Good morning, world. Things are looking pretty good from the front porch of my farm in Virginia today. It’s the morning after a heavy rain and now God has brought the wind to dry things out all over again. There was no sunrise to see this morning, but from where I sit the aftermath of the rain we’ve been praying for is spectacular. No matter what the weather is like on any given day, it is as if God Almighty hand-paints His Majesty right before my very eyes. This morning my Heart went from solemn to celebration as I watched this new day unfold, and the course of my time with Him was redirected. I started out focused on His birth and all of the circumstances surrounding His humble beginning…things we should never overlook. But God made it clear to my Heart that He didn’t just want me to consider the birth of His Son – He wanted me to CELEBRATE Him instead…so Celebrate I did this morning.

My mind can’t fathom what it was like so long ago when my Savior entered the world. A virgin girl was chosen to be the one to carry Him in her womb, and there was no need for a doctor’s exam to confirm her pregnancy or to prove her virginity. Her fiance’ kept his promise to marry her and he accepted what the angel of God told him…there was no need for DNA to confirm whose child she carried. Without a text message conversation, this girl’s relatives immediately knew she was pregnant because John leaped in his mother’s (Elizabeth) womb at the sound of Mary’s voice and the Holy Spirit came upon her that very moment just as it was foretold. Without cell phones or the Internet, news traveled fast about this Child…the Savior…the King…because the details of His arrival, His life, and His Purpose were foretold long before He was ever born. Without the benefit of GPS, the 3 wise men found their way to Him and without the benefit of online shopping, they brought Him the most precious gifts under the sun.

Most of the world will celebrate Christmas next week, but most of the world won’t be celebrating the birth of my Savior at all. Some take advantage of this time of year and although they light up a Christmas tree and wrap up gifts, they don’t Celebrate my Savior… they just use His birthday as an excuse to have fun. Some will proclaim to Believe but they don’t “buy in” to all of the details of His birth that were foretold LONG before He was ever born as if the Word of God comes a-la-carte and we can pick and choose the parts we like the best. Some profess to be people of Faith and yet they don’t pause to celebrate in Savior-style and when (or IF) they “tell” the story of His birth on Christmas morning it will have as much excitement as a trip to the mailbox. Some will sing Happy Birthday to Him on Christmas morning and seconds after they sing they’ll dive into gifts and shovel down a feast, and He won’t be mentioned again…as if they’ve done their duty to acknowledge Him. Some claim to Believe and they’ll celebrate next week but the focus and thanks for all of those gifts their children receive isn’t on the Savior at all…but on a fantasy fat guy in the sky who determines if they’re worthy or not.

I’ll soon be celebrating the birth of my Savior at the farm with my family, and you can be sure that it’s Him we’ll be celebrating. We know that “there is no good thing apart from Him” so He’ll get thanks for it all. We know that He is our Provider and that every morsel of food and every gift we exchange is only made possible because of Him. We’ll be celebrating Savior-style and we Believe every single Word of the story of His Birth…a baby born to a virgin…our King…our Savior…our Wonderful Counselor…our Mighty God…our Everlasting Father and our Prince of Peace!

How about you?