Merry Christmas!

Family trees filled with not just people but the stories of those people. Some are good, some are bad. Matthew, a former tax collector and thus an outcast from religious society, told a version of the Christmas story that begins not with the virgin birth but with the genealogy of Jesus. The grandfathers of Jesus he lists had shocking stories, but stories that were telling and necessary to introduce us to the Jesus he knew: a Jesus that came FROM sinners and FOR sinners.

Family trees can be interesting. They are not only filled with people but stories of those people, some good and some bad. Matthew, a former tax collector and thus an outcast from religious society, wanted to tell the story of Jesus and how he had challenged and changed his misperceptions and misconceptions of God. Matthew knew that the story of Jesus begins with Christmas. Not only that, but in Matthew's version, the Christmas story begins not with the virgin birth but with the genealogy of Jesus. In other words, he started with Jesus’ family tree. He lists four grandmothers of Jesus whose stories are shocking, telling, and necessary to the story Matthew wanted to tell.

It is ironic that Christmas is known as a religious holiday when in reality the first Christmas marked the beginning of a brand new non-religion. The followers of Jesus functioned without a temple, a priesthood, or animal sacrifices. Jesus didn't sound, look, or act like any religious leader of his day. This is why many loved him and others hated him. If anyone understood that Christmas ushered something other than religion into the world it was Matthew. He tells the Christmas story through the lens of his own story as a tax collector, one of the ones who were left out and left behind by religion. Matthew was told he was unloveable, unforgivable, and irredeemable until He met Jesus.

People are one of the most challenging aspects of the holidays. Just because we call them friends and are family doesn't automatically mean things go well between us. What if dressing differently could change the way you experience this season and the people you're with?

It is the second biggest cause of stress at the holiday season. Matter of fact, it is a major cause of stress all year long for many people. None of us like to talk about money, but the Scripture has a lot to say about how important it is to have margin in our finances. Money doesn't seem like a spiritual matter, but Jesus seemed to think it was a big deal. Not only is it a big deal during the holiday season, it is a big deal every day.

The holidays are upon us again. For some, this is the most wonderful time of year. For others. it is the most stressful time of the year. For many, it is both the most wonderful and the most stressful time of year. Every year it seems we end the season by saying that next year will be different. Then next year comes, and nothing changes. We want to handle the season in a different way because the holiday season should feel different than it does for most of us. What if there was as way to make not only this holiday season but EVERY season different?

Just as the power of a vision can move us and others around us closer to a better way of life, having no vision can move us and those around us further away from a better way of life. How I view our reality affects our focus on the vision we have for our lives. If we want our futures to count for more than our past, then we nee to ask some practical questions in the pursuit of our vision. Is your vision being impacted by distractions? Are distractions keeping you from impacting others and building relationships? God wants us to leverage our influence to bring people to faith, and every day that we do so impacts the future for the better.

Just as the power of a vision can move us and others around us closer to and eventually into a better way of life, the power of no vision can move us and those around us further away from a better way of life. Having a vision is so important. When we have a vision for the future and make a decision to pursue that vision, it robs our future of unnecessary regret. No one wants to deal with regrets in the final stages of their life. The good news is we don't have to. Having a vision and chasing it can minimize future regret.

Life isn’t always pretty. Our current circumstances can make it difficult to hold on to our dreams for a better future. Our dreams for tomorrow become casualties of our life today. How can we continue to dream even when life is hard? How can we learn to look beyond our current set of circumstances to the future that could be and should be?