Blue Christmas
Elvis Presley sang about having a “Blue Christmas.” Now we all know there’s no such thing as blue snowflakes. Ice, although it’s pictured sometimes in paintings as blue, is not. What did he mean when he sang that song? Well it’s pretty obvious when we really listen to it or we read the lyrics. The person who is the subject of the song has lost their lover at Christmas time. And being “blue” is an old slang term for being sad.
How many people are “blue” each year at Christmas time? Saddened by being alone.
Obviously there are too many as the suicide rate shoots up. Hotlines are used three to five times more over the Christmas holiday period than any other time of the year. Think of our military personnel standing alone in foreign lands all over the world and for the past several years since the September 11th attacks, standing on a battlefield. Not knowing if they’d get home for another Christmas.
And there are those who are in hospitals and nursing homes and even those who are incarcerated.
But take a moment and think about what God said in Isaiah Chapter 53, verse 4. From the New International Version it reads, “Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted.”
Think about that for a moment.
Scripture says, “We,” saw Jesus as being struck by God. We saw the Son of the Living God struck down by His Father in our finite or our small way of seeing things and all we saw was God’s judgment and His being a mean tyrant. Just as the devil would have us see.
But what we missed so drastically was that Jesus took our, “Infirmities and our sorrows,” onto His own shoulders by a free will act. An act of Jesus’ own choosing based on His knowledge of the Father’s plans and desire to save mankind.
Jesus willingly took upon Himself our pain, our infirmities, our sadness, our depression, our sicknesses, our lowness and as this chapter of Scripture goes on to say even our, “transgressions,” and paid the price for every bit of them. And this applies to a “Blue Christmas,” as well.
There’s no reason to continue in sadness. There’s no reason to live life empty and void. There’s no reason to go through life unfulfilled, when Jesus stands at the door to your heart and knocks. Won’t you answer? Will you invite Him into your heart and allow Him to take your life into His?
Christmas is Here Again
Here we are with another year gone by. Another fixin' Christmas fixin' to come and go. Or do I need to be politically correct and say, “One more winter festivity season is upon us,”? Nah… It’s been Christmas for centuries and it’ll be Christmas for men and women who are strong enough to stand against this rising tide of silliness and downright stupidity.
You see that’s what we are. Men and now women who have stood for our beliefs. We are WARRIRORS ! Warriors then, warrirors now and warriors always. Once, and for all, we'll be this nation's war fighters. It's never going to matter what we say, or what anyone else says. Just as the memories and events from our childhood are stuck in our minds and like the memories we make now — the memories of being a warrior are burned into who you are forever.
Another thing that’s burned into who we are just as intensely is a desire to know who God is.
Oh some of us deny that desire. Many of us even ignore it. Or try to. There are a lot of us who have successfully seared or scorched over the part of our souls or our spirits that wants to know our Creator. Thereby blocking out the desire to know our God. For that manner, any god. Still, thousands of us have found that specific path to peace and asked Him, the Son of God, into their lives. Here’s the thing I want us to look at this Christmas season.
In a little known, yet meaningful passage of Scripture, is a piece of information that I believe speaks directly to the heart of the Christmas spirit. I think, it also addresses everything I just mentioned. It’s found in the Old Testament long before Christ Jesus was born and yet speaks of His coming; The passage addresses His birth and what will be accomplished in His life.
It is Isaiah, Chapter 9, verse 2 and it reads, “The people walking in darkness have seen the light, on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.” (New King James Version)
Jesus is spoken of as coming as a light to our world. I think we can we all agree we’re in some pretty dark times?
Jesus taught the disciples about the faith He brought the world. He encouraged them that they too would be lights. Let me say right now I know not every Christian is a bright light. But then none of us are, are we. The point is we need to stop looking at each other. It's time, right now, that we all look to Jesus as our example to follow.
As we move through this Christmas season and those haunting memories begin to creep in and friends who are long gone or at the other end of the nation and out of touch come into our minds bringing back even good thoughts, and sentimental times start to rise, ponder this for me.
None of us would be here if it wasn’t for the intervention of a God who cared.
“Why didn’t He care enough to stop so many from being killed or injured then?” Some of you might ask angrily.
That’s a very valid question. And the answer is this. God has set in place, let me say rules, that even He cannot violate. And we, as humans make poor decisions because we have something called a “free will.” Because we decide to go to war, does not make God responsible for the consequences. But it does make God just as brokenhearted as we are. The difference is He’s God and as God He has a job to do where we're concerned and He has to move beyond His pain and take care of us. God grieves for us but He also has us to heal — if we let Him and some of us to take home.
It’s in that darkness the Scripture passage refers to that if you find yourself walking and you reach to Him, or if you call out for help, the Lord will respond and reach back. He will answer and He will meet you. He will shine light into that darkness and open a path for you to walk to perfect or complete peace.
In that perfection God can begin the process of healing and restoration and making us whole. He will restore the dream that was stolen and He will reveal your purpose. And next year it won’t be just, “Christmas is Here Again.”
I want to apologize for being gone from my own site for so long. It's embarrassing when you do this type of thing to yourself. But I have to confess, it's very disheartening when one tries to pour out for God and into the veteran brothers and sisters and their families that you care about and believe in and there's no response. Not even questions.
Don't take this wrong. This isn't a guilt trip or manipulation. It's honesty. You see, I believe in being as open with those I try to minister to as I hope they would be with me. It's a shared trust. If I expect you to trust me, then I must trust you.
During this time too I have been experiencing some PTSD issues of my own and have taken time to pray and seek support. The end result is I've learned once again that my Lord has never abandoned me.
Just as Jesus cried on the cross, "My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me?" God did not leave Him. Neither did He leave me. There are times however we must face trials on our own. It's not because the Father doesn't care. Instead it's because He does. Some of you who had fathers will understand this.
At times fathers will let their sons attempt something on their own. Sort of a test if you will, to see how the son handles what he's learned to a point. I remember for example my step-dad, an ex-marine, teaching me to shoot. The first time wasn't very successful. I blew away a branch, some ground and bruised the crap out of my shoulder. Eventually though I passed the test and we went hunting. Soon, one Christmas, under the tree was a 20 gage shotgun. Mine. Along with the gun came permission to hunt on my own, anytime, as long as my chores and homework were done. Finally! I had made the grade.
Some times God must turn away and let us take a "life test" on our own. That includes when we're 55 and 60 years old. You see, life never stops teaching us...until we pass on.
So the Scriptures I want to leave you are:
Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV) "Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified ... for the Lord your God goes with you, He will never leave you nor forsake you." AND from 1st Corinthians 10:13 (NIV) "No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful, He will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, He will provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."
My friend Chuck Dean is an author of several books dealing with PTSD. Chuck wrote one night in something called "streming" and shared it with me. He gave me permission to share it. Here it is.
"The Real Thing.
The magazine was slick. The photograph stunning.
It all changed, however, when I lifted my ink-stained thumb off the glossy page. What was once so life-like had now shown its true colors. The smudge from mixing my perspiration with printer’s ink left a swirly fingerprint spot on the edge of the page and a thought prevailed.
The scene was not real—it was only an image of the real thing. I had been so engrossed in its beauty that no thought was given to what I was seeing. To me the Grand Canyon ceased to exist when the smeared sky just above the canyon wall told the truth. My fingerprint found the fault and I suddenly realized I had never seen this natural wonder in our great land…I had only seen a rendition of it all along.
We live in a culture that constantly bombards us with images. From television to print we have been shown people, places, plants, planets, and plenty of other points of interest at least a gazillion times. Sadly spectacular things around the world, whether created by the myopic mind of man or chiseled by the awesome hand of God, have all become ordinary because of our saturation of images and the mere likenesses of the real thing.
Don’t be fooled. Unless you have actually seen the dawn lift the mist off the Mississippi, the sun set on the Sahara, and the night fall on New Dehli, you just have not seen them at all.
I cannot even begin to imagine how many artists’ renditions I have seen of Jesus. Some paint him as gentle and sweet with long flowing beautiful hair…others portray him as gaunt and gnarly like a blue-collar carpenter would have looked back then. But do any of them convince me of what he really looks like? Hardly.
In closing; I am reminded of the men who knocked on a door so many years ago, and asked, “Sir, we would like to see Jesus.” They did not settle for images or hearsay…they went looking to find the real thing. May we always be seekers of the real thing.
C. Dean, 2006"
I cannot think of how often I visit the sites and I'm even caught in the debate about the Lord Jesus. I apologize if I have offeded,but I am passionate for Him because He has done so much for me. You see Dear Brothers, it's irrelavent how, why, what or even if one chooses to believe the truth of the Gospels (the Bible), it still remains, the truth. It is also irrelavent whether we as men (mankind) choose to believe or to disbelieve in God, His truth will win out.
As Chuck is saying in his essay, until you have your own encounter with the risen Christ, no one can describe Him to you. And all my or anyone elses descriptions of their encounters are mere pictures. Only an artist's rendition.
Be blessed,
Frank
"But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a Holy nation, His own special people that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." 1st Peter Ch. 2; vs. 9 (New King James Version)
This means that Christians and all others who believe in the God of the Bible are a people called out of the darkness of sin to fulfill a purpose. That purpose is first and foremost unique to each of us. A purpose that only that paricular person can fulfill. I cannot meet your purpose, neither can you complete mine.
Next, as a priest unto God, we are called (if I may use that term) to minister to God by bringing praise everyday. That praise to God is in the form of prayer, song, witness and testimony. Prayers for our own needs, and the needs of others. Supplications for the world as the Holy Spirit of God leads us, and for guidance and Divine appointments and revelation. Prayer is a form of intimate personal worship.
Worship in song can be by tradititional hymns or modern choruses, or by contemporary, gospel or other uplifting music, as well as personal inspired song to God. And finally as stated in Revelation, chapter 12, verse 11, "they overcame [the enemy] by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony." We praise God by speaking forth a witness and testimony of His grace, mercy and power in our lives.
Notice that as God's chosen Royal Priesthood, no where in the Scripture reference listed and in none of the other Scriptures dealing with the priesthood, does God suggest or command that priests judge or condemn His people. Instead the priests are to minister to the people.
Priests minister by bringing timely words of teaching, prayer, encouragement and edification, and by pointing the way to God through Christ.
God bless you all,
Frank
