Day 349 - Crazy Enough to Try

"He said he wanted to go to the beach."

Last year in December my son and I went to the beach and had a great time. It was warm and sunny. He dug a hole in the sand big enough to jump in. We scoured the beach for shells and then went and had a burger together. 

I look at that and wonder how we could do that in December. It surely has a lot to do with the fact that we are in Southern California and it was a drought year for us. Not only that I am crazy enough to take a chance. There is an adventurous spirit in me that won't settle for average. 

December should not be a beach going month and yet we tried it and found it to be a wonderful time. This year the weather is much colder so it may not work now. 

In life there are times and seasons as well and we need to launch out and try. The Bible talks about sowing different seeds in different places at different times because you don't know which one will produce a crop for you. Isaac sewed in a time of famine and reaped a hundredfold in the same year. What if he sat back and said "It is famine. I shouldn't sow seed right now."

For all of us we need to be crazy enough to try. Try a new business idea, try a new recipe. Try a new look or a new color. Try a different brand or try something different on the menu. The worst that can happen is you don't like something or it doesn't work out. The best that could happen is that you prosper and enjoy life.

What have you been wanting to try but haven't yet? Have you seen that when you try something it works out good?

Day 348 - Not What it Looks Like

"God is faithful and true no matter what I think or see. What matters is what God thinks and sees."

When Jesus came people were not expecting Him to come as He did. In fact if I would have written the Bible I am sure the text would be very different. 

I would have written a grand story like all the others. Jesus would have been very well received, He would have had every earthly comfort and lived a perfect life. At least I would have agreed with God on one point. 

Jesus would have still been the hero in my story and would have died in our place and been raised again to life. But in my story it wouldn't have been such a brutal death. No it would have been like when Superman died. It would have been an epic battle with the devil where Satan thought He struck the final blow and then Jesus would have raised again to life and totally annihilated the devil. Okay so there is a second point of the story my narrative would have agreed with. 

What is so awesome about Christmas, and even Jesus' life, is that it is a story like no other. No man could have nor would have written it. We mess things up when we try to play God. 

This Christmas you may have expectations of how things should go. There may be a picture in your mind of the perfect Christmas dinner, the perfect gift, the perfect Christmas morning or even the perfect message at church. Realize that God's picture is so much better. He sees what we don't see. He has plans that blow our plans out of the water. 

Look for the leading of God and grab hold of what He is doing this Christmas season. It may be unexpected like a baby in a manger. It may be as surprising as the cross. One thing I can tell you is that when God is involved it will be in His time, in His way and it will be as powerful as the resurrection because that is where everything in life flows from. Jesus is the Author of life. The story He is writing is wonderful and perfect. Let's live out His story.

What is your favorite unexpected part of the Christmas story? How do you see God's story being written in your life?