Suitcase Christmas
I just packed a suitcase for what feels like the twentieth time in the two months. I've borrowed four different cars, slept in (or on) eleven different beds (or couches), traveled to thirteen different cities, and been in the car for around 71 hours in transit between those cities.
It's been a wild ride, and I've loved each day of it. I'm thankful for each chance the Lord gave me to share what he is doing in Burkina Faso and in me, whether that was a formal presentation or a spontaneous conversation. I'm thankful for each dinner invitation, coffee visit, Sunday morning (no matter at which church I happened to be), Pinnacle climb, and evening sunset walk. Being in the United States is a blessing because of the people here who love and encourage me, and perhaps that is the best Christmas present I could receive this time.
Christmas has just been a little different, being out of a suitcase and all. Even though my family lives in Indiana now, the holidays still happen in Little Rock for us since our family lives there. That means all of our normal, at-home traditions didn't really happen. In fact, because all of my travels started before Thanksgiving, we had to break our "don't-set-up-the-Christmas-tree-before-thanksgiving" rule so that we could actually see it before Christmas.
Christmas Day itself was quite plain. We were exhausted from driving back from Colorado the day before and arriving at 2:30 am Christmas morning. We missed the Christmas Eve service. We didn't even all go to church since one of us was sick. There were no presents to open; mom left them in Indiana. It was just an overall abnormal Christmas. Not sad, just abnormal.
The abnormality brought out a certain sweetness that I've never tasted as strongly before. Our Christmas was stripped of everything distracting - the presents, the decorations, the traditions - and we were let with what it's really about and what actually matters. Family. People we love. Jesus.
Our Christmas this year was closer than ever before to that very first Christmas so long ago - no fancy things, just a stable and a manger. Traveling, on the road, out of a suitcase, in a place that wasn't technically home. Not a whole lot to do, just a silent night. No gifts to open, just the indescribable gift of the Son of God becoming man.
For me, I would say his presence was magnified by the absence of presents this year.
Christmas-out-of-a-suitcase became more about what really matters - celebrating Jesus and family.
It is now New Year's Eve, and I'm writing this in the car as our family heads back to Indiana for two weeks of no suitcases before I pack a big one to go back to Burkina for another year. I've been spending the long hours on straight roads doing a lot of praying. Every hour of this day actually has a different subject, and I just exhaust that subject in prayer for that hour.
As I reflect on this past year and pray over the new one coming, I can't help but think about Isaiah 43:19 when God said, "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." I think that's my biggest prayer for me and for the people I've been praying for today. God, do a new thing in me! Do a new thing in us! Do a new thing in your church, in our city, in our nation, and among the nations.
God is always doing new things. His time is not on a cyclical annual schedule like ours is, but I think New Years is a good time for us to pause and reflect on the truth that God does want to do something new in each of us this year. And it likely doesn't start on January 1; he has probably already begun. May he give us open eyes and open hearts to look for it and embrace it. To look for him and embrace him.
May 2017 be a hope-filled, dream-chasing, goal-pursuing year. May the victories be sweeter and trials push us deeper into dependence on Jesus. May we get into more of God's Word and out into more of God's world. Let us love well, adventure hard, navigate the storms and tragedies with grace and faith, and lead others to God. May 2017 be the year that we get closer to Christ than ever before, loving him more and looking more like him.
It's been a wild ride, and I've loved each day of it. I'm thankful for each chance the Lord gave me to share what he is doing in Burkina Faso and in me, whether that was a formal presentation or a spontaneous conversation. I'm thankful for each dinner invitation, coffee visit, Sunday morning (no matter at which church I happened to be), Pinnacle climb, and evening sunset walk. Being in the United States is a blessing because of the people here who love and encourage me, and perhaps that is the best Christmas present I could receive this time.
Christmas has just been a little different, being out of a suitcase and all. Even though my family lives in Indiana now, the holidays still happen in Little Rock for us since our family lives there. That means all of our normal, at-home traditions didn't really happen. In fact, because all of my travels started before Thanksgiving, we had to break our "don't-set-up-the-Christmas-tree-before-thanksgiving" rule so that we could actually see it before Christmas.
Christmas Day itself was quite plain. We were exhausted from driving back from Colorado the day before and arriving at 2:30 am Christmas morning. We missed the Christmas Eve service. We didn't even all go to church since one of us was sick. There were no presents to open; mom left them in Indiana. It was just an overall abnormal Christmas. Not sad, just abnormal.
The abnormality brought out a certain sweetness that I've never tasted as strongly before. Our Christmas was stripped of everything distracting - the presents, the decorations, the traditions - and we were let with what it's really about and what actually matters. Family. People we love. Jesus.
Our Christmas this year was closer than ever before to that very first Christmas so long ago - no fancy things, just a stable and a manger. Traveling, on the road, out of a suitcase, in a place that wasn't technically home. Not a whole lot to do, just a silent night. No gifts to open, just the indescribable gift of the Son of God becoming man.
For me, I would say his presence was magnified by the absence of presents this year.
Christmas-out-of-a-suitcase became more about what really matters - celebrating Jesus and family.
It is now New Year's Eve, and I'm writing this in the car as our family heads back to Indiana for two weeks of no suitcases before I pack a big one to go back to Burkina for another year. I've been spending the long hours on straight roads doing a lot of praying. Every hour of this day actually has a different subject, and I just exhaust that subject in prayer for that hour.
As I reflect on this past year and pray over the new one coming, I can't help but think about Isaiah 43:19 when God said, "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland." I think that's my biggest prayer for me and for the people I've been praying for today. God, do a new thing in me! Do a new thing in us! Do a new thing in your church, in our city, in our nation, and among the nations.
God is always doing new things. His time is not on a cyclical annual schedule like ours is, but I think New Years is a good time for us to pause and reflect on the truth that God does want to do something new in each of us this year. And it likely doesn't start on January 1; he has probably already begun. May he give us open eyes and open hearts to look for it and embrace it. To look for him and embrace him.
May 2017 be a hope-filled, dream-chasing, goal-pursuing year. May the victories be sweeter and trials push us deeper into dependence on Jesus. May we get into more of God's Word and out into more of God's world. Let us love well, adventure hard, navigate the storms and tragedies with grace and faith, and lead others to God. May 2017 be the year that we get closer to Christ than ever before, loving him more and looking more like him.
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