Emmanuel - God with Us

Hope.  Emmanuel, God with us, brings us hope. 

On Sunday, Pastor Joel spoke about the reason Christ came to earth - to be Emmanuel, God with us.  In his birth, he came to earth to walk among humanity, to bring hope and love, to be close to us.

He came to bring redemption.

After service, I got to thinking about Christmas. The birth of Christ brought God to earth, but it doesn't stop there.  Christ on earth was only a short 30-some years.  Christ in spirit is forever.  If Christ's death hadn't happened, there would be no point to Christmas.  It made me wonder how different our world would be if we celebrated Christ's death with as much vigour and intensity as we celebrate his birth.  Months before Christmas, we put up our trees, light up our houses, put out our nativity sets and go on a spending spree that could feed an entire third world country.  Why do we not celebrate Christ's death and resurrection in the same way?  Christ's death meant that in 2011, his spirit could still be God with us.  Why don't we put up our crosses and crowns of thorns?  Where is the tomb with the stone rolled away that we put out to remind us of Christ's sacrificial death for our redemption of sins?  The picture isn't nearly a "pretty" as a baby wrapped lovingly in strips of cloth and laying in a manger full of hay.  But the message of redemption is so much greater.  The birth, although a miracle and a loving gesture from a King who left his throne, is nothing without the next chapter.  It's Christ's death and resurrection that truly makes his coming worth celebrating.

I am praying that this Christmas I will be mindful of the redemptive reason that Christ came - to be Emmanuel, God with us, here, now, always.

And A Year Has Passed

Up.  Down.  

Happy.  Sad.  

Content.  Restless.  

Settled.  Anxious.  

Wishing.  Dreaming.  Hoping.  

Longing.

A year ago today, I said good-bye to my children.  It is so hard to believe a year has passed.  I look back on this year and feel as though I just said good-bye to them but a few short weeks ago.  I still remember their laughs, hugs, and smiles.  I see them as clearly now as I did a year ago.  I find myself wondering how shocking it will be when one day I see them and their laughter has changed, their smiles are bigger and their hugs are around my neck and not around my waist.  How strange will it be when in my memory, they are as they were when I waved farewell from the top of the escalator in Washington, DC?

It's strange now to say that I toured a year ago.  It is no longer a recent event.  The memories and experiences still live so deeply within me though, that they will always be a part of who I am.  The chaperones have become my family and closest friends.  The children are mine whether they are living with me on a bus or busy at school in Africa.  I will always cherish them.  I will always miss them.  I think of them everyday.

I miss the life of tour.  The community that traveled with you wherever you went, the joy that came from watching the children grow and learn, the laughter that we shared on a daily basis.  I even miss the struggles that came on tour.  It's so easy to forget my need to grow and thrive now that I am back in the routine of home and work.  Growth was such a part of tour because you didn't have a choice.  It's easy to choose not to grow when you aren't forced to be adaptable.  It's easy to walk away from conflict and not have to deal with things that life throws my way when I am no longer confined to a bus and living in close proximity continually.  It changed me deeply and I am forever grateful.

One day, I'll see my children again.  I can't wait to put my arms around them - no matter how much they've grown.