I was going to post this on Facebook, but it was too long and sappy post. Instead, here are thoughts from my kitchen table.

There’s a lot I want to say about these picture, but I’ve got to finish a book instead, so here are the thoughts behind the snapshots.

These photos are from my morning walk on our farm. I put on my shoes, outdoor running gear and walked. My mind was cleared, I prayed and talked with my Savior. But I didn’t take it for granted.

It’s a stark contrast from some of the kids I work with who don’t know what a barbed-wire fence is (really, I’ve had that question).

It’s a scene that’s serene yet the same year after year. A place to go for continuity and peace when life “out there” seems out of control.

It’s a place of roots – literal ones both in the ground and in the soil of a the third generation living in the farmhouse. As far as the eye can see on this path, it’s a place my children and their cousins belong to. A place they can always come home to.

And my heart hurts. For kids in our communities who don’t know roots, who don’t know continuity or peace. Who will get one more violent video game for Christmas to fill their mind, who will spend one more holiday away from a parent they long for but will never know. For all the other stories I can’t share.

This week before Christmas, the time to me is less and less about lights and presents and traditions, but more and more about life-giving hope. It’s about doing the unconventional, getting outside of ourselves being engaged with people and situations that don’t make us comfortable. It’s praying more in bold faith that God sees and hears and will move on behalf of others when everything says He won’t.

It’s saying I believe in Jesus as the Son of the Living God and not being afraid. It’s believing when I pray for the kids whose stories and names are written on my heart, that He will meet them, somehow, in there lifetime, so they will know serenity, continuity, and peace.

I believe He will.

Will you believe with me?

Will you believe He will answer the prayers your praying for you’re situation, for the people you love of whom you’re praying for?

Will you do the unconventional and share who He is with someone this holiday season?

Will you join me in believing God for His peace on earth, moment by moment, human by human, for His honor and glory?

Amen.