Celebrating Christmas

Warning: Long, rambling blog post ahead! Grab your cup of eggnog now...

Sorry it's been so long since I posted. Chalk it up to the busyness of the holidays. But thanks to the extraordinary kindness of the leadership at Hope, I've got some extra time available this week so I'm catching up on all sorts of things. (The Junior and Senior High students are putting together the service for next Sunday -- from the music to skits to the message -- so I suddenly find myself with a very light workload this week. What a wonderful surprise!)

First things first: Nicole in Arizona wanted to see what our house looks like once it's all decorated for the holidays. So here it is during the daytime:



And here it is at night:



Nicole, I know you wanted to see the whole thing done up in Christmas lights, but it's just not going to happen. For one thing, I don't have Chad and Dan to work on it with me (and it just wouldn't be the same without them). More than that, there are places where the hill slopes away from the house making it really difficult to place a ladder. And because of the height of the house, it stretches almost three stories above the ground at some places. The roof has a pretty steep pitch, so getting to the lights from above is also pretty terrifying. I'm sure there are plenty of young, brave guys out there who would go for it anyways. I even see a few in the neighborhood. But I'm just too chicken.

So we decided on a different approach. We've got a twinkling tree in the big window above the door, and hung wreathes in all of the other windows. At night, candles from the windows give off a warm, inviting glow. We really like the look, and it doesn't require risking our lives to pull it off.

Now if only you guys were here to share it with us... :(

One thing we won't be having this year is a white Christmas. Yes, it looks beautiful in the snow:


But the weatherman says we'll just have to wait for some other year to sit by the tree on Christmas morning and watch the snow fall outside. That's okay. Even though our new home hasn't been covered in snow, it has been filled with friends and family this season, and that's what's really important.

We hosted a Christmas party for our new church this weekend, and we had a blast. Every room was filled with people, from the kids watching videos in the parlor to people mingling in the kitchen to guys sitting by the fire on the back deck. We enjoyed terrific food as everyone brought their favorite appetizers and holiday treats. We got to sing carols together, and even enjoyed a visit from Santa. Lots of fun!

But now that's complete, things have quieted down in our home as we snuggle in for the holiday. Margo has been busy baking, and I've seen the kids sneaking around with rolls of wrapping paper. We originally thought we'd be spending the holiday with Margo's sister and her family as well as Margo's dad & step-mom. But her folks decided it might be too cold for them, and her brother-in-law needs to take advantage of an important work opportunity this week, so we all agreed to a rain-check for some time next year. That leaves just the 5 of us to enjoy a quiet Christmas together, and I'm looking forward to it.

It's amazing how much difference a year makes! This day last year, our family slipped away to the Nedimyer's cabin in northern Arizona for a quiet holiday together, and it was beautiful. We needed to pull away from the all the noise of life just to pray, think, and try to figure out what God had in store for us. It had been such an amazing and challenging journey of discovery and transformation in our lives, and we were enjoying some of the most wonderful friendships we've ever known. In the weeks leading up to Christmas, God revealed himself to us in a beautiful way through some remarkable people and circumstances. But we had also seen the hatred and cruelty of a handful of people at church fully revealed, and I had received the batch of e-mails letting me know what leaders were really saying behind people's backs. Our hearts were broken. What could have been an incredible time of honoring God and sharing grace was being strangled by bitterness, gossip, and manipulation.

Margo and I had made the decision not to tell people what we knew about what had been going on behind the scenes (except for a couple of families that the Elders had assigned to us as a support network, and even then we did not share everything because we wanted to preserve the dignity of some people). We kept clinging to a promise from God in the Psalms to simply remain silent and let God accomplish his own glory through it all. Though our emotions were running high, in many ways we were already at peace; we had spent so many hours talking and praying and being broken before the Lord, and we were already experiencing refreshment and blessings. But there were many voices urging us to consider different options. Some wanted us to stay at Compass, confront the bitterness and lack of grace, and hopefully bring about a renewal that would show what the life-changing love of God looks like as it's worked out in a community. Others encouraged us to consider planting a new church in the west valley, perhaps in Buckeye or Peoria, as an opportunity for those who could no longer worship at Compass. The incredible staff at Crossings Church had already planted the seed about raising our own support, becoming part of their team, and working toward establishing a sister church according to the great vision of Pastor Trev. (I love ya, man! And it would have been a blast!) And Margo and I were also considering whether or not God might want us to leave ministry altogether because it had simply become too painful for us and our children. (I admit I'm still a little bitter about what was done to our kids by the leaders of Compass during that time; it's been the hardest thing to let go.)

So Margo and I decided to pull away for Christmas, ask our dear friends to pray for great wisdom and insight, and simply listen for the whispers of God's Spirit. We agreed not to talk about the possibilities and decisions until we both felt sure we had heard from God, and then we could compare notes. And on Christmas Eve last year, after a day of playing and laughing together as a family, Margo and I shared with each other that we both heard the same message from God. We felt that God's first and best choice was for us to stay at Compass, endure the lingering heartache, work to bring about renewal, and introduce others to the amazing wonders of grace we had experienced. But we also felt that the Lord was releasing us from that task as an expression of his love. We had been through so much, and we felt that he was welcoming us into a season of blessing and newness, even though we had absolutely no idea what that might mean. So, one year ago today, we made the decision to step out into the unknown with faith in God's leading and the encouragement of great friends.

It's amazing how peaceful that was for us. I honestly don't know how people get by in life without hope in the Lord! Oh, sure, there were many days ahead in which we wondered if we made the right decision, or struggled to be patient and wait for God to reveal his plans. But the Lord is soooooo good! Every time we felt worn out or fearful, we would return to that same sense of peace that only comes from God's leading.

And here we are one year later. It's Christmas Eve again, and I'm sitting in our front room looking out the window on the beautiful woods, listening to Margo and the kids scurry about the kitchen with some last-minute baking. We still enjoy the love of friends in Arizona (even though we don't get to wrap our arms around you guys these days), and our lives have been filled with even more love from new friends in Virginia. In some ways, it feels like we've been here for years because the love and grace of God's people is so wonderful. Our home is filled with laughter and our church is filled with vision, truly godly leadership, and so many opportunities to impact our community with God's love.

When the armies of the Lord filled the skies over Bethlehem on that sacred night so long ago, they shouted a promise and blessing: "Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased." As I celebrate the presence of Emmanuel -- God With Us -- this Christmas, I take delight in that blessing for I see it realized in my own experience. God has indeed been glorified, and I am very much at peace as I enjoy the Lord's pleasure. And I pray you, too, will enjoy God's grace and peace this Christmas as you reflect on his incarnation and presence in your own life. May the days behind us be filled with lessons and wisdom, and may the days before us be filled with love and kindness and sweet friendships that will last for eternity.

Merry Christmas!