Always

I don't actually remember a whole lot of the things that I got for Christmas as a kid. I do remember a few really special things that stand out, but I’ve never been good with childhood memories. The first teacher I remember was from the fourth grade at Johnson Elementary School in Franklin, Tennessee and I can’t even recall what Johnson Elementary looked like.

Growing up, we always spent Christmas in Martin, Tennessee where both of my parents had grown up. I have some great memories there. Two very special houses...one on Parrish Street and one on McCombs. I miss those places. Those places helped shape me. This Christmas morning we were opening gifts in the basement of that Parrish Street home. My Papa always hung stockings across the built in bookshelves and started a fire, this of course, after making a freezer full of sausage balls. He made the best sausage balls. There is just something about being at your grandparents house. Yes, a lot of good memories there. 

I opened my final gift that morning. It was a new Bible. No doubt from my Dad. No doubt, not exactly what I had in mind for Christmas. My memory doesn’t serve me well most of the time, but I do remember feeling disappointed that morning. I didn’t get it. It was too much. Church three times a week, have your lesson done for class, on and on. It was torture for a teenager. And now a Bible for Christmas? Not on my list. 

It’s been twenty five years ago now. I still have that Bible down in my office. I rarely use it any more. It’s filled with notes that seem like they are from another lifetime. Sometimes I read them and don’t even know what I was thinking when I wrote them. It’s just a book. It’s not really super special to me, more than any of my other Bibles, or anything like that. Ink on a page. 

I realize today the gift my Dad gave me wasn’t words on a page. The real gift was in teaching me to value the words on the page, teaching me to love the Author, and teaching me to follow the words on the page to the best of my understanding. Those words teach me to think like my Father and be like Jesus. They help impart His Spirit…that is the gift.

I walked into my office the other day to find another gift. It had been left on the chair behind my desk. Neatly wrapped with a beautiful bow was a cross that read, “I am with you always.” And in that moment, I knew I had received the greatest gift that had ever been given. Because He is with me always, just as He promises. And He is with you always...just as He promises. 

And in view of the fact that He is with me always...nothing else really matters to me. I opened that Bible twenty five years ago...He was with me then. I’ve chased empty dreams...He was with me then. I’ve wrestled with religion and opinions and systems...He was with me then. I’ve had to get out of the boat in stormy seas...He was with me then. I’ve been the blind man, the lame, the stubborn disciple, and the one of little faith...He was with me then. And I’ve had to go down roads that I could not see...and He was with me then too. 

So this morning, my prayer is that you would realize that He is with you always. And, as I tell people all the time at House of the Harvest, there are only two things that matter. Number one, nothing can compare to the love that has already been shown to you at the cross. And number two, nothing can compare to the power that is given to You from the One who conquered death. 

He is with you always. There is no greater gift. 

Merry Christmas. I hope you enjoy your gift.