The day is here! Today the children will rise, many from a sleepless night of anticipation, and the celebration will begin. It may be a chaotic scene filled with noise, joy, and laughter. For some, with no small children to interject the unadulterated joy of the morning, there may not be as much noise or laughter, but there is still the warmth and the encouragement of thoughtful gifts given and gratefully received. The day will follow on with a late, and special breakfast. Our big meal is a late lunch. It will be spent with family and sometimes friends. As the day progresses, we have no further formal meals. We have leftovers whenever we want to get them for ourselves. It is a grand day. The gifts, the music in the background, the meals, the fellowship, even the travel to be with those we love for part of the day, are all reminders of the One who traveled into time and across space to be with us — the ones He loves. He made the trip to do more than give us a present, He came to be the Gift.

As I write these words on July 30, 2019, for you on December 25, I have a dear friend struggling to regain health following a stroke. He has spent 60 years in the entertainment and music business. Since I have known him, at least 20 years, his gifts have been dedicated to the glory of God without reservation. In May of 2017 he recorded a song called, In Touch with God. In the bridge he sings these words:

In the beginning was the Word, the word was God, Jesus is the Word.
Within his light, when darkness falls, in him his light, his light is light for all.

The chorus is:
In touch with God. In touch with God.
I live in love and peace, In touch with God.
In touch with God. In touch with God.
I live in love and peace, in touch with God.²⁴

Those words could not be written or sung with integrity without the birth of Jesus. Had he not come to us as a vulnerable baby, we could not know Him in the way we do. He would not be our personal God and friend or Savior. He would not be present as He is. The most profound truth about God is that His name is Immanuel. Jesus is God with us, both now and for eternity. It is the most beautiful name. Start this Christmas morning in touch with God and stay in touch.

Merry Christmas! Immanuel has come!