As most of you know, I came to a saving knowledge of Jesus when I was 32. With this came a family with traditions not aligned with scripture. You may understand how this is in your own life as I type this. One of the traditions was how we celebrated Christmas. Our traditions were secular.
I remember one year I cut out shoe prints from cardboard, laid them on the carpet, and sprinkled flour to give the impression that they were the footprints of Santa leading from the fireplace over to the cookies and milk, then onto the Christmas tree. If I close my eyes, I can still see the “awe” on Jordan & Albert’s faces as they descend the stairs. They just stopped mid-way and stared with wide eyes.
A few years after becoming a follower of Jesus, I was out with my friend Josh, putting gifts on a porch for a family on Christmas Eve. Carah was home doing bath time, putting out cookies and milk for the big man in the red suit, and writing letters to Santa with the three kids. When I got home, Carah told me I “have to” read Jordan’s letter to Santa.
Jordan was seven years old that Christmas and very close to Nana, my mother, Joan. My mom’s health had been failing, and what we know now is she had Parkinson’s’, but at that time, it was undiagnosed. So I picked up the letter to Santa, but unlike years before, it did not start with “Dear Santa.” This year was different this year, the letter started with “Dear Jesus.” Jordan went on to ask for one thing this Christmas: she asked for her Nana to be healed from her failing health. Even as a little girl, Jordan could tell her Nana was slipping away slowly.
I was taken to my knees as I read my little girl’s letter to Santa that night. I was living in both worlds: the secular world, which does Christmas with material things, and my life as a Christian, which does Christmas as a way to remember that God is with us. Even when I was living in two worlds, God was with me!
Join us this Sunday at 9:30 as we continue the advent season in our series “God was with them.” I pray that God will speak to you when we open His word together.
In Him,
Pastor Chris