God With Us

I think that, over the years, I lost connection with the amazement and wonder presented with the Christmas story. God has renewed that in me this year. I assume (possibly wrongly) that most of my readers have grown up hearing the Christmas story as well as the story of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection. It is easy for those stories to become "common" or "normal" in our brains because we have heard them so much when in actuality there is nothing "normal" about either one. I encourage you to stop and ponder the reality of the Christmas story today.

God--seriously GOD--the creator of the universe--came to earth in human form. He became like us! Stop and think about what He gave up in order to do that! HEAVEN--Hello? Isn't that where we are all looking forward to going, and he gave it up for us!! I think a lot of people assume (as I did) that even though Jesus came as a baby, he was somehow a supernatural baby who was only a baby in the physical sense. No no...he became like us completely, which means he was completely a baby. He cried, got hungry, maybe even had the cholic. He was dependent on his parents for food and shelter. He grew up, just like we did. Seriously, God became one of us! That is just amazing to me!

The following by Francesca Battistelli helped me put it in perspective. It is written from the point of view of Mary, the mother of Jesus. (stop and think a minute about her position--WHOAH! Here you've been entrusted with the baby who is to be the Savior of the world!)

You're Here

Hold on now, I gotta take a deep breath

I don’t know what to say

when I look in your eyes

You made the world before I was born

Here I am holding You in my arms tonight

Noel, Noel, Jesus our Emmanuel

You’re here, I’m holding You so near

I’m staring into the face of my Savior, King and Creator

You could’ve left us on our own, but You’re here

Don’t know how long I’m gonna have You for

But I’ll be watching when You change the world

Look at Your hands, they’re still so small

Someday You’re gonna stretch them out and save us all

Noel, Noel, God with us Emmanuel

You’re here, I’m holding You so near

I’m staring into the face of my Savior, King and Creator

You could’ve left us on our own, but you’re here… you’re here

Someday I’m gonna look back on this

The night that God became a baby boy

Someday You're gonna go home again,

But You leave your spirit and flood the world with joy

You’ll be here, I’m holding You so near

I’m staring into the face of my Savior, King and Creator

You could’ve left me on my own, but you’re here…

You’re here Hallelujah… You’re here… Hallelujah... You’re here

I think the most overwhelming part of the whole thing is that He's still here. Each and every day for each and every one of us. AMAZING!