Christ in the Chaos

(image originally uploaded to Flickr by pixel pro photography south africa)

Here are some thoughts I sent to the 4th and 5th grade leaders that I have the privilege of working with at MPPC:

I’m not sure where the week went… I don’t know about you, but every year I promise to slow down at Christmas (the other time is Easter). Then Christmas rushes on by like a bullet train, leaving me gasping for breath and my head spinning. I feel bad for not reflecting… for not having that “Silent Night” moment. As I’ve been writing the storyteller scripts for the Christmas lessons, I rediscovered something: there was nothing calm or “silent” about the circumstances before, during and after Jesus’ birth. From a scandalous pregnancy, to a 3-day journey on foot, to a baby born amongst the smell of hay and animal dung, to shepherds running through the town, to a busy temple where two people prophesied over him, to strange foreigners visiting from the East, to a flight to a foreign country avoiding a homicidal king…  and not to mention angels popping up here and there! God did not stop time and space when he showed up. He jumped into the fray (and dare I say made it even more chaotic). If he can do it back then, I’m pretty sure he can do it today. So, instead of beating myself up this year for not slowing down, I think I’ll take Jesus’ hand and jump into the craziness with him. And just maybe, along the way, he’ll open my eyes to see how he can use me to bless those around me in little and big ways.