Merry Christmas

Christmas Day, Afghanistan. I am not one hundered percent sure how I feel yet today. At this point in the morning it is still Christmas Eve back home and my family is just tucking themselves in to bed. My children, Harrison and Anna must have minds wondering what will be in store for them when they wake up. We probably all remember the feeling of excitment that comes with the day.

For me, I opened my gifts last evening around 1830 with my family on the phone back home. It was nice but it is definately not the same as being with them. I went to diner with a couple of the guys and afterwards went to the Chapel for the 2000 Christian Service. They sang lots of songs and then Pastor Johnson gave his Sermon. We ended with exiting the Chapel and having a candle light singing of Silent Night out under the stars. It was very humbling for me.

I will wait now for my family and friends to rise so that I can join them for their Christmas day. I am not sad, yet, as I thought I would be. I didn't cry last night and I fell good this morning. I think it is due to the words that Catherine gave me, that this was the day of Christs birth. We should celebrate what this means for us, the salvation to come through Faith in Him. This is a glorious day.

God sent the Lord to start His life as a baby, dependant on His Mother Mary and Father Joseph for all His needs. He did not send a King, a ruler to lord over all things through might and force but a baby that must live a humble life as a boy and then a man. Nothing, about Him was what was expected by the Religious men of the time. They had placed their hopes in a Messiah that fullfilled their own worldly desires of lordship and Gods power.

A humble man they did not expect but that is what they recieved. The wisdom of God is infinate and you see the wisdom in this birth. The Gospel starts at the birth as an example of what is to come. It starts at the birth with its message of humility, grace and love. We see the fullfillment of the prophecies of old and the joy of the Magi who have waited for their Messiah to come. We see the the conflict that is to come from those who seek worldly power such as Herod against the power of the everlasting Lord.

If you look you also will see the amzing heavenly detail that is in the Bible. You see old and new come together, the propgecies and the fullfillment, the religious and the faithful, the worldy and the spiritual. You see not just the writing of men but you see the hand of God, you see God in every detail, if you look.

The Birth of Christ is the beginning of the Christian Faith. It is the point where God decided to show His Grace, His wonderment. God created in that moment the key to our Salvation that fit so perfectly into His plan from the begining. All we have to do is hold onto that key.

So as Catherine had pointed out to me, today is a celebration of the birth of our Savior. A time to rejoice and fill our hearts with all the things of God. For He has worked out a plan for our Salvation if we choose to follow it.

Merry Christmas everyone.