Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

We had a White Christmas, although nobody else around us did:

Here’s how that happened:

My brother Jody was thinking that our odds of a White Christmas for the foreseeable future are pretty low, as in Mozambique Christmas is in summer and usually 90-100 degrees.  Uncle Jody came up with a magical surprise.  He woke up early Christmas morning (think earlier than kids who don’t sleep because they’re so excited for Christmas early), drove my mom’s truck up into the mountains Mount Baker, and loaded it full of snow.  He arrived with perfect timing as the truck pulled onto the lawn just as Diego was awakening.  Holly’s family was also in town from Texas so it was a huge family adventure!

I’ve been reflecting on the Christmas story a lot since I met a friend for breakfast last week to talk about MAF and missions.  We had started talking about the story of the wise men, and the star of Bethlehem.  It was probably not some huge cosmic spotlight as we usually see depicted – it seems that no one in Israel even noticed it (Herod had to ask when it had appeared, and even when the wise men left Herod and went to Bethlehem, it seems they were alone in following it).  It is much more likely to be some sort of astrological sign which was so significant the magi were willing to spend months and riches to follow it and bring gifts.  A link to a few good candidates for the magi’s star/sign: http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-20730828

But if it was just a “normal” astronomical event isn’t the story a huge disappointment in place of our miracle star story?  Just the opposite in my opinion. It is so powerful that when God created the heavens and set the stars and planets in their place, He orchestrated them to do exactly what they needed to do to draw the pagan wise men to Himself.  From before creation He had a plan to reach the nations through even the birth of Christ!  Before this year I’ve always missed how the story of the star is missional. 

If you’re interested in how almost all of the Bible’s stories are missional and how they really are a part of one epic story stretching from Genesis to Revelation, you can listen to a sermon I preached on the topic here: http://naceswithmaf.blogspot.com/p/blog-page.html.  Or better yet, go take a Perspectives class: https://class.perspectives.org/.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!