“The Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity.” J.I. Packer

We’ve all lost loved ones. Wait a second. They are not lost. They are at home with Jesus because of what Jesus did for them.

We say lost, because we are missing them as they are not with us. Wait a second. This is not true either. They are with us, just not physically.

Christmas will be the next holiday without mom². My Father took my wife’s mom home with Him back in July. I was the last one to physically touch and see her as I was tasked with removing her wedding ring to give it to dad.

Yet that is not the picture I remember. I can still see her smile. I can still hear her laughter. I can still taste the See’s candy she had at the house for Christmas.

Yeah, it’s tough. I’ll miss seeing and hearing her in a few days. But the fact is, she believed in what Jesus did for her, which gives me hope that I will indeed actually see and hear her again.

Seasons can be tough. But hope gets us through them. This hope is what Christmas is all about to me.

Jesus came to be born in the most humble means to die the most horrible death to rise from the loneliest grave to live the greatest life, eternal life, for people like you and me to have the surest hope possible.

A friend of mine recently “lost” his father who is home with the Father as well. I told him that I would pray for him when it got tough for me. He said he’d do the same.

Maybe there is someone you can pass your hope along to this Christmas Season. Let them know that you’re praying for them in the midst of your tough season.

Hopefully, this will bring a smile to their face and peace to their heart in the midst of their tough season.

Let God use your life to show off Who He is.

David starts out Psalm 19 by writing six verses about how God shows off who He is through His creation. Then, he uses the next eight verses to talk about how God’s Word can work wonders in one’s life.

There is a God out there who is talking. He’s telling all of humanity who He is and what He can do when listened to (vs. 1-6). Then, as those who apply what He says to do, they will see their lives forever changed (vs. 7-14).

This change comes about because they took the given empirical data (head knowledge) and used it in their everyday choices (life experience). This allows those around them to see Who God is in everyday life, which is a witness and what Jesus has asked His followers to be.

Head knowledge people, however, can’t be a witness. They have never experienced that knowledge for themselves.

God is still talking through His creation. And those who say they love Jesus can bring heaven to earth as they move beyond theory to actually living out that theory in their daily choices.

Choose to allow God to use you to show off Who He is, today.

Faith isn’t knowing where you’re going, but in who you’re walking with.

A friend recently sent pictures of an island beach. The path to this beach could not be arrived at through driving a car or even riding a bike. Those kinds of roads led to places everyone could experience.

This path was muddy and rutted clay due to sporadic rain. It also wound through a tropical forest, which meant you couldn’t see the beach while walking and had exposed tree roots that ran both across and down it.

These conditions made for quite slippery and unstable footing. Falling on your backside was definitely a possible outcome.

Would you take the risk in order to experience this beautiful beach?

Faith is a risk not in walking on that obstacle filled path, but in the one telling you to take the path. Jesus calls you His friend and says He will walk with you on whatever path He has chosen for you.

Yeah, there are plenty of beautiful beaches where the path is easy; and, you can get there on your own.

Jesus, however, wants you to walk with Him where the potential to fall is greater. But while walking with Him, you will be experiencing who He is and what He can do. And He’s there to pick you up, if you fall, because He wants you to experience where He’s taking you!

That’s what faith is – choosing to walk with Jesus on the path of His choosing, known or unknown, challenging or stable. Your faith is in Him, not in you or in your abilities.

Guess what? There’s a beach out with your name it!

Faith doesn’t make life easier. It makes experiencing it possible.

In all his years of sailing, he never experienced a storm like this and was definitely scared. And if the storm wasn’t bad enough, along comes a ghost walking on the water that looks like Jesus. Peter and someone else were having a wonderful conversation in his head.

Peter, though, goes completely against conventional and cultural wisdom to get out of the boat. He was actually walking on the water…until the head noise got worse.

“I can’t do this! What was I thinking? Why did I even try? I would have been better off staying in the boat where it was ‘safe’ and known.”

As Peter starts to sink, the head noise got so loud that Peter chose to sink. “I’ve done a lot of stupid things in my life, but this tops them all. What made me think I could walk on water? I’m a failure. I’m going to die.”

Chose? It wasn’t like Peter hadn’t seen Jesus work miracles before. He saw what Jesus, who was standing right there, could do. The question was, would he have enough faith to stay on top of the water? Obviously, his faith was too small, which is what Jesus told him.

We all need more faith in and from Jesus. Lack of it is the root of all our failures when the head noise begins. You know, “I’m stupid. I can’t do this. I’ve made so many mistakes, why would God ever want me, let alone work in and through me?” And on and on it goes…if we let it.

Want to defeat it? Ask the Lord for help to stay focused on the truths He’s already given you and a faith boost to put what you know into action.

“Lord, we need more faith to choose to listen to the only voice that counts, Yours. Lord increase our faith so we can experience victory over what we are struggling with today. Let us soar through and above the challenges we’re facing today. Amen.”

Wherever you go there you are; and so is Jesus.

I woke up this past Monday with a song in my head that we sang on Sunday at our gathering of Jesus believers (aka church service).

The lyrics the Lord had going in my head was, “I am a flower quickly fading. Here today and gone tomorrow. A wave tossed in the ocean. A vapor in the wind.”

We all know this truth that people come and people go from this planet, just like the flowers – here today, gone tomorrow, which in some cases is only a few weeks.

Yet Isaiah contrasts the flower to the Word of God, which lives forever. Keep in mind that this is not only the written Word of God, but is Jesus as well (Rev. 19:13).

The Spirit was asking me, “Jesus is with you every step, but do you bring Him into your every step?” In other words, am I thinking and acting like I will last forever or do I bring the one who is from forever past to forever future into my present?

Will my choices as a flower (I love CA golden poppies) remain forever?

We can only live meaningful lives as we bring Jesus into every choice we make (see 1 Thess. 5:17). By doing so, we are living life each day, not existing to get through it. By doing so, we are using time to its fullest, not spending it wastefully.

Our thoughts, our words and our actions can leave positive eternal impressions on this planet, so long as we walk and talk with Jesus, who takes our existence and gives it eternal life.