How many of you got what you wanted this Christmas?
Are you already planning on taking back something you got for Christmas?
Do you have some unwanted items that you received?
Socks…? Flannel Pajamas…? Itchy sweaters…?
We can take these things back if we have receipts and it is in the stores policy.
But there are situations in our lives that are unwanted, unplanned, or unexpected.
And there is something inside of us that wants to or tries to make since of them.
We begin to ask, ‘Is God is in all of this?’
We just celebrated Christmas.
Emmanuel.... God with Us. God I thought you where with us.
I thought you loved us. I thought you cared about us.
I thought you cared about me.
So we try to arrange our lives a certain way.
And we have the we meet, then we got engaged,
We got married, I got that job promotion, We had a baby.
And it seems that everything is working out.
And we are fine and good until…
We come to this unChristmas box.
When he files for divorce.
Your wife gets sick.
You lose your job.
She broke up with you.
You didn’t get accepted into the school you thought you were.
Your relationship with your child is broken and they don’t visit for Christmas.
Someone close to you passes away.
Everything might be okay. But there is this emptiness inside.
And when you put your head down at night, when it’s just you and your thoughts.
You are wondering, ‘Is this it?’
And we want to know where are you are God in all of the unwanted, unplanned, unexpected things in life...
But that’s when we remember…
Peace comes not by resolving the problems of the present,
but by trusting in the promise of God’s presence.
That does not mean we treat people who are hurt with indifference.
You don’t go up to someone who is going through pain or a tragedy or a time of questioning and say, “Well that’s just life.”
See, these unwanted, unplanned, unexpected things come up in our lives.
What do we do with those?
How do we deal with these curve balls that come to us?
Did you know that the number one reason that people come back to church is because
something bad happens in their life?
We believe God sees things in order,
that God brings order from chaos,
and God brings design into things that seem to have no design.
And this all collides with the Christmas story.
The Christmas story is one of the best examples of God dipping down into human history, all of the unwanted, unplanned, unexpected stuff of life and reminding the world there is a plan.
There is a God who is involved in human history.
There is a God who understands
There is a God who knows we are here,
There is a God who cares about us,
There is a God who loves us,
even when we face things that are unwanted, unplanned, or unexpected.
We can trust the promise of his presence.
Because peace comes not by resolving the problems of the present,
but by trusting in the promise of God’s presence.