“You Are Here” (12/24/2025)

One of my favorite activities when I am away on adventure is checking the posted maps of the attraction that always have the marker “You are here,” usually marked with an X. And always I look around that marker to recall what has come before it and to look ahead to what else might be in store for me. I do so love an adventure!

And we are on our own adventure in Advent. Our preparations for 25 days will bring us Christmas. While Christmas is key to this adventure, there is more. As I sit at this spot, mentally imagining the “You are here,” I think of all that has brought us here, what has led all of us as humanity to this place. There is so much that has come before. Truth is, our adventure is built upon millenniums of relationship, the LORD with us. Our little part of the adventure is miniscule compared to the whole trek. Think of all the times the LORD broke into our lives, our world, our suffering, with loving mercy. One could spend a day recalling all the works of the LORD from creation through the early covenant, through the exodus, through the establishment of Israel under King David, through the monarchy and then the divided kingdom, through the prophets calling the people back, through the defeats and exiles, through the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple, through the occupation of foreign nations, etc. I recall Jacob’s words after his dream of heaven and earth meeting via a ladder, “God was in this place though I did not know it.”

But since we began this particular and specific Advent adventure, hopefully we have discovered additional wonders in our world and in our lives. Hopefully we have applied ourselves to prayer and to scripture readings, and we have found new or deeper meaning in our practice of our faith and a deepening of our relationship with Christ. Hopefully, through this adventure we have found that we have moved from where we began and the movement has brought us closer to Christ who came into the world out of love to show us that love is the true path, the only path.

These final two days before Christmas present themselves as the perfect opportunity to truly recall what has happened throughout time that showed us the great, unfathomable love of our LORD. As we join with others to celebrate and to sing songs of praise and rejoicing, let us also be prepared to say with all sincerity to our LORD, “Here I am.” Let us be prepared to offer ourselves, without reservations, as our gift.  And let us look around us and ahead of us, for while we are here today, the LORD desires that our adventure continue. Informed by our prayer and recollection of the LORD’s faithfulness and mercy, let us conform ourselves to Christ, and transformed by grace and the love that is capable of saving a world, let us vow to continue our adventure in His name out of love for Him and one another.

We are here, but the LORD beckons us to draw nearer and to bring others with us. Our Advent adventures are nearing an end, but our journeys in faith, hope and love continue. Hopefully, our Advents will prove to be transformative for us individually and for our world.

Until tomorrow, love well.