Christmas After the Holidays

On our flight from DC to Atlanta, I looked out the window and saw miles of clouds below us, rushing by like waves on the sea.  On the horizon, a bright red throb of sun leaked onto the edge of the earth, spilling pink and orange out onto its sides.  Cities throb with energy like hearts, snaking their long veins and arteries of roads and highways in every direction.  Seeing the world from this aerial viewpoint makes the sacrifice of the cross even more amazing in my mind.  The creation of the Lord is evident here, and for a moment I see time stretched out, with our culture and lives as mere flecks on the timeline.  I see God's faithfulness to us century after century, never a promise broken.  I see new life and possibilities and all the people in the world who need Jesus, and all the ways that we can serve Him. 

But soon we land and shuffle out in the line with everyone else and eventually we're driving home, past the same used car lot and Wendy's as always, into the same apartment complex and the fact that there is always one roach in our same small kitchen when we've been gone for a few days.  And I remember that even after the Christmas and New Year excitement has ended, Christmas still matters.  God still sent his only Son as a little baby to save all of us running around serving ourselves on this earth He created, and we still need to keep a large world view of our small world issues.  Roaches and small kitchens don't matter when I can still serve the Lord in this place.  And even though our lives are just an unnoticeable blip on the world's timeline, we still matter eternally to God, which is the only thing that matters. 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  "
John 3:16-17