When Christmas never ends

When Christmas never ends

Saturday, December 24, 2016

My boys wait in expectation for the exciting moments Christmas day promises to bring. There is a frenzy in the air hurrying all the arrangements, getting the to do list done before the big event.

Every year, Christmas comes and goes. Gifts are wrapped and unwrapped. Foods are carefully cooked and arranged, and slowly disappear from the table. Decorations go up and a few weeks later, down. A movement forward, and slowly away. The season of getting ready for this one special day, and then letting go, until it comes again next year.

Regardless of the dozen extra traditions attached to this holiday, or the consumerism coming in hand with business, Christmas is a reminder, maybe a diluted reminder to many, that Christ has come.

That moment in history when the Creator took the form of his creation for the sake of the created. Him, who created man from the dust of the ground, likewise took form. Him, who breathed life into man's nostrils, inhaled breath as a human baby.

Christ, who wrapped creation together, willingly unwrapped himself from eternity, from immortality and from his Father's side, to be wrapped as a baby in a manger. All powerful coming in vulnerability, all knowing coming in simplicity and all loving coming to a place of rejection. This is love.

God's love moved history towards the direction of exciting news to humanity: God is with us! Eternal life in the form of a touchable, visible and relational man: Jesus Christ.

A movement forward, from the part of God, reaching for the lost, reaching for the distant. Christ with his own pierced hands reaching out. This movement, forward, by the part of God, never goes away. Never unwinds. Never slows down.

He is hurrying for you, making all the arrangements for you and offering all his presence for you, because Christmas is not a yearly event. Christmas is God coming and never leaving. Reaching and never letting you go.

The word became flesh not only to be born, but to die. Not only to die, but on your behalf to save you. Not for a Christmas season, but forever.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

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When the World spins like a Dust Storm

When the World spins like a Dust Storm

Friday, July 22, 2016

 

The desert is a good reminder of life's fragility. One look around and the message is clear: Lifeless. Unforgiving. Mortal. The only priority when stuck in a desert is the search for water. Every drop of it becomes priceless. Because water is life giving and its absence is death. 

Each speck of dust in a desert is longing for one thing: water. It does not matter how polished or unpolished the speck might be, they all remain in their stillness waiting for life giving water. Without it, nothing in their core can be useful for a thriving living plant, let alone for larger animals who survive on plants. 

Once in a while, the wind blows strong gusts and the dust specks move around. They look full of life as they dance in the air, but they are as dead as before, still longing for real hydration. In the end, they are just part of a dust storm, most likely to end in another desert location, as dry as before. 

When I think about those dust specks, I can't stop thinking about myself. The similarities they carry with human beings. From an outer universe perspective, we look as big and as important as a dust speck, dead in the desert, longing for real water. It does not matter how polished or unpolished we are, we are not catchy enough to be the highlight of the universe. 

Once in a while, the wind blows strong gusts; movements, transformations or revolutions happen. At first, they look full of life and promise, but in the end, they are just part of a dust storm, most likely to end in another desert location, as dry as before. 

Unless... the rain poured strong, heavy and long enough to transform it all. 

Unless... someone bigger than the dust specks, gave them real water. 

There is really nothing we can do to transform ourselves out of the dust speck configuration. No self motivation, no self development and no self improvement. In the end, we all go back to dust. Unless... eyes bigger than our smallness, glanced at our fragility and offered us real water. 

And he did. The one bigger than all of us, Jesus Christ, offered to become small as us, to rescue you and I from the curse of dust, offering a future of life.

Dust storms will come and go, with their own unique formats and different names, but at the end of the day, they are just dust storms, false promises of hope. Tailored to different tastes, aspirations and desires, it may feel cozy and cheerful to be part of our own dust storms titles. 

However, nothing beats the feeling of being tenderly rescued by strong hands, out of the desert, and lovely placed next to a river of living water. 

"Christ Jesus, emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death - even death on a cross".

"I came that they may have life and have it abundantly".

 

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Dear child living in a Mind Twisting Virtual World,

Dear child living in a Mind Twisting Virtual World,

Friday, April 8, 2016

Dear child,

This world you were born into, is very different from the one I knew as a child. My only virtual reality were cartoons on TV, everything else was real. Most of my childhood time was spent running around with other kids, climbing trees, riding bikes and playing outside games. Friends were the ones you spent real time with, having real conversations, displaying real faces and real bodies. No filters or special touch ups. Dear child, you got a whole lot more challenges to face than I did. Welcome to the Mind Twisting Virtual World.

You see, your brain was not created for virtuality, it was created for reality. Your senses were designed for a natural environment, for true colors, slow eye movement and non enhanced details. Your mind was sculpted to function on normal speed, not turbo. However, in a Mind Twisting Virtual World, your brain will function in such confusion that the very essence of who you are and how to interact with the people around you, will fragment into chattered pieces just to be glued together again into a messy picture. 

As if the virtual trickery wasn't challenge enough for your young age, always remember that there is a war going on to capture your heart and your mind. A war to kidnap your deepest feelings away from any balanced influence in your life. From caring parents and relatives, from concerned teachers, and ultimately from God. In this war, you will be seduced to think that you are free, and that all the power lays in your hands, to decide your own future. Remember though, there is no safe lillypad on the pond. Or you are stepping onto firm ground or you are seconds away from submerging.

In a Mind Twisting Virtual World, dear child, you are its most important target. Remember that its ultimate strategy is to drag you in without you even suspecting that you are being controlled and not in control. Don't forget that the final goal is not the virtual format of the message, but the message itself, which becomes irresistible packaged inside a well designed wrapping.

It will be hard for your parents to compete for your attention, when the format of their message pales in comparison, lacks in design and fails in trickeries. It will be hard for your heart to accept belief by faith in an invisible God and his love, and in Jesus' sacrifice for your sake, in eternal matters, when there is so much to see, to hear and to experience, in the ongoing circus that keeps you unfocused until you run out of time to step into solid ground.

The irony of this, is that I am using this same virtual reality to write you this message. And here is the biggest twist of this Virtual World: it can also be used for good. For spreading good messages. For reaching out lost people without hope, people otherwise never reached before. For connecting people once disconnected. For counseling people on the brink of a break down. For expanding education to unprivileged children. Just like a coin. It got two sides. One can break you, the other can build you up. 

Above all, remember that you are dealing with a very powerful force, capable of modifying your very own thoughts. Dear child, the best advise I can give you comes from your creator. Listen to his words:

"Be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness"

"Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is - his good, pleasing and perfect will."

"Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator."

Dear Child, let God transform your mind according to his will, seek Him day and night, connect with Him, read His words. Let your soul be flooded with real life so that there is no space for lies, emptiness, twisting, fake circuses and broken messages.

Love,
Your mom.

You may also enjoy reading When Life is a Puzzle and When Easter is All About Cracked Eggs

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