at the independent living community, went out with her grandchildren, enjoyed her companion Frank.

Mom would love to see her grandkids together

So it is with great regret I need to confess this year was about death for me. My 2023 word of the year was death. I tried to shake it off, but could not. With mom gone, I am next to oldest in my family. As I sorted through her clothing, her trinkets and decorations, then her jewelry and her photos, I could not shake the questions. She was so alive; how could she now be so dead? What would she think of us as we look at her personal items and give some to family, give most away and discard the rest? Does she know how much we miss her? Can she see her great-grandchildren as they learn to walk, go to school, play football, and one being born?

Never has heaven felt more real than now that both my mom and dad are in it.

Even as I tried to shake it off, at year end, more people passed, and it all came back to me.

Mom would have loved to see Gio
play football 

Looking at death in the face – and not blinking – is very important.

At the services I attended, they read from the gospel of John. The disciple John recalls and shares with us the words of Jesus the night before He died.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14:1-4)

This is mission of Jesus. To gather us so we will be with Him forever in the place He is preparing for us. We call it Heaven, a place of peace, abundance and delight. But the disciples were unaware of the impending crucifixion of Jesus and they were confused. Actually I am too so I am so glad brave Thomas asked the question everyone in the room was wondering.

Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we don’t know where You are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus answered, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you really know Me, you will know My Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him.” (John 14:5-7)

Jesus is clear. He is the way to His kingdom and there is no other way. Not only to believe in Him as an excellent teacher or even as the Son of God, but also have enough faith to follow His ways. As Jesus stated as the discussion continued:

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”

Jesus answered: “Don’t you know Me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in Me? The words I say to you I do not speak on My own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in Me, who is doing his work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves...”

“If you love Me, keep My commands... Whoever has My commands and keeps them is the one who loves Me. The one who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I too will love them and show Myself to them.” (John 14:8-11, 15, 21)

There are some of this generation who find this offensive and I get it, it is a hard thing to accept if you feel on the outside of the Christian camp. What about the people who never heard of Jesus? The good people who have other religious backgrounds?

The Christian camp is bad metaphor. In a camp, you sign up, you pay your fee and have fun inside the camp. Others who did not sign up and did not pay the fee are kept outside. Even if they would like to come in.

Mom wanted to meet her new grandchild

Heaven is a kingdom open to all who will choose to say yes to Jesus’ invitation. He left the glory of heaven to sign you up. He paid the total price on the cross. And then He provided the receipt at the resurrection. All we have to do is say yes and accept it as a free gift.

Yes, I know you may have objections…

“I have things I do that are wrong according to the Bible,” you may say. Me too. The Holy Spirit can work with that. Actually the list of rules is quite brief, here it is in two sentences:

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34-35)

Yes, it is more complicated than that, but that is the place to start, a good place, an “easy yoke, a light burden” as Jesus put it. If we have faith in Jesus, and believe He created the world and loves us, we will trust Him enough to keep His commandments. It does not happen all at once. But the Holy Spirit is there to help us.

“I don’t like Christians, they are mean and judgmental and hypocrites”, you may say. Sadly, yes I would agree. We are a motley bunch and we are who Jesus has decided to work with. Please be patient with us as the Holy Spirit will work on us too. The idea is we are all imperfect, all other imperfect people are welcome. You too! Me too!

“All my friends will hate me,” you may say. Yes, agreed that is a problem. Many hated Jesus too. You see what they did to Him. I don’t want to sugar coat it. It can get ugly. But when we continue to be loving as well as truthful to others, sometimes our friends can come around to believing in Jesus as well. The Holy Spirit uses us all like that.

All I can say is you can’t take part of what Jesus says and ignore other parts. It’s like the news sound bite where they report on part of what someone says that is the best—or the worst-- and leave out the rest! Jesus promised Heaven to anyone who would believe and have the faith to follow Him. We are all invited. We choose to come early and ugly (that was me because I never want to miss anything!) or late and beautiful (my mom!) or we can walk away.

I have read the works and words of Jesus and I can’t un-see that He is the Son of God. He is asking you today to consider reading it too, opening up your heart to Him. His Holy Spirit takes care of the rest.

And as for the rest of us who already believe and follow? I don’t know about you but as for me, I feel Jesus is leading me to be intentional about my choices, to follow Him closely, holding up the lamp of the Word to lead me day by day. Because as I said, I am only growing older and the time is short. I am confident that although the end of my trip may be difficult, the destination will be fabulous.

"The Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you." (John 14:26)

The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance… So then, dear friends, since you are looking forward to this, make every effort to be found spotless, blameless and at peace with Him. (2 Peter 3:9, 14)

Don’t have a Bible? No problem, it’s all online! Visit www.biblegateway.com  or for the visual learner, try www.bibleproject.com

Ella loves makeup like her great-grandma
but she has to work on it!

The Most Important Christmas Tradition

What is your favorite holiday tradition? 

I have a favorite Christmas tradition, one I did with my daughters, my grandson, and now with my granddaughter this year. My first baby was born on Christmas Eve. Needless to say, Christmas has always been a very busy time for our family since then. On her second Christmas, she was one year old, and not only did I have to plan for Christmas but also her first birthday party. I'm sure you can all relate. 

What changed our Christmas celebration trajectory was something that happened exactly six months after her birth on June 24, 1988. That was the day of my spiritual awakening. Some of you may know what that is like, some of you would call it a "born-again" experience. For me, it felt similar to my first romance. I felt joyful and light. I wanted to tell everyone about it, even though most other people I told did not understand. And I wanted to know everything about my new love, who was Jesus. So I looked in the best place where I could find out about Him, the Bible. 

At the time, the knowledge I wanted most was how to be a good mom, since the whole mothering thing was new to me and I had no idea what I was doing. I started at the beginning of the Bible and I found this instruction that was gold and I determined to follow it. It is from Deuteronomy 6:4-7:

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 

These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 

This made sense to me at the time, and now in retrospect, I realize how important it was to teach our children about God as they naturally go about their days. It is good also to bring your children to church for instructions, it is great if they have grandparents or aunts and uncles to also tell them about God. 

But moms, it is of vital importance that YOU tell them yourself as you wake them up in the morning, as you put them to bed at night, as you drive them around. It is most impactful to them to lead by your own example of faith. Anyone one who had a toddler knows they model your behavior, the good and the bad. 

So I took this seriously. And when Christmas came around, I was diligent to teach them the story of Christmas. My mother-in-law made this easy for me because she had given me a Nativity set with plastic people. I used these plastic people to tell the story of Jesus to my children. 

 • I told them about how the angel Gabriel came to Mary to announce to her that she would be blessed to be the mother of the Son of God. And Mary said Yes! 

• I explained how the angel then came to Joseph in a dream to tell him that he should marry Mary and to name the baby Jesus. And Joseph said Yes! 

• I used the donkey to show the long ride to Bethlehem and how Joseph knocked on doors asking, Any rooms? 

• Finally Mary and Joseph had their baby Jesus in a barn and she put Jesus asleep in the hay. 

• Also I told them the story of the shepherds at night in the fields watching their sheep and how the angels announced the news of great joy about the baby Jesus. And the shepherds said, Let's go see!

• Finally I told them about the wise men from far away who came to find and worship baby Jesus. They gave Him three gifts, gold, frankincense and myrrh. 

We used the plastic Nativity people each year to re-tell the story as we put together the manger scene and talked about God's love for us. I encouraged them to imagine the great and awesome God who created the heavens and earth, who knows the name of every star, yet also knows the numbers of hairs on your head, who created each type of animal, each blade of grass, each drop of water in the ocean, that God, loved us so much He became human to live among us.

Jesus could have come any TIME He wanted. He could have come in 2023 and been a Tik-Tok influencer in the age of the internet and air planes and indoor plumbing. How easy it would have been for Him to spread His message and become famous! 

But instead the time He chose was when the best mode of travel was a donkey and the best message delivery system was to speak from the top of a hill. 

Jesus could have come any WAY He wanted. He could have come as the son of a powerful king, or the son of a wealthy and honored rabbi. He could have come like the angels did, out of the sky, like a mighty warrior dressed in blazing glory. 

But instead, He chose a poor young girl, allowed her to travel far away from family and friends, to give birth in a barn surrounded by animals. Jesus came as a baby, and we all know what that means, right? He could not feed Himself, dress Himself, burp Himself or clean Himself. Plus there was no mom there for Mary, to remind her, "don't forget to support his head!" Or to say, "let me come over for the first time and show you how to give him a bath." Jesus allowed Himself to be helpless and trusted a teenage girl with His life. 

Why in the world did Jesus do that? 

Because He loves us. Because it was important for Him to relate to us. For Jesus to understand what it was like to be human by becoming one of us. For Him to be worthy for the sacrifice He would be making later on our behalf. 

And for us to have the option of faith. We choose to believe Him. Or not. He wants our love and He invites us, but He will not force us. 

Now the rest of the traditions are fun too and we enjoy them, but for our family, we were so busy we forgot to tell our children about Santa Claus. So we just never did. 

But honestly I do have this one problem with the way we use Santa to keep our children from going over the deep end in all the Christmas excitement. We tell them Santa comes ONLY for the GOOD little girls and boys. That he sees them when they are sleeping, knows when they're awake. He knows if they have been bad or good. And I get it, moms, no judgment from me! I am down for "whatever works". 

Jesus was just the opposite. Jesus not only came to show us all what God was really like. He came to all BAD girls and boys. And not to give us coal in our Christmas stockings. No, rather He came to provide us with forgiveness and to reconcile and restore our relationship with God. And honestly, we are ALL bad girls and boys. 

Just to prove the point, let me ask: 

Who of you have never, in your life, done anything wrong? Anything that violates your OWN moral code of conduct? Could you claim you are perfectly good? 

No?

Me neither. Matter of fact, if you give me 20 minutes I will say or do something wrong. So I'd better wrap this up then. 

Jesus came not only to live with us but also to pay the debt for all the things we did wrong. Not to look the other way, mind you and say to us, "that's ok sweetheart, you do you." 

No, He paid the price instead of us so that we could be with a holy God in heaven forever and empower us to live better while we are here. 

Click here for the original Christmas story in a translation that will be easy for your young child to understand. If you need to hear it again or hear it for the first time, please read it. Think about it. Be like the most famous mom in history, Mary of Nazareth, and treasure it in your heart. 

I encourage you this Christmas to share with your children the most miraculous story ever told, how God loved you and your children so much that He left the glory of paradise to be a baby and grow up, as an average child, just like the little one you love at home. The awesome God in a tiny baby's body. What is a better story than that? 

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Here's a question for you. 

It is interesting to read how different people reacted to the birth of Jesus. Mary and Joseph both said YES to the angel despite the hardships they would encounter. The shepherds were excited and came to see Jesus. The wise men brought gifts to honor and worship Jesus. 

But King Herod tried to find Jesus to murder Him. The gospel of Matthew 2:16 tells us: "Herod realized that the Wise Men had tricked him. So he became very angry. He gave orders about Bethlehem and the area around it. He ordered all the boys two years old and under to be killed. This agreed with the time when the Wise Men had seen the star." 

How do you react to the story of Jesus' birth? 

• Excited and joyful 

• Grateful 

• Worshipful 

• Indifferent 

• Skeptical 

• Offended 

• Hostile