Greetings in the name of the One that we expected, Jesus the Christ,

It’s Wednesday.  I almost forgot the day of the week, replaced with the designation of Christmas Eve.  We are almost there, almost over the hump.

Tomorrow, we will open gifts and the wait will be over, right?

It’s not “beginning to look a lot like Christmas” here.  There are no snow- covered lawns, no snowmen or snow women, no snow flakes, no snow angels.  No, it’s raining, making the ground muddy, the roads slicks, my hair frizzy.  Grrr.

But, is Christmas about the way that things look?  Certainly, the little baby in a manger didn’t look like the Savior of the world.  And he was not the Messiah persons had expected.  Still, it does not change the fact that he came and that he was and is and will always be… the Savior, our Messiah, Emmanuel, that is “God with us.”

The Christmas season may end for America at the close of December 25, the commercials may change and the signage in department stores too because it is treated like a holiday.  But for us, these are holy days.  And they are never over, not even after he comes.  We are the people with the greatest hope, the greatest expectation, waiting, expecting God to come to earth.

Today, it is my prayer that we do not lose the expectation of his appearance, that we recognize the God who surpasses our expectations everyday, who cannot be gift wrapped or tied to a tree.  Glory be to God in the highest!