Shame on me... not a very good blogger... 19 days without a post... busy schedule, graduation, finals, etc..

The presents are wrapped, the stockings are hung, and the family is together for Christmas eve. Pretty soon we will settle into new PJ's and then watch a Christmas episode of Little House on the Prairie. I know having four boys, that may not seem obvious, but they like it.

A few hours ago, I sat in our church's Christmas eve service. I kept thinking about the reality of the incarnation. God broke through into the silence and chaos of humanity to live among us in the flesh - all with the plan of having the darling little baby sacrifice his life for all of us who have sinned. That plan boggles my mind anyway.

In this moment I am blown away at all the questions that come with this night. Think about it... why would God do this to begin with? How does the infinite become finite? Why come to the little hamlet of Bethlehem? And it is totally profound that God came into this world not by any natural process - He came through a virgin birth. If women in the church feel like they are undervalued - think about the honor that God feels for women by choosing this particular aspect of the plan.

In the service I looked at the faces of my sons lit up by the light of the candles they were holding and reminded of the feeling of love in my own heart for them. At the same time I know I felt just a bit of what the Father feels for each of us - especially in the fact that He came to the world for each of us.

Tomorrow morning we will open the packages, ooo and goo over the kindness of others, and begin to master the newest version of Rock Band (sidenote - I am a big fan of this movement in the video game industry - since MY music making a big comeback!), and we will eat a little too much. In the midst of all of that, may I suggest, humbly, that you close your eyes for just a moment and picture that baby and in the glint of those innocent eyes there lies a Savior.

Merry Christmas from Team Leland!