No Room Available

We have been in the United States now 6 weeks. We are thankful for the opportunity to be home for the holidays. There is such a difference here from where we have lived for the past year. We are experiencing what is called reverse culture shock. It was a shock to go live in a different culture and now to come back to our own culture has been a shock. Just walking the cereal aisle at Wal-Mart is overwhelming. America is a land of abundance. We have been living in the dry and barren land of the Kalahari Desert. And for us to come home during the holidays has added another layer to our culture shock.

As I, Claudia, sat through church services and listened to the Christmas story again this year, there were two things that came out more than ever before.

• Luke 2:7 says, “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.” We live in cluttered houses and full schedules, and yet we try to fit more and more things in. There is no room available for Christ to come stay in our lives. It was the same in Bethlehem. No room for Christ. As I look to this coming year, I personally am looking at how I can make more room for Christ.
• Matthew 2:13 “When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”” Herod ordered all the baby boys under the age of two in Bethlehem to be killed when he learned that the king of the Jews had been born there. This past year we have experienced spiritual warfare like never before. The thief truly does “comes only to steal and kill and destroy” John 10:10. Herod tried to kill the One who came to give abundant life. What things do I allow into my life that are stealing, killing, and destroying the abundant life Christ intends for me to have?

Just sitting here processing the story of Christ’s birth and how it applies to my life today. I hope you do the same and the Holy Spirit breaths afresh into your life.