This is something I wrote a couple years ago, I think… thought I might share it, with some minor changes, due to my changing theology 
Though surprisingly not much. 
I think I believed in UR in my spirit long before I ever believed in it in my mind. Well, hope this encourages someone
I sometimes wish that I could be in more than one place at a time… or that I didn’t need sleep, so I had more time… or that I wasn’t such an anxious basket-case, so I could more easily cope with the fact that there’s only so much that I can do, or even be… there’s so many things to think about and consider… and people too…
my life is tied to so many other lives… sometimes it’s overwhelming…
But this holiday, Christmas, that many people in this world will be celebrating soon, in one way or another, at least under all the grit and the grime of commercialism and everything else thrown in, is, I believe, about how God, our Creator (unseen with our eyes, and oft questioned, who’s existence and goodness are often rejected, who’s nature and purpose is oft debated; Lord and King of the universe, and beyond), in some mysterious way came down here at some point in history, to this one planet, to this one star, among billions of stars, in one galaxy among billions of galaxies, as a human being like one of us, and for many reasons, one of them being to be with us… Emmanuel, God with us…
‘Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel’…
Not everyone believes this, I know, and I can understand that… but this is where I’m at…
And in believing this, I think that I have a lot to think about and consider…
God has everything and everyone in mind, constantly…
and my life and my heart is only one mi nut fraction of that…
Maybe all I can do is play whatever part He wants me to play in this often dark and crazy world… and maybe part of that is to try and say something that may help someone, somewhere, somehow…
There’s a lot of people around Christmastime who are lonely, or hurting, or scared, or hungry, or tired, or weary, or maybe bitter, maybe angry, maybe jaded and cynical, skeptical, or simply caught up in the chaos of shopping and decorating and parties, forgetting about or not even believing in the child…
that was born in a barn, laid in a feed trough for animals, surrounded by blue collar shepherds, who were full of wonderment, in a place full of the smell of urine, with dung all around…
no halos, no carols, no shining lights… but still wonderment.
That something extraordinary can take place amidst the ordinary is sometimes hard to believe…
that a wonderful child was born, a child who grew up and years later, as a man, died on a cross… and there are people who dare to believe in him, even to believe that he beat death, or even that with his help we can beat death, like some kids still believe in St. Nicholas, or like some people still believe in giving, or in hope that doesn’t die, or in love that lasts…
Or like people who believe in good news.
There are people who believe that He came for all of us; the lonely people, the hurting people, the scared ones and hungry ones, the tired and weary, and the bitter people, the angry people, the jaded and cynics, and the skeptics, and the distracted and forgetful… for everyone…
He came for you, and He came for me… for all of us…
It’s all that I have to hold onto when I’m feeling so overwhelmed… that I’m not alone, and that I’m held onto… and maybe that’s something that you can believe in too, when Christmas feels like (sing it with me) ‘the most chaotic time of the year’, or just anytime, when your life and your heart seem like a bloody mess… and when the world itself seems to be a bloody mess too…
That there is someone who loves you, who is with you, who can forgive your wrongs, and who can heal your wounds, who can give your life meaning, and even in the mess, and hope for a better day, and the strength to keep fighting and the heart to care for the world around you… someone to believe in, someone to trust in…
Someone who brings and really is the good news.
I can’t say it’s easy… it’s not…
but it’s a journey worth taking, worth continuing, I believe, like those three Magi long ago took a long journey to see a child who didn’t seem much at all like a King when they first saw Him, I’m sure, but then they knew in their hearts that He was…
and I know He was, and is, too…
Jesus… my Brother, my Captain, my King…
Merry Christmas to you all, and may you be richly blessed with ‘good news of great joy’
