It was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had in my life. I cannot deny what happened on that first Sunday in Advent, 2022.
As that little boy slipped the coin, the penny, into his pocket and walked away, the motion around me, that had stopped, suddenly returned. And, my ears tuned in to the band’s final song for the evening.
After playing secular Christmas songs for most of the evening, their last song was, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee (Grant it, Jesus, is my plea, Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be)”. Something divine had just happened there.
“What happened?”, I thought to myself, “What just happened here?”.
That was indeed the “special moment” God had spoken of, to me, two weeks earlier – the one He gave me a “head’s up” about, but wouldn’t tell me anything.
I just knew it – I felt it.
And, there is much more to the story, than I could fit into these five parts, that confirms it all on an even deeper level than I’ve been able to say in just a few words here.
I believe the whole point of the story, and of this amazing trip to Minnesota in 2012, was, and is, this: Jesus is real, very real. He was born of the virgin Mary, and laid in a manger, on that first Christmas some 2000 years ago. He came down from heaven to earth to walk in our shoes for a time – to experience and to live life as we live it. Then, as it is written, He gave His life for us that we could have eternal life with Him.
The real reason for the season, the real reason for Christmas, is not fake substitutes and imposters. It is not those things that distract us from the real reason but, rather, the real reason is this: Jesus Christ.
Another point of our trip, this trip I refer to as my Psalm 23 trip, is the reinforcement of learning to have, and to put, our trust and our faith in a living, loving, merciful and forgiving God. We simply could not have made this trip without Him. And, we had to put our trust and our faith in Him that all would be well. And, it was.
Just a closer walk with thee? Yeah, we did that! And, I could never have planned it so perfectly.
A third point is to share the gospel, the “good news”, with all who will listen,
Merry Christmas! Because He lives!