I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

It's Christmas time, one of my favorites as the whole world, regardless of faith or lack thereof, like it or not, all recognize that some world-changing, earth-shattering, eternity-marking moment took place. Some may not believe in Christ (but perhaps Santa Claus), others may battle nativity scenes in public places, even more may try to secularize the Spirit out of the holiday, but it is still Christmas and the earth practices a bit when "every knee shall bow" in the very near future.

It is also a great time of reflection for me. Yeah, even ragamuffin cynics get nostalgic, and I start flashing back to Christmas in the Caicos Islands with a tin tree (remember those ugly things?) and going to East Bay on that afternoon to fish/dive/swim, enjoying whatever I had discovered under the tree that day. I remember a couple of Christmases when we didn't have enough to place many gifts under the tree and had to cherish not what we had been given but that we had each other, more than enough, more eternal than anything that fits in a gift box.

Christmas in Brazil, where we were missionaries, also come to mind, with our Brazilian friends insisting we come to their homes for the Ceia, that huge midnight feast with a house full of extended family. What a night of eating way too much and, as Americans, wondering where this crazy idea came from while stuffing our faces with awesome food! Those times when our kids were still kids really cause the nostalgia to come crashing down.

I also reflect on where God has led me/us in the past 50+ years of life:

• I have been in a crack house (as a visitor, not a user) but never the White House.
  
• I have held the hand of a newborn baby in its first seconds of life outside the womb and I have held the hand as well of those in their last seconds of life as they neared the grave.
  
• I have travelled and seen some of the wonders of the world as well as some of the pits of poverty that were never meant for human habitation.
  
• I am thankful that, while I was never one that dated the same person for more than a few months, God has blessed me with a marriage that has blessed my life for 39 years this December.
  
• Praise as well as reflection comes to mind and heart as well as I think back on the ministry with which he has graced my life, touching the lives of so many people in so many places and in so many ways.
• I have been loved so well by many and my enemies, while vocal, have been few and so temporary.

Gotta go, my tough shell is beginning to crack and that makes me really uncomfortable...