Merry Christmas!!!

It's Christmas Eve, and while this is a perfect time to launch into a tirade about the "war on Christmas" and how much I hate it when people working at Walgreen's reply to my "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays", I'm not going to write about that. I'm going to write about the true meaning of Christmas.

No, it's not your family. No one cares about them except you, so stop bringing them up. It's not about presents or happiness or music either. It's about the fulfillment of a promise.

Man fell, and God devised a plan to save us. He promised his people in Israel that a Messiah would come and free them. And today we celebrate the fulfillment of that promise. Today (and Tomorrow...I'm not sure whether Christmas Eve or Christmas Day was the one people started celebrating first) we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ (my Lord and Savior), the first fulfillment of that promise. Jesus' death and resurrection freed us from sin and death, but both were preceded by Jesus' miraculous birth from a Virgin, under a bright new star.

That's the meaning of Christmas. If you're not religious (and even if you are), take a few minutes tonight and read the story of Jesus' birth in the Bible (you're getting a bunch of presents tomorrow- come on, it's the very least you can do). Also worth reading are the (ORIGINAL, NOT LAME NEW) lyrics of "We Three Kings". The last four verses of the five deal with Jesus' birth, life, death and resurrection. That's the central, pivotal life in the history of Man.

Everything else about Christmas- the company of family, the presents, the music and cheer- all come from the joy we feel upon the fulfillment of God's promise. If you like what you read tonight, take a moment to pray and ask God to show himself to you, that you could start on a journey with him.

Merry Christmas everyone! Blessings of God upon you and your family during this season and the upcoming year :) Amen.