Advent
by Chris Watkins - Student Pastor
As we are now in December it is time to either pull out your annual Advent study, purchase a new advent study, or learn more about advent. I absolutely loved Christmas as a kid. The anticipation for what was to come, whether that be no school for a few weeks, all the light displays, Christmas pageants or musical concerts, the presents under the tree, the list could go on and on.
I would love to say the happiness I felt as a kid continued throughout the years but I don’t want to lie. There have been several years, between my senior year of High School after the passing of my grandfather, to various others that seasons of life just did not feel the same. Now as a father, I look through the eyes of my children and see their happiness as the Christmas season approaches.
I write about this because even in the seasons where the happiness may not have been there because of loss of a loved one, positions at work looking different, not spending the day with family or even being in a completely different place planning to travel halfway around the world the day after Christmas. One thing that always remained was the Joy that comes from knowing that Christmas is not about all of the things, but ultimately it is ALL about Jesus. I remember as a kid talking to my mom on the way to the family farm for Christmas with excitement that I wanted to read Luke’s account of the Christmas story for the whole family. I hope we raise up generation after generation that will continue to focus on the real reason for the season.
For those with little ones there is a fun book called the 25 Days of the Christmas Story by the Straubs that we go through each night with our boys starting on December 1. For those a little older there are various advent studies that you can look up. A couple of my favorites are by Billy Graham called God’s Blessings of Christmas or The Cradle, Cross and Crown. And for those that would rather just read God’s Word, read the Book of Luke a chapter a day and that will get you through Christmas Eve.
The hope is that if we keep our mind on Jesus this season we will have Joy despite our circumstances, which I find to be true in life everyday as well.
I would love to say the happiness I felt as a kid continued throughout the years but I don’t want to lie. There have been several years, between my senior year of High School after the passing of my grandfather, to various others that seasons of life just did not feel the same. Now as a father, I look through the eyes of my children and see their happiness as the Christmas season approaches.
I write about this because even in the seasons where the happiness may not have been there because of loss of a loved one, positions at work looking different, not spending the day with family or even being in a completely different place planning to travel halfway around the world the day after Christmas. One thing that always remained was the Joy that comes from knowing that Christmas is not about all of the things, but ultimately it is ALL about Jesus. I remember as a kid talking to my mom on the way to the family farm for Christmas with excitement that I wanted to read Luke’s account of the Christmas story for the whole family. I hope we raise up generation after generation that will continue to focus on the real reason for the season.
For those with little ones there is a fun book called the 25 Days of the Christmas Story by the Straubs that we go through each night with our boys starting on December 1. For those a little older there are various advent studies that you can look up. A couple of my favorites are by Billy Graham called God’s Blessings of Christmas or The Cradle, Cross and Crown. And for those that would rather just read God’s Word, read the Book of Luke a chapter a day and that will get you through Christmas Eve.
The hope is that if we keep our mind on Jesus this season we will have Joy despite our circumstances, which I find to be true in life everyday as well.
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