Dearest Family, Friends, Neighbors (and blog-friends!),
It has been six years now, beginning this Christmas letter and abandoning it unfinished. Each year we start with great intentions of sending you more than a photo and each year we finally surrender, stuff the envelopes and send a picture thinking “next year.” Our great intentions give way to necessity as our Decembers are always full of activities, holiday preparations and really just the day to day needs in caring for our little ones. Like the previous years, Christmas and New Years have come and gone, but this year is different. Addy is now old enough (5!) to pester us and so daily we hear “have you finished the letter, have you finished the letter?” So here we sit mid-January.
The last six years have been a whirlwind. Joel continues to make our corner of the world more energy efficient, Karli has the privilege of staying at home and serves as Chief Operating Officer of Stobie, Inc. and our girls are now 5, almost 4 and 18 months. Needless to say, each day is an adventure in itself. Addy is remarkably precocious, keeps us on our toes and spends most days in character as Sacajawea, Laura Ingalls or Eowyn from Lord of the Rings. Anna is adventurous, mischievous and we joke about how she keeps us on our knees in prayer. Like her older sister, Anna is almost always in character, only for her it is Maria Von Trap from The Sound of Music or Rapunzel. Her laugh is infectious and she brings such joy to our family. Charis is not far behind either sister. She has very few words yet (her older sisters monopolize the air space) but is remarkably able to clearly communicate! She is content and stoic. We call her “the great grocery store disappointment” because she never smiles at strangers but she is actually quite silly. Our home is full of song, dance and constant chatter. Did we mention constant chatter? Blessed far beyond what we deserve, we thank God daily for the gift of children. We delight so much in whom they are created to be and we are convinced it is we who are learning the most from them.
We started the tradition a few years ago of taking the traditional time of Advent (the four weeks leading up to Christmas) to prepare our hearts, and our children’s hearts for what we believe Christmas is truly about…the birth of Jesus Christ. What started as a haphazard attempt has become such a joy in our house as the girls delight in meals by candlelight as we read stories from the Old Testament that point to Jesus’ birth. This year to begin Advent, I had a conversation with the girls about what Advent means. Advent simply means “coming.” In the case of Christmas, we celebrate Christ’s coming and not just that he came, but the reason he came.
Addy was so excited, she wanted to put our coats on right then and there and go tell each of our neighbors. She couldn’t comprehend that we would want to wait one minute to tell people about Jesus. How much we have to learn from our children! So this Christmas as we celebrate Christ’s birth, we want to share with you what moved our little Addy to snatch up her coat—the reason Jesus came.
We start by saying that we recognize not everyone who receives this letter believes the same things that we do about God, Jesus, and the like. However, in the last five or six years our once comfortable faith has been challenged deeply, and because of that, we have become more convinced about the reality of who God is, who we are in relation to him, and what we are to do about it. A few years ago we were challenged with the thought that if we really believe that what we believe is really real, it should affect everything about the way we live. We have become more convinced that eternal things are infinitely more important than temporal things, and because of that, if we merely left you with the joys of our past year and the hope we have for next year, we wouldn’t truly love you…stay with us.
If you knew a source of exceeding happiness and you did not tell your friends because you were unsure of their reaction or likewise, if you were convinced that a disaster of some sort was about to come upon someone and you did not tell them, you would really be saying to the person “you really don’t matter that much.” We believe both of these things are ever upon us. We are never promised tomorrow; accidents, disasters, disease are an ever present reality. And we are convinced that exceeding joy and freedom from condemnation are given freely to those who love God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength.
At this point, you may want to stop reading for one of two reasons. You may think “oh, I already know about God” and I am good. But if someone who truly knows God does not love him enough to read about his work in another person, then perhaps that person may not know God as they ought. Another might say “Why do they believe these stories, don’t they know that it has been proven that man does not need God?” To you, we would say, read on friends. We have learned in the last several years, that faith in God is very reasonable and would even suggest that it is actually the most logical of all options of belief (even unbelief is belief that there is nothing to believe in).
In summary, the good news proclaimed by the angels to the shepherds in the Christmas story is this: God is. He exists, he always has and he created everything. Everything around us is too complex and wonderful to come haphazardly from nothing. This includes people which have souls that will live forever. We recognize this when we see two distinct persons that are genetically identical twins. This creator, who created us with a soul, is the only reason we have a concept for goodness or kindness or love, because he is the One from whom all things originate. Because of this, God is infinitely worthy of our utmost respect, affection and passion. But in reality, all of us reject this every minute of every day. Our default position is one in opposition to our Creator; we are constantly giving our respect, affection and passion to what we see in the mirror, the things we build with our own hands or the “stuff” we acquire-- really anything other than God. This is ultimately treason against the only one worthy of our utmost affections, and we deserve a traitor's death. "For the wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23a.)
You might say, “Really? In a Christmas letter? This is a terrible thing for you to tell us about on Christmas!” Yes, indeed, but the good news that counters this bad news is the very reason we celebrate this Holyday.
The good news is this: Jesus Christ became God in the flesh to take the treasonous death away from his people and die the traitor’s death for them. "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 6:23). Eternal life full of exceeding joy is the free gift of God for those who will trust that Christ's death was on their behalf. Just like the wise men of old brought gifts of unspeakable value to this humble king, the only acceptable offering that we can bring to God is the full payment for our treason. This can only be found in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Our prayer for ourselves and each of you is that we would all have hearts that will trust in what we cannot see, and eyes to see what has been shown to us.
As author, J.I. Packer wrote “This Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity- hope for pardon, hope of peace with God, hope of glory- because at the Father's will Jesus Christ became poor and was born in a stable so that thirty years later he might hang on a cross. It is the most wonderful message that the world has ever heard, or will hear.”
We love you all, and hope that in this New Year you will find hope, peace and delight for your souls in knowing Christ Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The Stobies
0 comments:
Post a Comment