Why I Love Christmas

I would classify myself as someone who loves Christmas. Now I'd like to tell you why:

You can take away the decorations, you can take away the movies, you can even take away the carols. That's not what does it for me with Christmas. It's the first Christmas and what followed in a single baby's life that gets me. It's the unique story of the Messiah King coming to a place most unexpected to enter the world. Not in a throne in a palace, not upon a chariot, but in a manger....in a stable. Amidst a world of unrest that was starving for a King, He came. He didn't come as they had expected but He came. He brought love in a radical way and shelled out grace in a rebellious manner. He took the path that we all take, but did it better. He came. For you. For me.

Imagine being the Creator of the world and planning the redemption of your creation. Imagine trying to weave a story so complex yet so purposeful into history. Imagine sending your Son to be the redeemer. Imagine sending your Son not to a throne, but to a manger. Imagine sending your son not to be a political ruler, but a carpenter. Imagine sending your son to hang out not with the Pharisees and priests, but with the prostitutes and the tax collectors.

It's that same God that gives me hope that He can take my future and make it something amazing. It's the same God I can follow even when it doesn't make sense that a star that I'm following has led me to a stable. It's the same God who I can give my heart to even when the path I'm heading down resembles a path to the cross. I've come to realize that God is a much better author than me and I'm cool with that.

So for me, Christmas is not just a celebration of a birth -- it's a celebration of the life of the Messiah who defied expectations, lived a life of radical love and grace, and redeemed mankind in the greatest display of sacrifice in history. For that, I party.

Merry Christmas.