Page 7 - Grace Connections December 2021

not perish but have everlasting We set aside that day

life. because we believe that two
thousand years ago, a tiny baby
When our children were
growing up my wife and I loved was born in Bethlehem, in a
Christmas morning. We would stable amongst the animals,

quickly grab a cup of coffee and and laid in a manager. His
head into the living room where journey began with His earthly
our two children were often parents, a virgin girl named

impatiently waiting to open Mary and a poor carpenter
their presents. named Joseph. The real father
was God Himself. Mary did as
And like any parent, we God instructed her and named
certainly wanted to get the the baby Jesus.

gifts that they desired, as well
as gifts my wife and I would But He had another name,
get for each other. Immanuel, which means “God is
with us.”
As wonderful as receiving a gift
from our loved ones is, the This baby was the King of

more and greater highlight of Kings. He was God Incarnate,
opening Christmas presents lay the creator of the universe. He

in seeking the expressions on humbled Himself and became a
our children’s faces as they man deserving of a global
unwrap that special gift that fanfare, but only the shepherds

was picked out just for them. came to see Him.
He became a man because
What kind of feeling do you

think God gets whenever one of He desired to save people from
His children opens the gifts, He their sins. After the first man

has given especially for them? and woman, Adam and Eve, had
fallen into sin, it separated man
We mentioned earlier how from God.

Christmas began a journey.
Although man has and will Over the centuries, people
continue to debate if December have tried many ways to get

25 is the actual date of His reconnected with God, but none
th
birth, that is not the issue. of them were successful. Many
believed that money would buy