The Reason for the Season

Twas the night before Christmas and I am left speechless....

Generous. God is so generous.

This morning, my DTS met for prayer at 6:00 AM, like we do each Monday to pray for finances. I was hit with God's generosity. For instance, my DTS was able to raise over $40,000 for our outreaches to Asia and Africa. That's incredible! If you think about it, YWAM raises a lot of money per year. With about 12 different DTS's running each year, there is a need for a lot of finance. But the teams, always go on outreach. God always provides. He is so generous. He doesn't owe us anything, but instead, chooses to give to us.

And then it hit me, Christmas. -- The most generous thing God ever did was give up his only son for us. He let his son become not just a baby, but a fetus for me. That may seem a bit strange, but think about it. Atleast babies can cry and communicate to the world that they are hungry or something, but a fetus....? That's so hard for me to wrap my mind around. But he did it for me. He did it for you. He did it for us. The greatest part about it is that if I was the only person in the world with sin, he still would have sent Jesus. 

There are a lot of lessons to be learned from that. God's goodness, his provision, his father-heart, and the fact that we are important to him. So good! 

But now my lids are heavy... it's been such an eventful day. Taking in Aussie Christmas has been a bit of culture shock. From this week ranging from 94-104 degrees F, to having an Aussie Barby for christmas eve dinner, to stuffing stockings and watching others stuff the 300+ stockings hanging in one room, to having to Skype my mom just to say "merry christmas" -- things are just a bit different. 

As I think back on Christmas at home, and what it would be like if I were there. Things would have been different then what I grew up with anyways. It is the second year without my dad for Christmas, so that changes things regardless. My brother Daniel has an almost-two-year-old daughter [the love of my life], and my other brother Philip lives in NYC. So things are a bit different anyways. But that's life. Seasons, changes, reasons to begin new traditions. Also, with change brings the need to press into God for strength, growth, and endurance. After all, He is the reason for the season right? 

And that's exactly what it boils down to. It's not about traditions, it's not even about spending time with family. It's about Jesus and the gift that He is to us.