Our Blog

12/01/2007

Christmas: The Element of Surprise!

Believe it or not, my worst Christmas experience was the year I received my favorite Christmas gift. You see, my parents always hid our gifts under their bed or in their closet until the time they were wrapped and placed under the tree. As a curious twelve-year-old...I found my unwrapped gift under their bed.

The excitement was at the top of the chart. I could hardly believe I would be getting this gift for Christmas! I was ecstatic!

For weeks I would regularly sneak a peek at my gift whenever my parents were away. I would carefully run my fingers over my gift’s shiny surface. I even read the owners manual so I could be fully informed of its operation and care. I can still recall the unique smell it possessed. I tossed and turned with insomnia on Christmas Eve, knowing that in the morning the long-anticipated gift would be fully mine.

On Christmas morning I didn’t hear a word my dad spoke as he led our family in the reading of the Christmas story from the Bible. I don’t remember eating breakfast that morning. All the “preliminary gifts” of socks or baseball cards or candy failed to excite me...as I was awaiting the “main gift.”

Finally the moment came. I tore into the box and put on my best Hollywood act of surprise. To this day, this one gift stands head and shoulders above the rest as my all-time favorite gift. I still enjoy it!

But Christmas that year was my worst Christmas experience. Why? Because Christmas is all about the element of surprise. God knew this long before the foundation of the world. He surprised the world with the greatest gift of all, the gift of a little baby. God surprised the world that night, when shepherds were told to “find a baby, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger…” in the obscure town of Bethlehem.

To this day, people are still surprised by this Divine provision of a Savior. Let God’s greatest gift this Christmas season be the surprise that makes your Christmas the most memorable Christmas ever!

Merry Christmas!

Pastor Tim Bowman