“The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.” John 1:14 (MSG)

This is quite amazing. Jesus, the Son of God entered our world. He showed compassion, he demonstrated what love looked like, and eventually He willingly died on a lonely cross, thus offering salvation to anyone who believes in Him. We now not only have purpose, but an eternal destiny as well!

Today, during Christmas, we offer presents to one another. Kids are all excited about this; however, the toys they receive are generally ignored within two weeks. It makes you wonder why parents stress themselves so much in stores where the customers are packed like sardines, fighting to find just the right gift that will only be pushed aside in less time than they spent shopping for them…

Christmas dinner is quite extravagant as well, so much so that some people eat until they literally become sick. It’s true that this is perhaps the best meal of the year, and we are fortunate that there are so many loved ones who sit around our dinner table on Christmas. Still, the food will eventually become a far distant memory that may only come back to mind the next time we have a similar Christmas party.

When Jesus was born, He didn’t have a luxurious Hilton room. In fact, there was no place for Him at all. Mary and Joseph had only one option: to sleep in a stable run by animals like horses, chickens and cows! Imagine the odor in that place! And Jesus’ bed was nothing more than smelly straw! He didn’t receive presents, either (At least Mary and Joseph didn’t have to stress out about finding the right toys!). Neither would there be a huge meal. What little they had was eaten there in that stable. Thanks to nearby angels, there would be shepherds coming to worship the child, but that was the extent of the fanfare. Nonetheless, this very first Christmas was the best Christmas Day ever. It was special because it was the day the Messiah was born!

Even today, Jesus is still the best present we will ever receive. Our earthly presents won’t last, but Jesus’ gift will last for eternity. Everything pales compared to Him. Who else would be willing to die for those of us who are so ungrateful?

The last time we flew to Europe, we took the GO train to Toronto. It was way cheaper that the bus we used to take, whose fares had doubled since the last time we had needed it. The GO train cost us 20$, roughly 1/10th the price of the bus! We ate our simple meal in the train, a simple sandwich and water. There was no fanfare, and we thought we would have no stress at all…

Unfortunately we were wrong…

The GO train to Toronto was slow, and we were a bit late getting at Toronto Union Station. Then, the express train to the airport, affectionately known as the UP Expression, arrived late, and once aboard, it stopped about 5 minutes out of the terminal where we were required to wait on the track for nearly 30 minutes. We would later learn that one of the GO trains was broken down on our track.

Once at the airport, we still had to take a terminal shuttle to Terminal 3, and you can believe that once we finally arrived, we literally ran to the Iceland Air check-in station. The clerk was about to close the flight when we finally arrived. Whew! We were just in the nick of time!

When we finally arrived at our gate, we were happy enough to get to sit down and take some deep breaths. It was only a few minutes before boarding, but in that time we made some new friends, fellow Christians. We compared stories and had a good time. They had thought they had to be at the airport 4 hours early, and they had been waiting for the flight for nearly 4 hours! Interestingly enough, when we finally arrived in our seats on the plane, we quickly fell asleep!

Doesn’t that sound a bit like the hectic pace of Christmas? We were thankful that our Heavenly Father came through for us, and we didn’t miss our plane. The same is true about Christmas. Jesus is the One who made certain we wouldn’t miss our place to Heaven, a place way more desirable than any destination we can reach on this earth!

I hope you have a relaxing Christmas, and that you will truly experience the Real One for Christmas, the One who lasts! Hopefully you won’t have to catch a plane.

Rob Chaffart

(To access the entire “Christmas Jubilation” devotional series, please click here.)