Dear Partner,
I love Christmas. This past weekend we had three nights with three different Christmas activities. With my wife’s help I'm even beginning to enjoy an occasional Hallmark Christmas movie. I've tried to convince her that Die Hard is one we should really make a habit of watching but she wants no part of it.
My prayer every morning this December is pretty simple, "Lord help me enjoy parts of this Christmas as much as when I was a kid". That's an audacious request I know. At 52 it's been a few years since I was that age. Okay fine a lot of years.
There have been some experiences throughout the years that have made me somewhat skeptical as to the "wonder" of Christmas. Life is suffering is a line from the psychology book The Road Less Traveled and it's true. A daughter born with Angelman Syndrome and a son who suffered with serious seizures his last couple years of high school, you lose a little wonder.
I've had a few business ventures and entrepreneurial dreams that saw more red than green and while it hurt me financially it may have hurt my pride more than anything, a little more wonder was lost. My father goes home five years ago today- wonder seems really distant. This past summer we said goodbye to a cabin my great grandpa built, to a Miracle my dad envisioned on a napkin in a Howard Johnson restaurant, to buildings we raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for and to more memories and spiritual blessings than you could begin to number.
With all of that and more on my plate the "wonder" of Christmas can seem a lifetime away from when I was a kid. Some of you are a few years past 52. You make my list of lost wonders seem pretty petty and small.
For every one story I have you have two and like me "the wonder" of Christmas is gone. Proverbs 24:10 says "if you fall to pieces in times of crisis there wasn't much to your faith to begin with". There are moments when I need to be reminded that my problems, while heavy and real, are not to be unexpected and are in fact the very reason we can celebrate Christmas. Sometimes I need to be reminded where to direct my hopes and dreams. Romans 5;5 says, "Hope in God's promises does not disappoint." Hope in the Christ of Christmas never disappoints.
I know a December letter is supposed to be a big push for year end giving. Next month I'll endeavor to give a list of pressing needs we have financially. But maybe there's someone reading this who needs either a push to be a little stronger in your faith this Christmas or reminded of the reality of Gods promises wrapped in a manger that first Christmas. A staff member turned in the enclosed paper for an assignment at her university recently. Perhaps it will awaken again that sense of wonder Christmas can really bring. Your generosity helped make it happen.
Merry Christmas
Craig & Lora
