So this is Christmas...

I'm learning and have learned lots of things this year. Not just DCE intern things, but lots of different things. When I think about 2008, I can't believe how much has happened and how much I have done in the past year. Even the past week has been jam packed!

The last few weeks have flown by, which have followed the pattern of the whole previous year. My sister was here the week before Christmas and it was great to show her around the area and I even got to see and do some things down here that I hadn't done either. The highlight was going to Sedona.

Sedona red rocks

My sister & I at the tumble weed Christmas tree..haha

My sister left the day before Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve was a huge day! My voice was pretty rough, but there were 5 services to be held. One of our contemporary worship teams lead the first two services and they went quite well. The last three were more traditional. I got to sing through the first two services and there wasn't too much left of my voice, but I had a solo to do for the 9pm service. I also did Children's messages at the first two services as well. Then at the 11pm service, I read the Scriptures. It was a full night, but it was pretty fun and went pretty quickly. We went out and got McDonalds before the last service. It kinda made me feel like I was back at college. Haha.

Christmas Day was fun. It was definitely different, but it was a reality check that Christmases and Easters here on out (for the most part) aren't going to be in Kansas with my family when I'm in church work. That's just the way things are. I digress. Christmas was fun! I got to share Christmas with some friends here. Christmas morning with little kids around is so much fun to watch. They are bursting with excitement! We joined a larger family for the rest of the day and played games and such. I was excited about the Christmas tradition of hiking on Christmas Day, but it rained all day...in Phoenix! I'd been looking forward to that for a long time, but I'll have to hike Camelback some other time before I leave.

The day after Christmas, my mom arrived. I've had an absolutely wonderful time having her down here. We've had so much fun being out and about. It's been great that even though I wasn't home for Christmas, having my sister and my mom to visit made it feel like home is here. My mom loved seeing the cactus and palm trees. She was so excited when we went hiking and she got to get close to a big Saguaro.


Amidst holidays and visitors, one of the members of our praise team at church passed away a few days before Christmas. We played a few songs for his funeral on Monday. He was a guy that was so full of joy and life that it was comforting to know that He had so much of the joy of our Lord within Him. It's still difficult to watch such a young man leave us and his young friends have to cope with such a huge loss.

I know it probably sounds strange, but being at Josh's funeral really brought home the Christmas theme of our services from Christmas Eve this year. The theme was light and how Jesus was/is the light in the world and it's a light that no darkness can overcome. Not even by the darkness of death, can this Light be darkened. Emmanuel, our Light that is with us, draws near and holds us in a time where things seem bleak and difficult. He is that hope and that light. I sang the Chris Tomlin song, I Will Rise, that has some incredibly powerful words. I think I've mentioned it before on my blog, but it was so powerful. There's a part at the end that's talks about all of the angels and saints gathered around the throne singing "worthy is the Lamb."

I think of Mary. Kneeling over her Son's crib and just basking in the joy of her Child. Overwhelmed with love for this tiny baby and with no ability to see how much pain she would be pierced with at His death. I wonder what her dreams for Him were. I wonder what she thought He would be or do. I wonder what she saw when she looked into His future. Then when she watched Him hang on that cross, be pierced with a spear, and eventually be brought down and wrapped in cloth. I wonder if she thought of that night in the cave, when she was kneeling over His infant body, wondering what He would become. Never dreaming that this was where the road led. Now she was kneeling over His lifeless body wrapped in cloth. This is what I wonder about Josh's mom. Being there at the beginning of His life and then at the end. Not for a second, however, willing to give up the pain for the experience of being a mother to ones who were so beloved. What a way to think of Christmas. What a different perspective of the Story.

The last few weeks have felt like a whole year. I might try to do a "year in review" sometime here today. I know there'd be some good highlights. Tonight is New Year's Eve with a bunch of folks..it'll be fun. :)

January will be another month full of events and visitors! And who knows what 2009 will bring! God's blessings of peace and joy for the New Year!

Gifts...bigger than you think.

Tomorrow is the first half of Christmas programs! I feel pretty calm and good about the programs tomorrow and Friday. I think everything is organized and hopefully it'll run smoothly. I'm happy not to be stressed about it. Whatever happens, happens.

My sister is here visiting and it's been nice to hear about her life and to show her a glimpse of mine. It's like getting to know a new friend!

I know it's not even Christmas yet, but I was thinking through the set list and the worship service for the Sunday following Christmas. The text is going to be the song of Simeon and the pastors want to focus on Jesus being the gift of Christmas that is unwrapped. When Mary and Joseph took their Baby Boy to Simeon, he would've had to pull back the blanket that Jesus was wrapped in, in order to see Him. We open so many gifts and watch others open gifts as well, but that's so temporary. Jesus is that gift that is sent to us on Christmas! He is the gift of light and life that came down to us on Christmas and continues to do so. Not only do we get the joy of unwrapping this gift of Jesus by digging further into His Word, praying to Him, and worshipping Him, but we see an even greater gift in Him. When Jesus died on the cross, He was laid in a tomb that was sealed tightly and was never intended to be opened by those who had it sealed. But God, like a Father of a tiny child who is unable to open her own gifts, opened the tomb and brought the gift of the resurrection to us that we might have life as well. The greatest gift opening ever!

"But the gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died by the trespass of the one man, how much more did God's grace and the gift that came by the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, overflow to the many!" Romans 5:15

Gifts are fun to open and fun to give. I pray that as you open gifts during Christmas, it'll remind you of the gift that Jesus is this Christmas and the gift that God opened for us when He rose. It makes everything else seem so minuscule. Oh, how our Father loves us. :)

Waiting for January to see you again.

I'm trying really hard not to feel lonely.

The Cities Sampler isn't doing much to help the situation.

I don't know if it's actually being lonely or just really, really missing some of my friends.

hope for the holidays.

Well, it's been almost a whole week since I got back from Thanksgiving, but it seriously feels like I've been back for 2 days. I've just been so on the go since I've been back.

Let's see...Thanksgiving...
It was really great to be home!
-I got to hang out with my family and have some fun with them.
-My mom, aunt, and I went shopping on black Friday which has become such an awesome tradition. We had so much fun and got some great deals!!
-I got to spend some quality time with Holly & Spencer as well some time with Amy and Joey.
-I met up with some friends from my 2nd high school that I hadn't seen in probably 3 years.
-I got to spend an afternoon catching up with my pastor from high school and his wife.
-I tried on yet another bridesmaid dress.

I think that's about it.

It was one of the best holidays that I've had at home in a long time. All of the girls in the kitchen looking at store ads and laughing about things that don't even make sense. This will be my first Christmas away from home. The holidays just seem so different this year.

I had a very insightful chat with my pastor from home and he has such a heart for missions and reaching out to people in our own backyard. I wonder how many people with great hearts for ministry have been burned by politics like he has. This institution that we call "church" doesn't often resemble much of what it means to be "the Church." So many fights happen about things that are mere adiophora. We lose sight of what's true, right, and good--sharing the Gospel with people who need hope.

Christmas often seems like a lot of adiophora to me. I could take it or leave it. There's so much hooplah and it usually ends up being more work than fun. But there was a night...that a baby came into the world; a baby that lay in a wooden manger. A baby that would one day hang on a wooden cross. That's our God.

I pray that all of the lights, decorations, the glitz and glam of the season, doesn't blind us from seeing Jesus come down to us. Our Prince of Peace. Our Light of the World. He came that night as a baby, He will come on the last day, and He continues to come down to us day after day to be our Savior. May that be the meditation of our hearts this holiday season.