Everyone falls / anyone can fly

I haven't posted much.

It could be a sign of a busy life,

it could be a sign that I've got things on my plate

The reality is that it is a sign

that things have been taking precendence when they shouldn't.

This is Christmas.

For me it has always been a time of a kind of excessive joy.

I used to think it was about being around family.

Then I thought it was about hoping for a particular present.

Then I believed it was about Christ.

And later I believed it was about a kind of minimalism of Christ.

I have finally migrated between

    an arbitrary and intense desire

        to see God more clearly this time of year than any other

    and a kind of sadness that

        people would worship the idea of Christ

            more than Christ Himself.

Regardless, there has always been

        SIGNIFICANCE

                associated with it for me.

To quote a song that runs through my head this time of year ...

"And so this is Christmas

And what have you done?

Another year over ...

A new year just begun."

Christ is about many things to me.

But my favorite, the one that always gives me hope

      - is redemption.

Jesus gives us a chance to start over without destroying the past.

He gives us a chance to become something amazing.

Let today be the beginning of a new year for you.

One filled with a choice of hope.

One filled with a desire for life.

One filled with a love of truth.

You've fallen.  So have I.

Don't focus on the failure.

Focus on His grace.

And claim it.

Should we seek an apologetic apology?

The more I think about God, the more I think justifying, arguing the case for, and defending God are silly. We're talking about an all-powerful God.

The problem is that we live in a world where we are called to speak to others.
This has the result that without the ability to justify God explicitly we are often only able to model God's presence.

Perhaps this is the best testimony which one could hope - to speak as Jesus, act as Jesus, think on Jesus, and breathe out Jesus.

Certainly He sneaks into more conversations that way than otherwise He might.

And really, we can codify morality all we'd like, punish laws we currently find abominable, persecute those whose hearts are quantitatively impure, and command respect and repentance of those who have crossed whatever line we've placed in the sand.

But we can't really see the hearts of people - only God can.
We can't really expect people to repent - only God can put true repentance in someone.
And we define that which is universally abominable by what God has put within our hearts.

Live as Jesus lived, for His father. And let God guide the rest.