I love the Message translation of this verse,

“Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.”

Are you ready for your next journey?  I had a wonderful experience doing the 40 Days of Purpose spiritual campaign.  From the conversations that I have had it sounds like I was not the only one who gained a great knowledge of God’s Word, a deeper fellowship with my church family, and a clearer sense of God’s purpose for my life.

What scares me is what happens next?

Will the feelings or the highs that we experienced have lasting impact or will they fade away?  Do you know that the most dangerous part of mountain climbing is the descent?  More climbers have died descending Mt. Everest than ascending it?

As we come down the mountain of 40 Days of Purpose many of you have expressed a disbelief or disappointment even an unwillingness to let our 40 Days of Purpose be over. It some ways we are experiencing the kind of resistance that Peter, James and John had with Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Having seen the transfiguration of Jesus, they wanted to stay.  Remember Peter wanted to build tents, but Jesus said,

“No! We must go down to Jerusalem.”

We all know what happened next.  Jesus entered Jerusalem to a cheering crowd of,

“Hosanna in the highest.”

These cheers quickly became jeers and shouts of

“Crucify Him!”

As you look at the life of Jesus you see a constant roller coaster ride with highs and lows.  You and I can expect the same.  Like Jesus who trusted God regardless we too must trust the truth that God is with us in our lows as much as He is in our highs.

As we begin our journey of Advent this morning, I promise you that you and I will not be exempt from highs and lows.  Just as Mary was not exempt from highs and lows.  Mary is told,

“You are with child,
and the child you are pregnant with
is the Son of God.”

That is a HIGH.  She tells Joseph and he plans to divorce her.  That must have brought Mary down off her high to a new LOW.  An angel speaks to Joseph during the night and Joseph changes his mind.  This is another HIGH for Mary.  Several months pregnant by decree of Caesar Augustus, they have to journey by foot to Bethlehem.  Can you say, “LOW point?” This is exactly what a pregnant woman wants to do.

I am certain that in our preparations for the birth of Jesus we will encounter moments of peaceful bliss, and HIGHS and moments that will test our nerves and character, LOWS.  Not every moment will be a Kodak moment.  In fact some might just be the next winning entry for “The World’s Funniest Videos.”

What is important is that,

“Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.”

It is not going to be easy BUT it can be done.  It comes down to the choices that you are going to make.  Where do you want to be emotionaly, physically and spiritually on December 25th?  The decisions that you and I make every day during this season of Advent will determine where we are on Christmas Day.

I have sat with a number of widows and widowers over the years discussing their wishes for their spouse’s funeral service.  As we talk we often reminisce about how they first met.  Inevitably as they retell their stories it is obvious that they recall the wide-eyed giddiness and passion of those early days of courtship.  As they talk you can see several stages in their romance.  The insatiable desire to be with each other.  The crazy things they did to get each other’s attentions.  The extreme lengths they went to.  They made a heavy investment of time and emotion in their relationship.  There is an intense preoccupation of the heart.  It seems as though their heart wouldn’t be big enough for anything else but that person.

Since one out of every two weddings end in divorce it is very apparent that these feelings and emotions don’t just continue because you exchanged vows saying ‘until death do us part.’  Indeed there are many reasons for couples divorcing today.  Some people would say if people fall into love they can fall out of love.  I personally feel that consciously or unconsciously people LEAVE their first love.  The Bible says this is what happens with regards to our relationship with God.  Revelations 2:4

“You have left your first love.”

You are not going to wake up one morning and say, “I am leaving God.”  Yet everyday we are faced with small choices that will draw us closer to Him or draw us away from God.

I hear people moan and groan about the state of affairs that the US is in. There is a strong notion that our society’s departure from God started when we removed prayer from school.  Long before reading scripture and prayer was removed from school, it had been absent in the home.  Having said that, I do believe that the removal of prayer from school was the beginning of many more decisions that have stripped America of keeping the 4th commandment,

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.”

This is true of believers not just non-believers.  We have conformed to the culture we are supposed to transform.  We complain that youth sports are on Sunday, yet we enroll our children in those sports.  We long for a day of rest, yet we fill our Sundays with activities.  We remember quieter days and hunger and thirst for them, yet we allow ourselves to be drawn into the rat race.

Our 40 Days of Purpose helped me remember God’s purpose for my life.  It helped me remember God’s purpose for His church.  As we come down off the mountain I hope we can put into practice the truths we learned.  I hope this season of Advent will help me remember this amazing story of Jesus’ birth.  It will help me remember this love story about God and humanity and more specifically this love story about God and you and me.

Do you remember?
The first time you fell in love with God?  When the words of the Psalmist,

“I was glad when they said,
‘Let us go up to the house of the Lord.’”

Were these your thoughts too?

When sitting quietly and reading God’s Word was a special moment in your day?

When you paused during the day, to remember God’s presence and daily bread provisions you had already received that day?

When you were hungry and thirsty for God?

Several years ago Larnell Harris wrote a song where God is the singer.  What God says to the listener is this.

“I miss my time with you.
Those moments together.
I need to be with you each day
and it hurts me
when you say you’re too busy.
Busy trying to serve me.
But how can you serve me
when your spirit’s empty?”

Let Advent be a reminder to you that your life is about a love relationship with God.

“Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.”

Listen to a Christmas carol and like Mary, ponder its message in your heart. Pick up an Advent devotional and read the daily thought.  Revisit your copy of The Purpose Drive Life and read your notes or underlined passages.  Treasure all the activities of Advent as Mary treasured all the events of Jesus birth.

No doubt this Advent like every Advent before you will have highs and lows. God’s love and care will never fail you regardless.

This TRUTH is so evident in a story told by writer Jeanette George.  She wrote about a flight she had take from Tucson to Phoenix.  Seated next to her was a young woman with a little girl.  She describes the little baby saying, she is beautiful.  She was wearing a white dress.  Her hair was fixed with a pink bow.  She was all smiles and constantly repeating “Dada, Dada.”  The mother explained that they were going home to her Daddy.  They had been away for twenty-four hours.  Everybody was enjoying this beautiful baby.  The baby was fine for most of the trip and then she began to cry.  The mother gave the little girl a bottle of juice hoping that sucking on the bottle would relieve the pains she was having in her ears.  The more the baby cried the more juice the mother gave her.  Then the flight got turbulent.

Need I say what happened next?

You guessed it. More juice came out of the little girl than went in her.  It was a huge mess.  Her hair, her white dress, it was just everywhere.  The stewardess and other passengers came to the woman’s aid.  Reassuring her that it was ok.

When the plane landed, the little girl was fine, even though nobody else was. She started saying, “Dada, Dada” again.

When Jeanette got off the plane she was sure she spotted the little girls father waiting.  He was standing in white pants, white shirt, holding white flowers. As he walked to embrace his wife, she just handed off the little girl and went to the bathroom to clean up.  Jeanette marveled at how the father took the little girl in his arms and started kissing her, stroking her hair, and saying over and over again, “Daddy’s baby came home.”

Jeanette says, “I watched him all the way to the baggage area.  He never stopped kissing his daughter and I thought, ‘Where did I get the idea that our Father God is less loving than a young daddy in white shirt, white pants with white flowers who doesn’t care what his little girl looks like or what she smells like.  He’s just glad she’s home.’”

This is the message we need to ponder this Advent.  Whoever you are, whatever you have done, God wants you to come to Him.  Remember His love this Advent.  Keep moving in His direction.  He wants you in His arms, no matter what.  That is why His love came down at Christmas in His Son, Jesus. Through the up and downs of Advent and through the turbulence of life remember God’s love never fails.

“Now that we’re on the right track,
let’s stay on it.”
 

Amen