God. With. Us.

"Emmanuel: God With Us" by James Robert Kessler c05

"God. With. Us. God can't stay away.  This is the love story that has been coming for you since the beginning.  He is the God who is so for us that He can't stay away from us...He is the God who chooses to be with us.  He comes as a baby because He is done with the barriers.  He comes as a baby, the most vulnerable imaginable. Because He wants unimaginable intimacy with you."

~excerpt from The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp

Tomorrow night, Christmas Eve, Christians everywhere will begin formally celebrating of the birth of Christ.  The hustle and bustle will still and slow as we gather together in our homes and churches to acknowledge the true reason for the season.  

Following a Christmas Eve service that my husband's band, Longing For Eden is leading, I will be attending a Midnight Mass for the first time ever.  Not knowing exactly what to expect, I was asking my husband for information and as we talked, he shared with me how much he was looking forward to attending again.  Philip said that years ago, he had encountered God in such a powerful way during a Midnight Mass.  He had recently accepted Jesus as his savior, but was struggling in this new walk.  He said that they sang Hark The Herald Angels Sing, and when they came to the line "God and sinners reconciled" it struck him; the why of it all... God wanted relationship with us... with him! He said that he began to weep uncontrollably right in the middle of the service, and got a lot of strange looks, but he didn't care.  God wanted him. God was pursuing him.  God is pursuing you as well. 

Ann Voskamp also said in The Greatest Gift:  "Christmas is about God's doing whatever it takes to be with us--and our doing whatever it takes to be with Him.  He climbed down from the throne in Heaven to get to you. Climb over the throes of Christmas to get to Him."