Are you Ready?

"Are you Ready?"

Three of the most used words at this time of the year. For those who celebrate Christmas this has a multitude of meanings. It often means "have you finished your shopping yet?" it may also mean "are you ready for the onslaught of family as they trickle or avalanche in?" It may also mean "do you have enough booze"? as for some this is is a season of excess, and not just drink, food too. I wonder how many third world families I could feed with the food I am preparing for my family over the 48 hours of Christmas eve and day? That's another post at another time.

As a Christ follower, I have to ask myself "am I ready to participate in the celebration of His birth"? How do you prepare for such an event? The obligatory Christmas carols are playing (with a little Charlie Brown slipped in for good measure, thanks goodness for Vince Guaraldi). The family (four of us) is home, just like the song says. The stockings will be hung by the chimney (with care). We will go to church Christmas eve to hear nice music and a short message (thanks Dan) and then retire for some traditional (for us) fare. But what does all this have to do being ready? Glad I asked. It has nothing to do with "being ready" as far as I am concerned.

Being ready for Emmanuel (God with us) has nothing physical required in it's prescription, it requires actions of the heart and that is the challenge. It requires me to look into myself and complete a mental and spiritual checklist (not unlike seeing if I've been naughty or nice) to assess my readiness for the celebration of His birth. Looking into the word of God is a great part of this assessment and personally at this time, once again the Peanuts gang makes this easier for me, see the video below:

That's it!

Fear not!

Tidings of great joy for all people.

Saviour who is Christ the Lord

Glory to God in the highest,

and on earth Peace and goodwill towards men

That's the assessment: I am not to fear, because there is great Joy because of the Saviour and this is not about me, but about God who will bring Peace and goodwill to all people (including me).

All I have to do is make a choice to be ready.

I'm ready, are you?

Merry Christmas!

Well I'm back -------- again

It's been a while and yes I have used that name for a post before. And yes, it's still the last three(or four if you want to be grammatically correct) words from The Lord of The Rings, as spoken by Samwise Gamgee.

I have taken a self imposed rest from the blog. I'm not sure why, but I did and I feel fine about that. Funny enough, twice this week, people mentioned that they missed the blog and wondered what I am doing.

I have so much to write about, I am feeling better, birthdays have passed, Christmas is coming, I am on Christmas holidays, Josh is coming home soon, you know all that stuff and of course there's "tiger".

He has been the fodder for many since his indiscretions became public. Let's start with him. I do not condone his behaviour. What he did was/is wrong and he disrespected his wife, family and the people he spent time doing things with too. Here is what I think, but first:

I am reminded of a story in the bible where Jesus encounters a woman, surrounded by some "godly men" apparently caught in adultery is about to be stoned (what punishment was prescribed to the man is unknown and leaves me wondering, but I digress, as usual). Jesus asks a few questions of her, and then kneels in the dirt and begins to write. The "godly" men who were about to stone her are seen leaving until no one is left (I have always wondered what Jesus wrote, I believe it is an account of their transgressions, but really have no idea). Jesus then asks her where her accusers are, and she tells Him the obvious, there is no one left to accuse her, and He then says, "neither do I, go and sin no more".

If each of us would be willing to measure ourselves by the same measuring stick that we measure tiger and others would we be left wanting? Of course, not many of us would be found guilty of adultery, but what about gossip, character assassination, theft, lying and so many more? Who measures sin? Oops that's what it all is. In God's eyes, "all have fallen short" each of these behaviours are unacceptable, yet in our self righteous manner we gossip (a sin that is mentioned as the tongue is dangerous thing) about tiger, cluck our tongues about his indiscretions and then hide our own from the rest of the world.

What hypocrites we are!

Until we get to the point in our lives that we recognize and are honest our own moral failings we have no place casting aspersions on anyone, no matter what they have done. We are not the judge and jury, that job has been taken by one who will not be usurped by a sin filled human.

Then there is Emmanuel, "God with us". Perfect in every way who came to set us free from the very things that we accuse others of. Please take a few moments and let the words of this song flow over you.