City, life, and Christmas

Ever see those people who spell Christmas CHRISTmas? That's a little over the top. Like, yeah, stick a capital "c" on there, but really, is the full-cap thing going to convince someone? I guess it may...........

Back in Scarborough and I'm realizing that I like going away a lot better then not. But you really do need something as a core, a base, to go away from. In the past week, a teenager opened fire on a crowded bus, hitting his target, and an 8 year-old girl, who was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A mother stabbed her husband, and one of her three children to death, stabbed a second child, and then took her own life. And yesterday a teenager was swarmed outside his school and beaten/stabbed to death. I guess it's been a bit of a long week, but this is my core, my base, and it's the base for everyone who lives in this city. a prayer then
"Jesus,
Jesus can you help me?
I'm alone in the world,
and a fucked up world it is too.
Tell me,
tell me a story
the one about eternity,
and the way that it's all going to be.
Wake up
wake up dead man"
Bono
In the face of this violence, and in spite of the pain, I'm remembering the coming of a long-promised baby. In the face of a near total commercial wash, a dizzying array of red and white, sparkly lights, moody shoppers, and constant exposure to what I'm told is the perfect gift, I remember that the acctual gift was given a long time ago. That God kept his promises, even though we'd broken all of ours. I remember, that even when Jesus seems to be little more then a dead man, that he did wake up, that He's telling the story of eternity, even though sometimes, it's little more then a whisper in my ear. I see it in my wife, in my best freind, and even a little, in myself. It can be hard to hear over the jacked-up volume of reports that a majority of the voting population are satisfied with the Ukrainian government, regardless of evidnece to the contrary, or that peace in the middle-east is "just around the corner", but wait, 27 Iraqi police officers are dead in a bombing, but as I've been learning that is the time you need to be alone and listen to God. To re-hear his voice, and to remember that he is still awake. Then to return to life, return to the pain, and do what you can to ease it. To let God do his work through you, so that people can see that he is awake, he is a God of tangible truths. That promises made long ago of salvation, are alive today.

Merry Christmas.