Archive for December, 2012

How necessary is Santa, anyway?

Friday, December 14th, 2012

Last night I was putting my son to bed and he said, “Mom, I need to tell you something.”

He’s eight. Usually what he’s telling me is something about Legos or the funny game they were playing on the playground or something one of his friends did at school. But I could tell from his voice that this was something he was worrying about.

“What’s that, buddy? Did something happen today?”

“Yes. In class today we were reading a book about Santa and about how he disappeared and everyone was looking for him and stuff. And at the end, my teacher told the whole class that if there was no Santa, there’d be no Christmas.”

He stopped. His chin started wobbling, and I knew this was the problem.

“What did you think about that, buddy?”

“Mom, what if she doesn’t know? What if she thinks that’s really true? Santa isn’t why we have Christmas at all! We have Christmas because it’s Jesus’ birthday. And now she told all the kids in my class that too. What if they believe it?”

I thank God for my son’s heart. His first concern was that his teacher and friends might not know Jesus, that they might not understand what Christmas is really about.

How do we impact our world for Christ? How do we share what we know to be the truth? Santa’s fun, but Santa’s not Christmas. Christmas is Jesus come to earth, vulnerable and human, putting aside His majesty and glory, humbling Himself all for love of us. Christmas is the greatest gift of love ever given to the earth, the willingness of God to sacrifice His own Son for me, for you, for all of us. Why do we cheapen it? Why do we lose that focus? Why do we make it reindeer and cookies and gift wrap and more and more stuff?

Christmas is magical. It is my favorite holiday. And that is because I know the truth – Santa’s not necessary. In fact, Santa has nothing to do with it. It’s all about Christ. In fact, everything, our whole lives should reflect that statement. It’s all about Christ.

Every year in our family we start Christmas morning by coming downstairs together. We enjoy the presents and the tree, but before any of that we read the entire Christmas story, and we sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus and thank Him for coming. Because He’s the gift that matters. He is the gift that changes everything. He is the gift that makes it possible for us to celebrate for eternity.

“For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
Is. 9:6

What other reason would we need to celebrate? Merry Christmas to you all!

Home for Christmas

Saturday, December 8th, 2012

Speaking on Home for Christmas

My amazing support team, my mom, Donna, and Patti

Singing at Worthington Christian Church

This has been a pretty crazy week. My husband, Nathan, has been in California all week for work so I’ve been single parenting, and it seems like everyone was so worried about it getting busy close to Christmas that they scheduled everything now, so we’ve been running. Just today my kids had an archery tournament an hour away, a choir concert, and a piano recital. It’s nice to sit down.

Last night, I did an event I’ve been looking forward to for quite a while. It was at Worthington Christian Church, also in my hometown which was fun. They have an annual women’s Christmas program with a lovely dinner beforehand. I presented “Home for Christmas”, and had a great time with them.

I talked about that phrase “home is where the heart is” and what the Bible says about where our hearts should be. Matt. 6:21 tells us that where our treasure is, our heart will also be. What are you treasuring this Christmas? When we treasure things that can never satisfy like the stuff we want for Christmas, or the perfection we wish we saw in our families, or having the most amazing Christmas decorations so we can look great for our neighbors, we will never have that sense of belonging and peace. But when we fix our hearts on the gift of Jesus to the world this Christmas, when we make Him our treasure, we are home.

So what are you treasuring? As you go through this Christmas season, don’t lose sight of the reason we celebrate. Because Jesus came, because He was the greatest gift ever given, we are able to be home for Christmas.

Christmas Outreach

Saturday, December 1st, 2012

Presenting Emmanuel, God With Us at Grace Church Powell

Today was a really fun day, even if I had to wake up too early! This morning I did a women’s Christmas brunch outreach event for Grace Church of Powell. There were a couple of reasons why it was such a fun event for me.

1. Outreach event. I absolutely love these. They estimated that less than a third of the women there went to their church. I love their hearts in this! And I love sharing the Gospel.

2. Event for Grace Powell. I did an event for them last year as well, and I’ve always worked with different women, and I’ve been absolutely impressed with every one. They are just a solid group of women who love the Lord!

3. In Powell, OH. Powell is about 15-20 minutes north of my house. Yes, this reason is shallow. But come on! I’ve been across the planet it seems this fall, and getting up in the morning (granted, too early, but still!) in my own house and doing an event and then leaving to come back to MY OWN HOUSE was just awesome! I’ve really been missing my kiddos this fall, so it was fun. I told my son I had an event and he sighed and said, “okay, when will you get back?” and I was able to say, “Oh, after lunch.” He thought it was great.

It was just a joy to be with them. I presented a program called, “Emmanuel, God With Us.” Love doing that program, love sharing the Lord, and loved being with the women. You’re probably picking up a theme here. It was a good day. 🙂