Littered With Decorations

My neighborhood is littered with holiday decorations. There’s something for each and every taste. Do you like penguins? How about two of them (father and son) riding on a sled? Look no further than my front yard. Leg lamps? The first house you see as you pull into our circle proudly displays his lamp each holiday season. There are also the usual suspects - Santa, Rudolph, and Frosty - all of whom have been living in my neighborhood since the weekend after Thanksgiving. I typically take a walk a few nights a week and December nights are definitely the brightest nights of the year. I like the lights and the air-filled decorations, but they don’t usually remind me of Jesus and his birth.

For some reason I moved my walk to the morning instead of the evening today. It was bright, but not because of the decorations. Our penguins were resting. Santa and Rudolph were reduced to a red and brown blob. The leg lamp was dimmed. But what I saw, two unintentional decorations, lying in our street, moved me to worship and a deeper appreciation of the love of God given to us in the gift of his Son.

The two decorations were lying about twenty feet from each other. Both probably thrown from a car window. Probably not from the same car window, but I guess it’s possible.

The first was a fully filled dirty diaper lying open in the gutter. It was disgusting. And the thought hit my mind. God wore diapers. He came, willingly came, and partook in behaviors and actions that are mundane, and routine, and simply gross. Yet it wasn’t the dirtiness of a diaper that we needed deliverance from. It was the darkness of our hearts. I’ve got to admit my reactions to my own son’s diapers is stronger at times than my hatred of my own sin. As humble as the Son of God is to have become a vulnerable baby, it pales in comparison to him becoming sin so that we could become the righteousness of God. And so, seeing a diaper lying in the road reminded me of Christmas.

The second decoration was a pregnancy test lying face down in the gutter. We’ve seen our share of those tests over the past few years. After taking one, we held onto it and looked at our results more than a few times. Never once did it occur to us to throw it out of a car window. I imagine, and could certainly be wrong, but I imagine someone who throws one out onto the street isn’t particularly wanting to be pregnant. And as I saw the test lying there, I was reminded of an unwanted pregnancy that led to the redemption of the world. It made me grateful for Mary and Joseph and for the rest of the cast of characters in the great Christmas story. Mostly it amazed me at the beautiful plan of God to have the Savior be born to the Virgin Mary. To be fully God and fully man and reconnect the glory of God with the brokenness of man.

There’s a lot of flair flaring around right now. Sledding penguins and all. Most of it leaves me wanting more. Yet, seeing two ordinary things lying in a gutter reminded me of the glory of Christmas - the promise that God has come and nothing will ever be ordinary again.

A Picture's Worth a Thousand Words

If a picture is worth a thousand words, I'd like to know what the exchange rate is on a picture mixed with a concise quote.

I read this quote while preparing for my Christmas sermon. As soon as I did, my mind rushed to a picture my mom took of Andrew last night.

"When Jesus is asked who is the greatest in the kingdom of Heaven, he reaches into the crowd and pulls out a child with a cheek full of bubblegum and eyes full of whatever a child's eyes are full of and says unless you become like that, don't even bother to ask." Frederick Buechner

Advent with Andrew - Part Two

So, Andrew's insistence on not participating in Advent has carried over to another day. Repeatedly, he has told us he isn't doing Advent this year. If you read part one in the Advent with Andrew series, you know he contemplated giving up playing with bubbles for Advent (something he does maybe once a year).

So tonight, as we were driving home, I brought up the idea to Andrew that he could give up something other than Xbox instead of not 'doing' Advent.

He emphatically replied, "I'm not giving up my bubbles!"

He has settled on not playing with his blue light saber. We'll see how that goes.

"I Don't Play Advent" - Advent with Andrew Part One

We introduced the idea of fasting to Andrew and Joshua Saturday night. We told them what we were fasting from and talked about learning how to give up something we love for a short season in order to make room in our hearts for our King. Joshua replied quickly that he was going to give up Xbox. Andrew did as well, but it only took about thirty seconds for him to switch to a fast from playing with bubbles. I think that is brilliant and hilarious.

The brilliance is he picked something he really does enjoy - if only about once a year. And the hilarity is probably pretty self-explanatory.

We're on day two of the fast (Actually day one since we don't fast on Sundays. The day Christ rose from the grave is for celebration, not fasting), and Andrew has been pretty funny. Evidently, he's forgotten about the bubbles and is struggling through the thought of only playing Xbox three times in the next four weeks.

A few of his more memorable moments so far. It is pretty funny to note that we haven't brought up the fast even once. This is all going on inside his four-year-old head.

This morning - "Daddy, I don't play Advent. I play Xbox."

This afternoon -

Him - "Daddy, I really don't like the idea of Advent. I want to play Xbox."
Me - "Andrew, sometimes we don't get what we want. We have to say no to something we want. This will make you stronger and more able to be okay when you don't get something you want."

Him - "I don't like that."

Come quickly, Lord Jesus!

The People of Saturn - Conversations with the Boys

It is becoming more obvious each day that Joshua is becoming our scientist while Andrew is full of poetic, yet unscientific, passion. While listening to them discuss the planets, I overheard this...

Joshua (with a touch of scientific condescension) - "Andrew, I'm talking about rings, but not Saturn's rings."

Andrew (full of misguided passion) - "You're wrong, Joshua. The people of Saturn DO have rings."


Maybe he'll be our songwriter.

I was just guessing at numbers and figures
Pulling the puzzles apart
Questions of science, science and progress
Do not speak as loud as my heart - Coldplay from The Scientist

Andrew's Mystery Religion

A few weeks ago Andrew informed us he was saving his blue M&M's until God comes back.

Today, while reaching for the Cheerios on the top shelf I heard Andrew ask why I was so tall. I answered,"Because I'm the tallest giant."

He replied,"No, daddy! Jesus is the tallest giant.

Just to be safe, we're denying his request for white Nikes.

Conversations with the Boys

While Andrew and Joshua were playing on the Chik-fil-a playground they met some girls and evidently began playing make-believe. 

Rebecca overheard them telling the little girls, "You can be anybody you want to be, but we are NOT going to be your husband!" 

It reminded me of myself before I met Rebecca.