just a photo with someone moving to birmingham.. and his extra smooth new hat. what can i say.. he is a smith.
12.12.2006
12.11.2006
this Christmas season..
I hope that everyone has a truly amazing Christmas season. I really hope that I do. Yeah, I know.. that sounds a little bit greedy.. a tad self-centered. But my hope is not to have an amazing Christmas by the ways of our culture.. but by the way of One much higher.
You see, the pages of the Old Testament have been coming alive to me lately. Yes, mainly because thats what my class studies are covering, but the Lord's Spirit still moves through them. And this morning my heart has been resting in this one passage from the book of Haggai.. just check it out..
Haggai 1:5-6 >>
Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
As I read through the pages of this very short book (only 2 chapters), I started to think about how we look for so much out of our holiday seasons. The anticipation of things to come are so great. We hope for so much. But yet I realize, we (I definitely included) miss the true hope that is there. We will probably eat of extra tasty food: turkey and ham with all the trimmings, maybe a t-bone from Waffle House.. we might get our fill - for that day. Then we can drink some of the best eggnog, tea or wine (you know, depending on age), but the next day we again will be thirsty. We can receive some the coolest of clothing: lucky jeans, inspi(red) shirts, diesel shoes, or Members Only jacket (they are on a come back); but each of them will fade - beyond the point where the fade is cool. And all of our Christmas cash can be spent on things as if it had just fallen out of our pockets.
But the Lord had something so much cooler for the people of Israel in the message of Haggai.. it was HIMSELF. "I am with you, declares the Lord"(1:13). "I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts"(2:7). The people were rebuilding the temple, which was the place of God's presence. But this temple was small and NOTHING in comparison to the temple which had been destroyed earlier.
But the Lord was showing His people.. it has nothing to do with the size of our temple or house (the coolness of our clothes, the taste of our food and drink, the amount of our Christmas cash).. it is He - by His presence - that makes things glorious. It is presence of God in Christ that can amaze you this Christmas season. That is the message of the season that puts me in awe.. God came to the earth as a baby - to be with us. I hope we each have an amazing Christmas season in that.
You see, the pages of the Old Testament have been coming alive to me lately. Yes, mainly because thats what my class studies are covering, but the Lord's Spirit still moves through them. And this morning my heart has been resting in this one passage from the book of Haggai.. just check it out..
Haggai 1:5-6 >>
Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and harvested little. You eat, but you never have enough; you drink, but you never have your fill. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm. And he who earns wages does so to put them into a bag with holes.
As I read through the pages of this very short book (only 2 chapters), I started to think about how we look for so much out of our holiday seasons. The anticipation of things to come are so great. We hope for so much. But yet I realize, we (I definitely included) miss the true hope that is there. We will probably eat of extra tasty food: turkey and ham with all the trimmings, maybe a t-bone from Waffle House.. we might get our fill - for that day. Then we can drink some of the best eggnog, tea or wine (you know, depending on age), but the next day we again will be thirsty. We can receive some the coolest of clothing: lucky jeans, inspi(red) shirts, diesel shoes, or Members Only jacket (they are on a come back); but each of them will fade - beyond the point where the fade is cool. And all of our Christmas cash can be spent on things as if it had just fallen out of our pockets.
But the Lord had something so much cooler for the people of Israel in the message of Haggai.. it was HIMSELF. "I am with you, declares the Lord"(1:13). "I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts"(2:7). The people were rebuilding the temple, which was the place of God's presence. But this temple was small and NOTHING in comparison to the temple which had been destroyed earlier.
But the Lord was showing His people.. it has nothing to do with the size of our temple or house (the coolness of our clothes, the taste of our food and drink, the amount of our Christmas cash).. it is He - by His presence - that makes things glorious. It is presence of God in Christ that can amaze you this Christmas season. That is the message of the season that puts me in awe.. God came to the earth as a baby - to be with us. I hope we each have an amazing Christmas season in that.
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