Imagine something with me.

Imagine that tomorrow you wake up to the sound of your radio, and it's back to playing the usual hits instead of Christmas music. You crawl out of bed and wander into the kitchen to find your that Christmas tree is gone! As you stumble through the living room you can't find any gifts either. You check to see if all the candy you put in your dads stocking is still there. The whole stocking is gone! Bewildered, you eat breakfast and head off to school. All the streets are bare without their usual Christmas decorations. When you get to school you check on the date. By now you're wondering if you slept through Christmas! But to your surprise, Christmas is still a couple days away! Where did Christmas go?

It didn't go anywhere .....that is if you and I believe Christmas to be about Jesus. Take away all the decorations, the music, the presents, the commercialism, and the traditions and what do you have? I'd say for once you'd have a pure Christmas. Christmas the way the shepherds experienced it, or the kind that Mary and Joseph experienced. I'm talking about an experience overwhelmed with the joyous birth of a baby, Emmanuel; God with us.

"Late on a sleepy, star-spangled night, those angels peeled back the sky just like you would tear open a sparkling Christmas present. Then, with light and joy pouring out of Heaven like water through a broken dam, they began to shout and sing the message that baby Jesus had been born. The world had a Savior! The angels called it "Good News," and it was." - Larry Libby

This will be my 27th Christmas on earth, though there is something about this year that has me restless. I find that there is only so much gratification out of the Carols, the wish-lists, and the party atmosphere. There is a longing within me to not just experience Christmas this year, but to experience Christ.

"This is Christmas: not the tinsel, not the giving and receiving, not even the carols, but the humble heart that receives anew the wondrous gift, the Christ." - Frank McKibben

What is Christmas?

It's a celebration of the one true God who loved us so much that he did the un-expected and humbled himself to live among us.

It's about grace for the un-graceful and hope for the hopeless.

It's a reminder that God is willing to reach out to us when we are unable to reach out for Him.

It's about the person of Jesus Christ who made possible a re-birth and new beginning through his life, death, and resurrection for all who believe, and it's is a proclamation that things will never be the same.

Imagine with me one more time.

Imagine that you are back 2000 years ago standing in the chill and darkness of the night. You're peering around the corner of a cave and looking into the eyes of a newborn baby. A shiver runs down your spine as you remember what the prophets of old said. They foretold the coming of this baby, the son of God, and the Savior of mankind. You knew He would come some day, and now the waiting is over. Jesus is there in front of you and you know without a doubt .... things will never be the same. Hope is born.

- Josh