Exactly one year ago, I was in Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, interviewing to become the Organizing Pastor of a New Church Development—a church plant. The interview went great, the people were great, the area seemed great—everything was great! Just before we drove away to go to the Dallas-Fort Worth airport, the chair of the hiring task force asked me, “If things work out the way I think they will, how soon do you think you could start?”
Robin and I left Frisco fully expecting that that’s where God was going to take us. But that’s not what happened. Something even better happened! God brought my family and me to Northminster Presbyterian Church in San Diego! I thought God was taking us in one direction, but the direction God actually ended up taking us was completely unexpected!
Our God is a God who does unexpected things. And Christmas is no exception. When you look at the Christmas story, nothing about the birth of Jesus was typical. Because of this, our theme for the Christmas season this year is “Unexpected!”
Everything about Jesus’ birth was unexpected. The fact that Jesus was born to a virgin from the outlying town of Nazareth was unexpected. The fact that God made his first birth announcement to sheepherding farmhands was unexpected. The fact that foreign astrologers traveled hundreds of miles to find this child king was unexpected. And the very fact that God would become a human being was utterly unexpected.
As we get ready to celebrate Christmas this year, I think we ought to expect God to do something unexpected. I don’t know what that might be—it is, after all, unexpected! It might be in your family; it might be in your work; it might be among your friends; it might be here at our church; it might be in our community; it might be in your own relationship with God. I think God loves to surprise us! And I suspect God’s got some great surprises for us this Christmas season!
~ Markus
Comments on this entry are closed.