Because "Jeff" told me to

Somebody - we'll call him "Jeff" - recently complained about my lack of blog posts in the last few weeks. I wish there was a good reason for it, like that I'm off doing something amazing for the benefit of humanity, but mainly it's because I've recently discovered the tv show Fringe and now spend any free time I have at home watching it. I just started season 3 last night. Olivia is stuck on the other side and her mind has just been infiltrated with Olivia from the other side's memories while Olivia from the other side is back on our side pretending to be the real Olivia and Peter doesn't know! Oh my!

Anyway, I'm sorry, "Jeff," and everyone else, that I care more about watching tv than blogging. I've also decided to refinance my house to a 15 year mortgage, and this has taken up about 1 hour of my life as well. It's possible "Jeff" has been helping me with this. Here are some snippets of conversations that we've had over the last 10 days:

Jeff: "Give me your social security number."
Me: "Ok."

Jeff: "Give me your credit card number."
Me: "Ok."

Jeff: "Sell me your soul."
Me: "Ok."

Wait, that last one hasn't happened yet, but the day is still young and full of soul-selling potential, and I wouldn't put it past him to slide that one in on the side.

We also had this conversation:

Jeff: "Go see The Hobbit with me and some other people."
Me: "Ok."

So I went to see The Hobbit on Saturday with "Jeff" and some other friends. I don't see a lot of movies in the theater, probably because I'm at home watching Fringe all of the time. In fact, The Hobbit is only the 3rd movie I've seen in the theater since May. Don't tell "Jeff", but I kind of liked The Hobbit, only because I haven't read the book in 14 years and couldn't tell you where Peter Jackson strayed in accuracy. But "Jeff" can, and he disapproved.

Here is where today's blog post takes a sudden, unexpected, dark turn. I warned "Jeff" that this might happen.

About halfway through the movie on Saturday, I looked around the dark theater at all of the people sitting there enjoying the show (or not) and eating their popcorn (or spilling it on the ground, like I did) and the first thing that popped into my mind was, "Please don't let anyone come in here and gun us down."

It was an awful thought, and yet it being the day after the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in CT and five months after the shooting in the Denver movie theater, it also wasn't an entirely unrealistic thought. And that grieves me.

And after the movie, I went to the mall to get a couple of things and as I walked into the mall, the same thought hit me: "Please don't let anyone gun us down in the mall." And it grieved me even more that I would have the same thought twice in one day and that it's real things that have happened that triggered the thought in the first place.

It's heartbreaking to live in a world where elementary schools, movie theaters, and malls are all of a sudden targets for angry, hurting gunmen. It's unfathomable to see the sweet faces of six and seven year old children on the news whose lives were snuffed out way too soon, and know that there are presents under Connecticut Christmas trees that will not be opened this year and families who will spend their holiday together amid many tears.

But it's also a reminder to me of why we even celebrate Christmas in the first place, because the world is a dark place in need of light.

I'll confess - I hate Christmas songs. It annoys me to no end that my favorite radio station decides to play Christmas songs 24 hours a day starting in mid-November. I ban the station from my car during those 39 days. I'm really not ready for Christmas songs until about 3:30 PM on Dec. 24, unless it's Amy Grant's "Tender Tennessee Christmas." This one is on my iPod year-round, because who's not ready for a tender Tennessee Christmas in the middle of August?

I talked to someone last week who had just returned from the predominantly Buddhist country of Myanmar. She said it was such a stark contrast to be in a place where there are very few Christians and most surround sound she heard while there were Buddhist chants and then to come back to America and be bombarded by our extreme love of all things Christmas, especially Christmas songs.

It is, after all, the one time during the year that people don't seem to mind being reminded of Jesus and singing songs about Him for 39 days straight. It's like this 6 week window where light is allowed to shine mostly unhindered and it's a beautiful thing.

This Christmas is going to be a hard one for a lot of people, maybe even for you. There are many heavy hearts both right here in Fort Collins this week and around the nation. If that is you, I will be praying for you. There are never perfect words to say to someone who is grieving or hurting or broken. You simply have to keep living each day, one moment at a time, until the pain lets up enough that you can start to breathe normally again. And that day does come.

But be reminded that there is light in your darkness. We celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25 because it's the day that Christians picked to acknowledge the day that God entered into our world as a human baby. It was the brightest day in the history of the world.

 

In Him was life, and that life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understoond it...the true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world....the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth."

 

- John 1:4-5, 9, 14

 

My prayer for all of the families who will be hurting this Christmas is that somewhere, somehow they will find a little bit of light in their darkness. And if you are blessed to be healthy and safe and at peace within your family this year, think about how you can be a little bit of light to someone who is not.

 

Christmas blessings to you.

 

P.S. No, "Jeff," I will not sell you my soul.