Christmas Eve and for Laurel and me the next few hours will be fun(ish). After the kids are in bed and they are hopefully asleep, we will put on a holiday movie and begin the arduous task of wrapping gifts.

Tomorrow we will watch all our hard work become undone in a flurry of little hands and smiling faces. it will be a flash of time and before we know the day will be over. We will have FaceTimed family and friends and hopefully eaten off the good dishes without any fatalities.

In all that we do over the next few days, the one thing I pray happens is that we actually stop. We stop to allow our hearts and minds to reconnect with the Joy that only comes from knowing Jesus. Maybe even stop thinking about the little pieces of Jesus’ birth story.

Think of an innkeeper who for most tellings of this story gets a bad reputation. However, have you ever thought they were filled with compassion for Mary and Joseph? Seeing her, seeing him, they offered the last place on earth you would want to have a baby, but it was shelter.

We stop and think about shepherds.

How would you respond if in the course of your normal daily routine an angel spoke to you? Invited you to have an upfront view of prophecy in the flesh. The Redeemer King had arrived, and you were asked to welcome Him. There are no Priests, Rabi's or governmental agents, just you and Jesus.

Maybe we stop and think of the Angel. Given the task of heralding the arrival of God in human form. He knows God is love but does he truly understand what God has done?

Have your heart melt over the power of Emmanuel, God with us.

This Christmas be overcome by His story and His love.

Merry Christmas

—Pastor Jackie