So here I sit, somewhere between Cleveland, Ohio and Erie, Pennsylvania, a couple days before Christmas 2005. It is Wednesday, isn't it? I have a tendency to lose track of what day of the week it is lately.
Today, I'm on my way to NY to spend the holidays with family and friends out there. Dad has a pretty big surgery early in January and I'm trying to figure out how and when I'd be making my way back to Indiana. If things don't change within the first week or two of January, I think it will be time to officially make my move back to New York to pursue the next steps in the career path.
Through this whole thing my faith and journey in that faith has been my constant. My journey to find Christ and grow in a walk with Him has been my companion. I am completely non-politically correct in my wishing people a Merry Christmas and I don't really care. This season is the built around the birth of the One that brought hope to a pretty decimated planet.
What astounds me is that the wise men that came looking for Christ came to hunt for Him at all. Some scholars say the "magi" were probably from modern day Iraq and were "students of astrology, astronomy, assorted religions, spells, incantations, dream interpretations, fortune telling, some dabbling in the occult, and had a habit of dressed in an odd fashion". The Latin word "magi" is where we get our term "magician" so think along the lines of Merlin, Gandalf, and Albus Dumbledore for a reality check on who they might have been like.
What's also amazing is that the Old Testament really shows that God wasn't a big fan of what these magi were into. They really were pagans when it comes right down to it. The only thing we really know is that they said they were on a pilgrimage to worship this newborn king. They basically wander around, get lost, actually have to stop and ask directions (from the one guy that REALLY wants Christ dead), and show up a year or so after all the hoopla is over to bring their gifts and to worship Jesus. They even have to sneak back home a different way so they don't get caught by the current king on the throne.
Why would these pagans go to all this trouble to do what even the current religious leaders wouldn't do? Somehow they saw beyond the present and into the future and out of faith, they sought Jesus out to worship him. Worship is defined here as "to kiss toward" and "to intensely adore". There is nothing to suggest they were following their modern day religious practices. They actually made a huge effort to go out of their way to find the unknown and worship Him.
It's cool to note that God met them where they were and drew them to Him. No matter where they were or what they were involved in, God made Himself known to them and drew them in such a way to Him that they would risk all the time, effort, and danger to simply come and worship Christ. They were compelled to find the child and worship the new king. They were willing to give up what and where they were in order to worship the new Messiah and become something new.
It brings to light how little I put into my search not only for the Christ child, but the God that loves me enough to let the one Son He has come to this mudball to offer new life and a change in where and what I can be. It is pretty interesting too, that the first question in the first half of the Bible is from God, asking, "Where is Adam?". The first question in the second half of the Bible is from the magi asking, "Where is God?".
Maybe with all this potential change, I am on my journey to becoming a better follower. Sure I stumble, I fall, and my gifts are less than perfect, but God accepts me for where I am and how I am and allows me to grow if I am willing to keep following Him.
The motel room is fairly quiet now, maybe it's time I go find that Gideon's Bible in the drawer; just to reacquaint me with my fellow journeymen again.
