{The Blessed Adventurer}

Merriest Christmas wishes to you and yours!

We all know what Christmas is about...right? Or have we gotten too caught up in the hustle and bustle of the season that we have forgotten? Maybe we haven't forgotten, but we've just been too busy to take the time to remember and recall to mind what it's about. 

Maybe it's time that we stopped, that we slowed down, that we took the time to consider, and perhaps maybe it's time we watched Charlie Brown Christmas. 

The movie has it's funny parts and yes, it's just a cartoon, but let's face it that blanket-carrying kid is right. 

This past Sunday I had a little bit of a real life Charlie Brown moment in my own life. For my Jr. Church class this week the kids acted out the Christmas story. Bringing together fifteen 1st-4th graders and letting them act out the Christmas story with no script and straight from their perspective can be funny, but it can also be eye opening. It helped me to stop and slow down. 

Take some time to think about it with me. Use your imagination here and pretend like you're one of the kids in my class. What was it really like? 

How did Mary feel after traveling so long in the dirt, the dust, and the heat? Did her heart sink when she found out that even though she was great with child- and not just any child, but Jesus, yet she was denied a place to stay and sent to a stable? How dirty was the stable? How scared, yet excited was she? What about Joseph? 

Think about it. A stable. Some people think stables are too dirty for them to even walk in, forget staying there for the night- let alone birthing a child there amongst the animals. Is this how a King should come? Where were the crowns? The robe? The gifts? The gold? The crowds? 

No it was a humble beginning. A dirty beginning. Yet the sky lights up on that holy night. The angels praise. They glorify. They sing. They shout. They proclaim. A King has come in the humblest fashion. It's Emmanuel, our Saviour, Redeemer, King, the hope of all the world. 

And this is Christmas. Christ is born in Bethlehem so many years ago. It was truly a thrill of hope and this weary world can rejoice.

Let all within us praise His holy name! Christ is the Lord! Let ever, ever praise Thee. Noel, noel. O night, o night divine.