UPDATE - Merry Christmas One and All

MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM THE WINSTON-SALEM FELLOWS!

Thank you for joining us on this wild adventure.

We hope your Christmas holiday was and will continue to be pure joy.

In lieu of an update, here is a recent blog I wrote for EverydayExiles.com

enjoy...

Room

And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

There was no room.

No room for Mary and Joseph, not in the inn, not anywhere. So they made room in a manger for Jesus and that was where Jesus was born.

I’ve been thinking about that word.

The word room.

I came across it the other day when I was reading through John 8. It’s the chapter when Jesus has to deal with the scheming men and the woman caught in adultery. Later in that chapter, Jesus says one of my very favorite things that Jesus ever says: “If the son sets you free, you are free indeed.”

Well, right after those two things is where I was reading the other day and this verse stuck out to me. I’m not sure why it stuck out other than verses tend to do that to me every once and awhile.

It was verse 37. It says: “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word.” There it was, the word room.

I don’t know, maybe it was because of Christmas, and Jesus was laid in a manger because there was no roomfor him in the inn, and now here was Jesus dealing with these Pharisees who were out to kill him because they didn’t have any room for him either.

All I know is it got me thinking about how much room have I given this man?

I thought about all the stuff in my life – the schedule and the people and the actual stuff that clutters my mind and my heart and my house. It clutters it up so full there is hardly any room for me, let alone the savior!

How much room have I given him? Not much if I’m honest.

And yet what if that is the one thing Jesus wants? Not our stuff, not our doing, not more of this or less of that – what if he simply wants room?

Some space in your life for him to occupy.

What if you gave Jesus room this Christmas?

What would that even look like?

I’ve been thinking about that.

Creating space
Showing up
With unplanned time
And a moment of quiet
With some resources unaccounted for
And energy unused
And a little brain power left in the tank
With wait and see expectancy.

That is making room.

And resting.
Resting, too, is making room.

There are lots of ways to make room.

Like hope.
Like awareness.
And a smile.
And a hello.
And a can I help you?

And silence.

Making room ain’t easy…

But remember this:

Jesus makes room for us, too. Did you know that? Did you forget it? That His Father’s house has many rooms! And Jesus has gone to prepare one for you!

How cool is that?

Jesus is making room for you! So why don’t we, this Christmas, amidst all the crazy and the family and the presents and the stuff, make a little room for him, too?