This has been a different Christmas for me and my family.

   My mother underwent emergency surgery on December 7th and has been in intensive care since.  She is improving thankfully, but her situation remains very serious.

   My wife and I spent Christmas Day morning at home watching our children unwrap and play with their gifts.

   We spent the evening at the hospital with my mom, holding her hand, and watching the respirator, monitors, and nurses work.

   It certainly was not the Christmas we had hoped for.  Yet God has used this crisis to remind me of what Christmas is all about.

  Yes, Christmas is all about Jesus Christ being born, but it's also about where and how Jesus was born. 

   "...the time came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them" (Luke 2:6-7).  

   God chose to be present with us as a helpless baby, born in dirty, cramped, cold quarters, in a place where no one else wanted to be. 

   The how and where of Jesus' birth is of huge significance.

   Christmas is about God arriving and being present in our lives, even when we are weak, small, and humbled. Even when we are where we don't want to be.  Even when we are in a cold, white, noisy, hospital room.  

   "The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"[g] (which means "God with us"). (Matthew 1:23).

   On multiple occasions, as I have visited my mom, I've been reminded that God is present, Immanuel. 

   I see Jesus in nurses, family, doctors, friends, and her church.  In acts of sacrifice, kindness, and providence.  In cards, calls, and prayers.

   Knowing Jesus is there makes all the difference.  It gives us the strength, hope, peace, and resources to keep going.

   Quite possibly your Christmas hasn't been what you hoped for either. I know Christmas isn't tinsel town for everyone. Many people suffer through the holidays.

   Where ever you may be - whether the hospital, the office working overtime, home with cranky kids, in the car travelling, at the funeral home, at the table alone - be assured God is with you and be encouraged.

   God bless you!