It's the eve before Christmas Eve. The day before everything becomes a giant blur and we wake up with PCD (Post-Christmas Depression) wondering what just happened and where all our money went.

Or maybe that's just me.

But likely, most of you probably know what I’m talking about.

Before we let these next few days pass as quickly as a slice of ham - I just want to take a moment to reflect on the reason we celebrate in the first place.

A Savior came for us.

I can get caught up in watching cheesy Christmas movies and baking cut-out cookies with the best of them - but nothing gets my heart going more than reflecting on Jesus coming to earth as a baby.

I'll be honest, for twenty-five Christmases that didn't really mean much to me. I mean I thought it was adorable and everything - Jesus as a baby, with shepherds and wise men bowing down to Him. I pictured the scene from The Lion King when Mufasa was holding Simba up for all the animal kingdom to see. Except, Jesus' crowd was a little smaller - but considering the angels - still epic, nonetheless.

Now that I've had two babies of my own, I consider so many other things about the infancy of Christ.

Like, remembering the first moment I laid eyes on my own baby boy's face. It was an overwhelming feeling that I've never been able to put into words. And one that I imagine overwhelmed Mary in a similar, and even greater way. Her baby boy was also God in the flesh. You don't have to be a parent to consider the awe of holding God for the first time. But somehow, I never really grasped it until I was.

I also consider things like the fact that Jesus would have once had to have his diaper changed. Talk about humility.

There is actually a common theme of humility strung throughout the story of Jesus' birth. From the unwed mother who carried him, to the unconventional place He was born, to the first people to learn about his arrival - Jesus was not sent to be royalty on earth. And yet, God chose for Jesus to be biologically carried full-term and born from a woman because, he wanted him to have a birthday. He wanted His Son to be celebrated. And from the moment the angels appeared to the shepherds to announce the birth of our Savior, the celebration hasn't stopped!

And thousands of years later we have an established calendar holiday for the birth of Jesus Christ - the day we call, "Christmas." 

But if I could be honest with you, Christmas Day as much as I enjoy it, doesn't quite seem like enough. First of all, it comes and goes so quickly (TWO MORE DAYS!) And I struggle to fit in every single tradition - decorate the tree, go see Christmas lights, read stories, open gifts, prepare food, watch movies, sing songs, eat food and enjoy being with family. Those are all wonderful things and great ways to celebrate, but if we were really to celebrate the birth of Jesus the way God intended it - I think we would do more seeking of His face and less stuffing of ours (but by all means, please do stuff your face - good food shouldn't go to waste!)

When you believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, just celebrating His birth isn't enough. He becomes worthy of celebration in the normal, mundane, every day of your life.

And this, my friends, is the most wonderful news of all! Good news to those of you who want peace, love and joy all year long. And good news to those who feel like Christmas Day is full of pain and a longing for better days. 

This Christmas will be a bit of a different one for us. We'll be missing some family members and utilizing the (great) invention of Facetime and social media to share moments with others.

But when traditions end, plans fall through and family can't be together to celebrate - Jesus still deserves to be.

And maybe, for some of you, this will be the first Christmas you really, truly see Jesus as the reason to celebrate. I can promise you, that once you do - Christmas will never be enough for you either.

If you've been on the internet this week you may have heard that Chipotle is closing (they're not), Christians hate Starbucks (they don't) and Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton are expecting a baby (the jury is still out on this). 

We live in a media-saturated culture where we glean wisdom from headlines. Except, a truly wise person knows not to believe everything they read online.

“The simple believe anything, but the wise give thought to their steps.”

— Proverbs 14:15

image source: http://www.psfk.com/2015/10/starbucks-holiday-cups-2015-branding-brand-assets.html

I know we all make mistakes and jump the gun on some things before we know all the facts, but this seems to be a common, recurring theme on social media these days. I think part of the reason to blame is that the silent killer built into the DNA of social media is competition. 

People want to be the first to know things. Instead of waiting for the truth to be revealed - some just start making stuff up. Other people believe it and start spreading the same lies. It's a viscous and never-ending cycle. 

Usually the lies are minor and don't really affect my personal life. But this week, I felt the sting of this attack. It gets personal to me when the subject of the lie relates to my faith. Early Monday I got online and saw several people, mostly non-believers, criticizing and mocking "Christians" for their apparent intolerance of the new "red" Starbucks holiday cups. I looked into it, before becoming defensive. Truly believing that maybe there were some Christians in an uproar over this Starbucks-cup thing. It wouldn't be the first time. There are several reasons Christians have stopped supporting this coffee place (and I gotta say, it's just a coffee place to me, not somewhere I go and expect a Christian worldview to be present). But after I found the source of this allegation, it was so obvious that this was a media-attempt to attack the Christian culture as a whole, based on the remarks of ONE guy with a social media platform. 

This is the world we live in. And really, guys, it's just going to get worse. 

As believers, we need to have wisdom before spreading false truths. We need to do our research and protect the name of not only our brothers and sisters in the faith, but Jesus Christ. 

The world is truly desperate to prove that Christians are intolerant, hateful bigots. And they wouldn't be wrong. We can be all of those things. They just seem to find the wrong examples. We should be unapologetically intolerant and hateful about the evil in this world. Sex-trafficking. Racism. Murder. Adultery. Jealousy. And ALL sin. We should hate it. 

Why? Because Jesus hated it enough to die for us. And what kind of society, long-term, does a completely tolerant one look like? I imagine a lot like the one we're turning into. 

It was never really about the cup in the first place. It was one guy trying to find a way to make Starbucks celebrate the "true meaning of Christmas" by encouraging everyone to tell the barista their name was "Merry Christmas" so they would have to write it on their "plain red cup." Another gimmick that was probably mostly driven by selfish ambition. Everyone is looking for one these days, it seems. 

So I guess the moral of this post is don't let your faith turn into a gimmick, be wise and please, don't believe everything you read online. 

Last night I tucked my little boy Micah into bed, prayed over him and then walked out of his room and shut the door behind me. It was only minutes later when he came running out of the room with tears in his eyes saying, "Mommy, it's too dark!" I walked back in his room, shut the door behind me and sat on the bed with him to get a perspective of how dark the room really was. He held on to me tightly as we sat and stared into the empty, black space.

It was kind of creepy in there.

He has these sliding glass "mirror" doors that conceal his closet, but are directly across from his bed capturing our oddly-shaped reflections. He has an old-school TV and DVD player, that make weird cracking noises. Not to mention, his bedroom is on the farthest side of our house next to a giant tree with birds and crickets and other indistinguishable creatures lurking right outside the window. 

I felt my own fear starting to rise. And then quickly summoned the name of Jesus and assured Micah that He is watching over us and we have nothing to fear. I turned on a hall light and that helped give him enough peace to fall asleep shortly after that. 

I started to think about the fact that we are all born with an awareness of evil. I did not have to teach my son, Micah, to be afraid. If anything, we have avoided anything scary and have overly encouraged him to be brave. Yet, he still fears the dark.  

And the more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that we never really grow out of being afraid - but we grow in faith. 

The evil in this world scares me. If I dwell on it too much, it actually torments my soul. I could lie awake all night thinking of all the evil things that could happen (and I have) but instead I have chosen to grow in faith. Grow in faith that there is a Creator who is working out evil for good. That even though evil entered this world, in the garden, and destroyed the perfect plan God had for His creation - it will one day be PERFECT again.  

When I hear about tragedies, like the shooting that took place in Charleston last week, it is an opportunity for me to continue to feed the fear and sit in the dark or rest in faith and turn a light on. 

Now I'll be honest, I've been sitting in the dark for a few days. Listening to the noise around me - blaming racism, blaming gun laws, blaming flags. Becoming more afraid by the hour.

But it's time to turn on the light. I'm here to say, this evil CAN be turned to good. And praise the Lord, it already is. 

Did you read or hear about how the families of the Charleston shooting victims are offering forgiveness to the gunman? Now go back and find the source of that news report.

National news is talking about forgiveness. And not just any forgiveness, but the forgiveness that comes from God. Just read this article by USA today. 

And you can call the gunman a racist... but don't tell me we live in a racist society when the church service on Sunday at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church looked like THIS:

Such a wonderful sight to see brothers and sisters gathered together in the name of Jesus.

Too often we sit in the dark and fear the evil. Dwelling on everything wrong with the world. And trust me, it's the easy thing to do. No one has to teach us to be afraid.

But all it takes is a perspective shift, to get up and turn on a light and rest in faith. And remember, God is working it all for good. We don't have to be afraid of the dark.