December 22, 1999
What does Christmas say
about the trials of life?
___By BO Baker
___It has been a year of ups and downs--a faith-testing, growing-older kind of year.
___There was the pronouncement of cancer, which is certainly not exclusive, for many of you could have walked down that lane. Next came the medical report of my eldest son diagnosed with inoperative lung cancer. That sent us in search of a person or place that offered light at the end of the tunnel. Soon afterward, I was admitted to Scott & White Hospital for open-heart surgery and placement of a pacemaker. In the meanwhile, my sonwas suffering severely. We knew time was running out. No longer was death the enemy, but it came so soon, so soon. He passed from the land of the dying to the land of the living Nov. 12.
First Person
___How does one interpret such experiences in light of Christmas morning? What, pray tell, is the purpose for it all?
___Perhaps we need to hear again that recovery is not the bonus of faith! God did not promise a "flower-strewn pathway" all our life through. But God did promise his presence for every trial and terror, the comfort of his cross, the assurance of his resurrection and, when this life is over, a heaven to gain. I'm leaning on that! Either what Jesus said is true and we can rest our weariness upon it, or we have been falsely taught to spend our years upon an undependable premise.
___I choose to believe in Jesus Christ, Rose of Sharon, that he is truly "the Lord most holy." Out of the cold grayness of unanswered questions, grieving and the strain of day-by-day confrontation with those who prefer a disposable religion, I believe God is good and his mercy everlasting. Jesus did indeed purchase our redemption at the cost of his own shed blood. Yes, and it is equally true that he left the borrowed tomb as conqueror, not as coward--and without the slightest need of a crutch.
___Perhaps that is why I love the Christmas season so. There is hope at its heart. Beyond the beauty of the trees trimmed to their loveliest--every little light of color a lasting reminder of divine promises kept, the garlands of greenery an expression of life unending--the whole gift of Christmas is a tribute to God's love and incomparable grace.
___Imagine heaven's priceless gift, wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in the manger of a lowly lean-to! What does that say to us about God and his constant abiding?
___When human caring was not enough, then came Christmas.
___When little mattered save the show of force, then came Christmas.
___When death had shown its ugly face, then came Christmas.
___Where darkness longed for holy light, then came Christmas.
___I am so glad Christmas is here at last. It seems so right to end with a quote from George Eliot: "I earnestly wish that every good brought into life by the Christmas Christ be yours, that you may have a heart of cheer, a spirit of hope, a life of love for every day in all the years."
___BO Baker is retired pastor of Plymouth Park Baptist Church in Irving
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