Countdown to Advent (2)

Advent starts on Sunday.  Thanksgiving was awesome for me; I hope it was for you!  But the best is yet to come!  Advent… the Coming… of Messiah… of the Light…

What was it like before He came?  What was it like before Jesus was born?  The Jews had the knowledge of God, and they had the Scriptures.  But there was so much they were missing.  And the prophetic Voice had been so long silent… and what about the Romans?  Had God forgotten His people?  Would there be any change?  Darkness….

And what about us Gentiles?  We had nothing.  There was the revelation of the True God all over the creation, but we were missing it.  We had our gods and were fumbling along as best we could…  Darkness….

Then God started pulling things together, like the pieces of a Grand Eternal Puzzle.  Angels started appearing.  Old prophecies began to speak again, and a fresh Voice could be heard for those with ears to hear.  And the Light of the World was hidden inside the womb of a virgin… until the Day… until Bethlehem… until the appointed Time.

Re-read the prophecies.  Re-live the moments.  Feel the tension… the expectation… the straining of spiritual eyes in the darkness… and Believe.

Dominus illuminatio mea!

Countdown to Advent

Five days and counting….

Readers– some of you are saying:  “Awesome!”  Some of you are saying, “Huh?”  And some of you are saying, “Who flippin’ cares?”

Advent starts on November 30th this year.  The church has historically set aside four weeks to prepare for the celebration of the Lord’s first coming, His incarnation, His coming as a man.  Y’know.  That baby in a manger stuff.  I love it.

I’m not going to over-explain it here.  Check out some of these links here and here for a good run-down on the whole deal.  In brief, I think Advent is the time to meditate on the fact that there was a time in the world when Jesus, the Light of the World, had not yet come.  When the prophecies had not yet been fulfilled.  When the waiting, and the hoping, and the wondering if Messiah would actually come… was still very real.  And tuning in to that can prepare our hearts for a fresh revelation and embracing of that Messiah who was born.  Cool.

Meanwhile, what are you, or your small group, or your church doing to do Advent?  To prepare for Christmas?  Anything?  Let’s talk about it.  And, Lord willing, I want to talk about some things too.

Thanksgiving

…is Thursday.  What are you thankful for?

• For life.  For good health.
• For my family.  For my children, filled with wonder and joy!
• For my AMAZING WIFE that continues to love me through all manner of my humanness!
• For living filthy rich even though I’m digging out of debt and living paycheck to paycheck.  So much of the rest of the world is stuggling to survive, and I’m warm, clothed, and not even a little hungry.  As my friend Gary said, “Remember to volunteer!  You have a turkey, some people have none.”
• For the faithfulness of God Almighty to his covenants, to His words, to my family, and to me.  I should be dead and destroyed.  Yahweh has loved me, chosen me, redeemed me.  WOW!
• For the start of another “holiday” season, and that this is already becoming the happiest and least stressful ever for me… not necessarily because of any circumstances, but because of what God has done (and is doing) in my heart.
• Did I mention how thankful I am for my wife?
• That I have this blog, and the ability to blog (even though I post even half as much as I would like)!
• etc. etc. etc.

I want to be more thankful… all the time, not just this week.  What are you thankful for?

Write a novel this month?

Just read THIS.  I’m just stupid enough (and secretly pent up enough as a writer) to try this.  Whaddya think?  Anybody in?  C’mon– I dare you!

(Hmmmm… now what should I write about???)