A God Who Dreams!

My anniversary happens to be right around this Christmas season. Don't know what we were thinking when we chose Christmas time to get married. It inevitably means more money going out all at the same time of year. This year I was trying to dream a big experience for my wife and I on a tight budget. To make a long story short, I had booked a night at Gaylord Palms with tickets to ICE, a huge ice display in the middle of Florida, utilizing thousands of blocks of ice to create elaborate scenes. After booking it and looking at the final price I canceled. It was way more than I could afford for a one night experience. God took the dream and delivered. Through a series of events out of my control God provided the anniversary we dreamed of and more. Gaylord Palms, ICE, and Universal Studios for less than half the cost.

What made this anniversary so sweet to my wife and I was not that we got exactly what we wanted. It was looking down from the 9th floor of Gaylord Palms, over the Atrium, and experiencing God's presence and his voice speaking this loving truth, "I am dreaming for your marriage." I fear I would have missed it had I paid for the experience he provided. Would have felt the pain of the bill or thought that it was my planning that made it happen. Knowing on our
10 year anniversary that God is intimately involved in the success of my wife's and my relationship made our weekend one of the best experiences of our lives.

Christmas on a Dime!

If your like most of us, it feels a little tighter this Christmas season.  How do we do Christmas on a dime when we really want to express our love this season?  Here is your choice.  Spend more than you have or stick to the dime God has given you.  Consider this question.  How do I want to leave Christmas this year?  Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive."  Doesn't feel that way when we walk away from Christmas in debt.  The heart to bless people is crushed by the gut wrenching feeling that we spent more than we had.  It feels more like a curse when the hype of Christmas Day is gone.  So the dilemma is, I want to show people my love this Christmas but all I have is this one thin dime.  Well what if you took that dime and got creative.  What if you chose to live gratefulness this Christmas and figured out a new way to say I love you at Christmas.  I think you might find that there is more heart in a sincere gesture than a purchased gift.  Why not trying to walk away from Christmas experiencing what God would want you to.  The feeling of "more blessed."  

Feeling Alive at Christmas!

You ever heard those psycho sayings like, "The pain helps you know your alive," or "bleeding means you ain't dead." Psycho right. But could they be on to something. You ever watched the guy who's shot in the movies. When do they get most scared? When they stop feeling, when they begin to go numb.

Jesus in the Sermon on the mount say's some crazy things too. Very similar things to the psycho sayings above actually. He say's "blessed are those who mourn," "blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness," and "blessed are you when people insult you because of me." Could it be that in these seasons are the season's when we really find life. Too many times these things cause me to instead of embrace life, numb out. Could it be that when we numb out we stop risking and when we stop risking we stop living? Could it be that real living is feeling deeply and in feeling deeply embracing risk and adventure.

Numbing out is going through life, living is embracing life. That means the ups and downs, the successes and failures, the risks and the rewards. It means faith that God turns "mourning to gladdens" and pain into blessing. It means opening up your heart instead of closing it off. The minute we shut our heart down is the minute we shut down, our dreams, our potential, and our hope. This Christmas what if we opened our hearts completely to God and allowed ourselves to feel deeply again, to risk a little in our relationships, and to embrace a season of hope marked by the birth of a king, the hope of the world, Jesus Christ.

To do this try reading scripture. When you engage scripture you are not allowed to numb out. It won't let you. It calls into your deep and musters up life from there. It pierces your heart with it's truth and excites real living. Also, try loving a little. Taking the risk in a relationship to say an "I'm sorry" instead of waiting for one. Extend a thoughtful gesture to someone you don't know to well yet. Try worshiping. Choosing thankfulness over despair, prayer over frustration. Try thanking God for the harder times that reminds you your alive and that your not alone there. Try thanking God for his presence, in faith, even when you don't sense it. Try living this
Christmas.

Phillip Woody
phil@ridetheriver.org