Christmas Evening...

I wanted to sit down and write a warm and fuzzy, sentimental post. You, know, with it being Christmas night and all. But I can't. Oh, I've got stories and insights and things that would make you cry. They're in my head and in my heart. But in my stomach is the residual effect of two days of binge eating on nothing but cookies, pie, turkey and ham. So instead, your Christmas gift from me is bullets. Real ones, not those dashes I normally lazily do. Real. Live. Bullets...

• Thursday night wrapped up my seven day stretch of working. My body and my mind are still extremely drained from all of that.
• Friday morning I woke up late, around 9:30 a.m. Tim came over for a little while and we exchanged Christmas gifts. I scored the third season of Will & Grace on DVD from him. It's a great gift since I didn't actually start watching the show until season 5, and I've seen bits and pieces of the first two seasons, which didn't impress me.
• I left for East Texas around 11:30. After my yearly drive around Lindale to see how Timberline has changed, etc., I headed to Prairie Creek for the Herring-Antal-Slaton-Cheney, etc. family Chistmas, which was determined that I've participated in for the past 10 years. Long story how I got hooked up with those great people. Actually it's a pretty short story. I worked at a church, became friends with Tony, Mellissa and Marvin, the rest is history. I'm family.
• Had a wonderful time, as usual, in Lindale. Went to Chandler this morning to be with my family. I came out good this year. Money and a blanket, which I love.
• Having been a part of several different kinds of churches, I've been exposed to differing things that are stressed during Christmas. Some focus on baby Jesus, some get straight to Crucifixion and Easter type stuff. It's powerful to think of what the Orthodox stress. The incarnation. God.....With.....(can you believe what comes next?....).... Us. God. With. Us. Wow, wow, wow. Have you ever stopped to realize how extremely inefficient the Gospel is? I know some of you will say otherwise, that Jesus somehow was obligated by his word or his glory or something to come share this place with us and die a horrible death. But Jesus was obligated to do jack squat. Wouldn't it have been much easier for God to say "Alright, here's the plan. I'm just going to say right now that I forgive you. If you will, come to me?" Yes, yes it would have been much easier and more effecient. The incarnation suggests that there must have been something more than just forgiveness and grace and redemption involved in this Christmas story. It seems as if God is making a statement that this place we call home, matters. The dirt we walk on and the converstations we have late at night, matter. Our relationships and our joys, matter.
• I guess I'm preaching.
• With so many people out of town, I'm hoping to write quite a bit over the next week or so.
• Stay tuned.