Print This PostThanks be to God for His indescribable gift. 2 Cor.9:15
This time of year is my favorite for many reasons. I have so many memories of Thanksgiving and Christmas with family and friends. Growing up as a child in the 60′s and travelling to West Virginia and Kentucky, sometimes in snow and ice on two-lane roads before the advent of interstates. Dim pictures in my mind of “Mom” Johnson, my great-grandmother on Dad’s side, who lived in Fairmont, W. Va., in a house still heated by coal and who had a wringer washer standing in the kitchen. The Thanksgiving feasts in Paintsville, Ky with my Mom’s side of the family. Swimming in the Atlantic Ocean on Christmas day with my cousins while visiting relatives in West Palm Beach, Fla. Four years spent in the Army in Germany and the holidays spent apart from family and friends. First Christmases in Alabama with Matthew and Meaghan. The great times and sumptious food at the Killough’s in Huntsville, Al, as they graciously included me in their extended-and still extending-family!
I am thankful that I am HIS and He is mine. God, that is. That is why He made me. That is why He made all of us. To know Him and enjoy Him. Forever. And He will do whatever it takes to get our attention. Think about it. The Creator of everything. The mind boggling expanse of the cosmos. The equally staggering universe of the atom. The 125 million “rods and cones” in the human eye that receive light and interpret shades and color and depth. The human brain that makes our most advanced machines look like Legos. This awesome, holy, creator wanted us to know Him so much that He “made himself nothing”. He came to earth so that we could identify with Him and He could identify with us. God the Father entrusted the conception, pregnancy, birth, and care of our Savior to a young Jewish girl and her carpenter husband. There on the breast of Mary lay God, willing to be born as a helpless baby with no power to sustain his own physical life.
He came to show us that the way up is down. That the way down leads to a cross. That the cross means death. Death to self and sin and the snares the “god of this age” has used to blind the minds and harden the hearts of un-believers and believers alike. The cross is the dividing line for all of history. World history and personal history. Without death there can be no resurrection, no life eternal. Without the cross, we would not be able to call Him Friend and Brother as well as Saviour and Lord.
Jesus, “the one who saves”, was born to die. Thank you, Jesus! Thank you for revealing God to us. Thank you for wanting to have a relationship with us. The Creator loves the creature. He proved it at a point in time over two thousand years ago, and He proves it every day in the lives of those who know Him as Saviour and Lord. He came, was born, lived and died, that we might die, be born again, and live forever with Him. The way up is down! Thank You, Jesus, for proclaiming the Way, showing the Way, and being the WAY.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JESUS!
As I close this post, allow me to share with you some of my favorite passages of scripture. The more I read and study and observe God at work around me and in me, the more I see Him at work in every detail, every situation, and every person’s life. In Acts 17:28, the apostle Paul said that “He is not far from any one of us. That we live and move and have our lives in Him.” Isaak Walton said that “God has two dwellings: one in Heaven, and the other in a meek and thankful heart.” God could choose to live anywhere, and He did, our hearts! David said in Psalm 34:8, “O taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him.” Just as God has prepared a home for us, we prepare a home for Him. Within the Holy of Holies, at the very center of who and what we are, are our hearts. This is where the rule of God, the Kindom of God truly lies. As He reigns and rules within to “will and to act according to His good purposes”, we become “conformed to the image of His son, that we might be the firstborn among many brothers.” It is then that we can do as Francis of Assissi said to do, “preach the Gospel every day, if neccessary, use words.”
As we celebrate the birth of Jesus, may we be very, very aware that He is coming to this world one more time in the flesh. Only this time it won’t be as a suffering servant., but as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Bible says he who wins souls is wise. Let us remember that when we celebrate with our unsaved friends and family members this year. Thanks to all of you for helping to make this time of year so special.
I wrote this originally in December of 2001 as a guest of the Bureau of Prisons. That prison is in my past. Thankfully, I can say that this is my third Christmas that I can celebrate sober. One more prison I can look back on. But, there is an area of my life that feels like I have been given a life sentence with no possibility of parole. ME! With all of my hurts, habits and hang-ups. Those things that keep me bound in the past and fearful of the future. Character defects. When I had been in prison a while I started to work on figuring out the reason(s) I was there. Not just the crimes I had committed, but the reasons why. My motives for doing the wrong thing. I came up with this. My character sucked! Character does count, and choices do have consequences. Sometimes my character still lacks a whole lot, but character always counts, and choices always have consequences.
Thank God for Jesus! Thank you, Jesus, that you came to set the prisoners free. I am one of those prisoners. One prison at a time. One prisoner at a time. One day at a time!
Merry Christmas! Enjoy my favorite Christmas song, O Holy Night.
_Harv
December 17th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Harv,
Thank you for this wonderful message of hope and the reason for the season. We all have our own prisons in sin that only through Christ are we freed. I am amazed that God continues to forgive a sinner like me, but he does. His love is everlasting and unconditional. For that I am so thankful.
God bless and merry Christmas!
In Christ,
Dick
December 17th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Happy Chistmakwanzukkah
December 17th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
You say it like it is, brother. You don’t lie to yourself or to anyone around you. That’s why your postings are so life giving. Merry Christmas, Harv.
December 18th, 2008 at 6:14 am
Merry Christmas Harv, to you and your family. Your friendship has been a true blessing. Thank you for all that you do. May Jesus continue to Rock in the New Year!
God Bless,
Denny
December 18th, 2008 at 9:30 am
Harv,
MEMORIES! So grateful for these reminders. Now, I’m making new ones without your father and my dear husband. He’s celebrating his first Christmas in Heaven and I celebrate the first one without him. As I shared with you the other day I opened my Christmas gift from Jesus early this year, and it was just what I wanted and need. He has given to me the gift of Love, Joy, Peace, and Hope. With this precious gift and the gift of precious memories I am a very rich and blessed woman. Would I ask for anything different? I don’t think so. If he could hear me I would say to him “yes, I miss you, will always love you, but I wouldn’t dare wish you were still here. You lived all your life just for this special occasion, “Christmas with Jesus,” someday I will join you.
Again thanks for these reminders, Harv. Merry Christmas to you, each of our children, grandchildren and our my new great-grandson.
All because of Him,
Mom
December 19th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Harvey,
This has always been my favorite time of the year. I love all the lights,special foods, excitement from the anticipation of family visiting and gifts too. But mostly, I have always loved the inner reflection and peace of the real meaning of
Christmas…the coming of Christ in the flesh for all of us. Thanks for all your memories and the reminder that Jesus truly is the reason for the season…something that so often gets left out. Merry Christmas! I love you! Rhonda
January 7th, 2010 at 8:04 am
Keep up the fantastic work! Look forward to reading more from you in the future. I think it will be also nice if you add “send to email” tool so people can forward the articles to their friends easily.