Discovering True Intimacy with Our Savior

Waiting

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Often, we have trouble making sense of the Bible. It is full of so many stories…

…good stories
…amazing stories
…stories that bring hope.

But sometimes we forget that it’s one big story. God used a little concert called Behold the Lamb of God by Andrew Peterson to help me to see the big picture from the Old Testament to the birth of His son.

But you see, the story didn’t stop with the birth of Christ but became the greatest story ever told through his death on the cross. And it isn’t finished; the story isn’t over; it is still being written today…as we wait for him…

Are you waiting?
Do you believe?

Advent: God With Us from The Village Church on Vimeo.

(Re)Thinking Christmas: Family

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Last year, I posted a series called (Re)Thinking Christmas because of my history for loathing the holiday for many, many years. I knew my heart needed to change; but I didn’t know how. So, I prayed – and I had other people pray – for God to change me. As with anything God does to change us, it’s been a process.

The process began with Andrew Peterson’s Behold the Lamb of God concert in 2009, and it continued as I wrote each (Re)Thinking Christmas post during 2010.

This year, however, I’ve started to observe some pretty awesome results:

I didn’t flinch the way I normally do when I see the holiday decorations (except for scowling at an elf but only because he was working before Thanksgiving).

I didn’t brace quite as stiffly when I heard the first Christmas song.

But I would be lying if I didn’t admit that I did let out a small sigh and wondered if I was ready for another Christmas.

As I was chatting with my counselor this week, I had an epiphany that might be Christmas-changing.

I realized that my struggle with Christmas was not because my dad is no longer here or that my family doesn’t get along or because Jesus gets overlooked. It’s because I have had a white-knuckled grip on a childhood dream of the ideal Christmas.

I used to believe that in order to have a merry Christmas a family needed to be involved.

I mean – the world screams FAMILY at us this time of year with…

kids sitting on Santa’s lap;
holiday family photos on Christmas cards;
and parents lovingly picking out the best toys for their children.

All of these things are really, really good things.

Family is great.
Family is awesome.
Go Team Family.

But, when you lose a loved one, or harmony among the family is lost, and your belief system tells you that family is necessary for you to be merry, its a recipe for some loathing.

So, this year, I’m letting the blood rush back into my knuckles and taking my grip off of my dream that a happy family (or any family for that matter) is necessary for me to enjoy the festivities around me.

You see, contrary to what the world tells us, Christmas is not about family – it’s about God. It’s about a God who loved us so much that he became one of us. He lived among us and walked among us.

I don’t need the perfect family in this world to celebrate the fact that I am a member of an eternal one.

So, Merry Christmas y’all, from my Family to yours!

(Re)thinking Christmas: Gifts

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Let’s talk gifts.  This time of year, everywhere you look there are gifts.

Gift lists
Gift boxes
Gift bags
Gift wrap
Gift cards
Gift certificates
Gift baskets

As I sit and think about the gifts I’ve been given over the years, the ones that stick out to me are the ones that were handmade by those I love.

My favorite Christmas gift was an antebellum dollhouse my parents gave me when I was about eight years old.  My cousin handmade it; my aunt decorated the inside, and my mom sat in her closet gluing all the little furniture pieces together.  It occupies a good bit of my attic real estate, but I just can’t bring myself to part with it.  It’s still beautiful even after all the years of dust that has accumulated, and just thinking about all that went into making it – the thought, the love and the time – overwhelms me.

Off the top of my head, I can think of gifts friends have made for me over the years: an oil painting, a watercolor, a knit hat & scarf, a hand-thrown ceramic vase, and a ceramic plaque.  (By the way, I particularly appreciate the hand-thrown vase after a brief run-in with a pottery class from which I still haven’t recovered.)

I have a hand painted ornament given to me by my little cousin (who’s not so little anymore); a photography book made by an ex-boyfriend; a half-marathon scrapbook from a friend/training buddy, and a quilt my mom made of all my race t-shirts from my first year of doing triathlons.

I can tell you where each of these gifts are in my house and who gave them to me.  I cherish them because there are little bits of love captured in each stitch, brush stroke, and photograph.

One night, as I was knitting, God reminded me of a verse in Psalm 139: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (v. 13).

I chuckled as I pictured God sitting on His throne with His feet propped up on a planet and a ball of yarn sitting at His side.  Like any experienced knitter, He chose the perfect yarn and the perfect pattern for His project.  He couldn’t wait to begin.  He thought about the recipients of the gift and smiled with delight.  He followed the pattern precisely and examined His progress often.  As each month ticked on, His work grew.  Until finally, after nine months, a beautiful baby was given to the world.

Each strand of hair perfectly positioned
Each cheekbone strategically sculpted
Eye color carefully chosen
Height meticulously measured
Body type purposely proportioned
Personality distinctively defined

I wonder what the world would look like if we stopped thinking of each other as people and started thinking of each other as a gift from the Creator?  Or what would happen if, when we looked in the mirror, we stopped critiquing the Master’s masterpiece and started focusing on our beauty instead of what the world points out to us as flaws?

It’s a radical concept, and one that I’m not so sure the devil wants us to grasp.  But this Christmas, I challenge you to focus on the gifts in your life – not the man-made, store bought gifts – but the handmade gifts God has given you:  those you love; those that are hard to love; and those you prefer to love from really, really far away.  They are all gifts – every single one of them.

Disagree?  Take it up with The Almighty.  It’s His Word that says, “…I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:14).

(Re)thinking Christmas: Music

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I felt pretty good after writing “Loathing Christmas.”  It was good to get all those hard feelings out in the open, but then I felt guilty – like I had just chewed out my best friend or stole candy from a baby.  There just seems to be something inherently wrong about bashing Christmas.  Maybe I was a little too hard on the holiday, but then, Christmas has been around for a long time and has lots of fans.  So, I think it can handle the heat.  Besides, I’m all about being transparent.

God gave me hope last year for Christmas future in a little concert called, “Behold the Lamb of God.”  It rocked the Christmas stockings right off my feet.  (Just to be clear, I wasn’t actually wearing Christmas stockings.  I tried on the ones that hang on my mantel every year and they were too big and sparkly.  It would’ve been awkward.)

Now, as you know, I’m not a Christmas person, but a little known fact about me is that I’m not a concert person either.  It’s just not my thing.  So, you can imagine my excitement when a girl I didn’t know very well at the time, sent an email last year inviting me to a Christmas concert.  I was skeptical to say the least; but to be honest, I felt so incredibly honored that this person thought to ask me personally that I couldn’t say no.  So, I paid my $15 and went.  That might’ve been the single most important decision I made (and the best $15 I ever spent) in 2009.  No kidding.

If you have never had the chance to go see Andrew Peterson’s “Behold the Lamb of God” concert, you are missing out.  Find a concert near you and run head first as fast as you can to get a ticket.  Or you could just leave the running shoes in the closet (or at the store if running isn’t your thing), save yourself a jog and click this link.

I have to chuckle as I think back to the attitude I had walking into the concert venue.  I had such low expectations.  I had no idea who these people were or what to expect.

Was this a classical concert?

Would there be an orchestra?

Is there acting?

Is there dancing?

Well, much to my delight, the concert wasn’t any of those things.  It was a bunch of uber-cool guys (and one girl) who were about my age that can play about 900 instruments each and who have been blessed with an awesome gift in the art of writing music that tells a story.  God showed up among those extraordinarily talented singer/songwriters at Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church that night and changed not only my Christmas, but ultimately, my life.

The concert is broken down into two parts.  The first part of the concert gives each artist an opportunity to perform some of their original songs.  From the moment the musicians/artists/what-have-you took the stage, I was captivated.  I hadn’t been to a concert in years, but I was diggin’ it.

These guys – these awesome vessels of the Lord – were not only talented but they were hilarious.  I’m not just talking about being funny.  I’m talking about disgustingly charming, humble and hilarious people who made their audience feel at home.  Last year, the tour was made up of Andrew Peterson, Ben Shive, Andrew Osenga, Andy Gullahorn, Jill Phillips and Brandon Heath among others.

The second half of the concert is spent playing in sequence the “Behold the Lamb of God“ album.  The opening reading is from “The Jesus Storybook Bible“ by Sally Lloyd-Jones and goes something like this:

No, the bible isn’t a book of rules or a book of heroes.  The Bible is most of all a story.  It’s an adventure story about a young hero who comes from a far country to win back His lost treasure.  It’s a love story about a brave prince who leaves His palace, His throne, everything to rescue the one He loves.  It’s like the most wonderful of fairy tales that has come true in real life.   You see, the best thing about this story is:  it’s true.

There are lots of stories in the Bible, but all the stories are telling one big story:  the story of how God loves His children and comes to rescue them.  It takes the whole Bible to tell this story, and at the center of the story is a baby.  Every story in the Bible whispers His name.  He is like the missing piece in a puzzle.  The piece that makes all the other pieces fit together, and suddenly you can see a beautiful picture.

Now, if I wasn’t captivated by the first part of the concert, that opening caught me by my heartstrings and didn’t let go.  Seriously, even as I typed that out, I got goose bumps, butterflies in my stomach and tears in my eyes.

Andrew Peterson then proceeds to transform seemingly ordinary Bible stories – stories that I’ve heard a million times – stories that I heard as a child and read an adult – and weaves them into a seamless story about the coming of Christ.  It’s amazing.  It’s beautiful, and it’s true!

I don’t know how to describe to you in words the change that this two hours had on my life.  Just having the Bible explained to me that way was like a veil lifting (2 Corinthians 3:14-18).  It was like God took me up in hot air balloon and slowly adjusted my eyes so that they began to focus on a beautiful painting.  A painting filled with magnificent hues that highlighted each stroke pointing to Jesus – a painting that took 55 generations and 2,000 years to complete.  A painting that tells one story across 66 books and over 31,000 verses. It’s the most beautiful painting I’ve ever seen.  I think I fell in love with God that day.

Now, I don’t want to give this concert more credit than it deserves, but I do have to give props to The Almighty for using it to remove the veil from my eyes and for using my dear friend, who I’ve come to know and love, to turn my walk with God upside down.  Had she not taken the chance and asked me to go, coffee with Christ wouldn’t exist.

I’ve listened to that album a million times since the concert.  (Actually, it’s close to 100 if you trust the counter in iTunes).  I had all the songs memorized in two days.

I sang it in the car sitting in traffic;

I sang it at home; and I listened to it at work.

I loved it so much that I couldn’t part with it once Christmas was over.

I listen to it year-round.

Sadly, this year, “Behold the Lamb of God” isn’t coming to Birmingham.  But I won’t let that stop me.  I’m going with some friends to see it in Huntsville, and I’m so excited I can’t stand it.  I’m so thankful for Andrew Peterson and his crew.  I’m so grateful that God gave them the ability to play 900 instruments and write the greatest songs.

So, whenever I get into a bah-hum-bug spirit this year (and even when I’m not), I’ll put in my headphones, close my eyes, and let Andrew Peterson paint a picture of a God that is bigger than Christmas.  A God that loved me so much that He came down to rescue me.  I can hear the familiar beat of the opening drums …and Andrew Peterson’s melodic voice singing:

Gather ‘round, ye children come
Listen to the old, old story
of the power of death undone
by an infant born of glory
Son of God
Son of Man…

Loathing Christmas

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Well, it’s that time of the year.  The time when little elves start decorating the streets with twinkly stars and red and green tinseled wreaths.  When children, and grown-ups alike, start making their christmas lists. When getting one mile down the road takes 30 minutes, and when a casual run to the grocery store turns into a wrestling match with a silver-haired lady for the last box of confectioners sugar.  When parents line their toddlers up for pictures with Santa where their faces are so contorted from their screams that they are barely recognizable.  Ah, yes.  It’s the most wonderful time of the year.  Or is it?

Let me preface the rest of this post by saying that if you are the kind of person whose eyes glaze over at the sound of Jingle Bells or if visions of sugar-plums dance in your head you probably need to hit that little “X” in the corner of your screen and pretend this post doesn’t exist.  But if you are as jaded about Christmas as a jigsaw, then press on.

For those that are still with me: let’s get real about Christmas.  I hate this time of the year.  You might say, “Nikol, ‘hate’ is such a strong word.”  Yes, it is.  So, let me repeat.  I hate this time of the year.

As a Christian, I had a hard time admitting this about myself.  Few things have liberated me more than when I said those nine little words, “Hi.  My name is Nikol, and I hate Christmas.”

Don’t get me wrong, I love that Jesus was born.  I love that one very thing about Christmas.  But that one thing gets lost in the proverbial hustle and bustle of the season.

My dread of all things Christmas happened 13 years ago this week.  My father passed away two days before Thanksgiving and the holidays were never the same.  Traditions that I once looked forward to were replaced with a sadness of one more year without my dad.

As time ticked on, so did the loathing.  My birthday falls right in the middle of Christmas and New Years.  Ever since I can remember, I’ve wanted to be a wife and mother.  So, in October (yes, October – don’t get me started), when I see the Christmas decorations being unpacked on the shelves at stores, I almost have a physical reaction as I brace for the inevitable holiday season and another reminder that I’m still single and another year older.

With all that being said, it’s not a surprise that I get depressed this time of the year.  Lots of people do.  While the world wants us to believe that this is a magical time of the year, the truth is, for many people, it’s a nightmare.   Remember those masks that I was telling you about in Fear and Freedom?  Well, if there is ever a time when folks put on those masks it’s during the Christmas season.

Last year, God showed me that there is hope for the Scrooges like me out there – those people that have been battered and bruised by life and by dreams left unfulfilled.  So, in a bold act of faith, I’m taking God up on His challenge to write a series of blogs on re-thinking Christmas.  To be honest, I have no idea what He is up to.  I have no idea how many blogs will be in the series and I have no idea what they will be about, but I’m willing to make-like-a-wise-man and hop on a camel and see where He’s leading.

So, even though that familiar dread has descended upon me as the holidays approach, I am hopeful and thankful.  I am hopeful that this Christmas will be better than the last and I’m thankful that the God who fulfilled His promise to Abraham over 2,000 years ago is the same God that keeps His promises today.

So, throw some chestnuts on the fire, grab a cup of hot chocolate and let’s see where He takes us.  In the meantime, tell me what you loath about Christmas.