What We Do At Christmas

I want to begin with saying that I know that Mark Driscoll just posted a blog talking about what he teaches his kids about Santa, but I have not read it. I really wanted to, but I have been preparing this post all week and didn't want to be influenced/impacted by what he has said. Also to say that these opinions are my own and I have not gotten anything from any other source.

Okay, now that the disclaimer is out of the way, I wanted to write about what my family does during the Christmas season. I have realized that what we Cloers do at Christmas is pretty different from what a great number of people do. First off, let me hit Santa. Oops, let me put that another way. I will discuss what we do/teach about Santa. We do not do anything with Santa Claus. We don't take our boys to see a Santa at the mall. They don't write letters to Santa nor do they leave cookies out for him. If we are ever going to tell them anything about Santa it will be about the historical person that his mythology is based on. But, I'm sure that they won't care at all about that nor will they commit those facts to memory. We don't do Santa for one simple reason: WE HAVE JESUS! That's it. TheLord Jesus' coming to Earth for the rescue of sinful humanity is a big enough and special enough reason for celebration. Some people ask, "Don't you feel like you are taking something away from your children by not letting them believe in Santa?" Or they say, "We do Santa with our kids because it just adds to the magic of Christmas for them." Really? My response to that is: WE HAVE JESUS! I could go on and on about this, but it really is that simple to me. We have the greatest thing in all of the history of the universe to celebrate in the life, death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. And to say that adding a mythological story about an overweight, elderly man that rides in a sleigh that is powered by flying reindeer to deliver presents to the children of the world by slipping down chimneys will make that glorious celebration "more special" or "magical" is totally absurd. So, I have been trying to teach Michael some things to say when he is asked, "What's Santa gonna bring you?" First response, "There is no Santa." Second response, "He sits on a throne of lies."

Seriously though, on Christmas morning, when our children are opening up presents (more on that in a bit) we want them to know that those were given to them by their parents who love them very much. And we love them even if they have been bad and they don't have to be good for goodness sake in order for them to experience love from their parents. So, no Santa, all Jesus.

Christmas day has always been special in my family. Here is what a Christmas day looks like in the Michael Cloer (my father) family. Wake up to smell of deer tenderloin being fried up. It is a wonderful smell. My parents get up early, I have never really known how early, to start making us breakfast. Breakfast will consist of the aforementioned deer tenderloin, scrambled eggs, biscuits, sawmill gravy, grits and my mothers fruit salad with miniature marshmallows and shredded coconut (so good). There is always Christmas blend coffee that is brewing all morning, cold milk and my mother's Christmas fruit cocktail drink/punch (non alcoholic, of course). When everything is ready, we sit down at large table together, everyone wearing their pajamas and such, Dad prays and we enjoy a great meal. A great thing is that the size of our family has grown numerically over the past decade. This Christmas there will be 11 of us around that table.

After breakfast, we excuse Mom and Dad to go and take showers and get themselves ready while we do the dishes and clean up. Then later in the morning, around 11 we all sit down together again, but this time it is in the den/family room where the Christmas tree is (that is a picture of it up there). Then Dad begins us in a time of prayer. Each one of us then prays and thanks the Lord for the blessing of the past year. It is usually a pretty emotional time. After that, Mom leads in some songs and we usually crack up at least once because it is either to high or too low for some of us. Then we refill our drinks with more coffee or more of the Christmas cocktail and maybe grab a quick bite of some goodie from in the kitchen and then settle back in for the giving of presents. That's right, it can be after noon sometimes before we start doing anything with presents. It has been that way my whole life. And sure when I was younger I might have been annoyed or irritated by that, but it taught much such a valuable lesson. It has taught me that there is so, so much more to the celebration of that day than getting presents. And that is what we want to teach our children too. We want them to know that this is a very special day because we get to be together and love on each other and celebrate Jesus and worship Him. We get to give to one another.

And we will not be showering our children with literally tons of gifts. I think that we can all agree that there is a tremendous amount of excess that American children experience all the time and especially at Christmas. It is not the aim of Melissa or myself to raise our children to be greedy, selfish or ungrateful. We want them to be generous, giving and compassionate. We want to give to people, families, in need. We want to give money toward global missions. We want to serve people in our community and love our neighbors. We want to celebrate Christmas in deed and not just in word. Our children will receive a few presents each year and they will give many gifts each year as well.

Christmas day usually ends with a ride around town to look at Christmas lights while drinking hot chocolate and some of Dad's homemade peanut butter cookies. I love my family. I love being a member in my family. I am not in any way saying that what other families do is wrong or sinful or anything like that. We Cloers are not better than anyone. But we are different. I love and embrace that difference. I truly am thankful to be a son of Michael and Tebra Cloer and I want my children to feel the same way about Melissa and me. Merry Christmas.

Blockages in my heart

I hope your pulse didn't quicken when you saw that headline. I am not referring to my physical, made of tissue, four chambered heart. I am talking about my real heart, my spiritual heart. So many times we say that we just have a lot of stuff on our mind, but I don' t feel that sentiment is true enough for me. Not right now anyways. I feel like I have some stuff that is blocking up my heart right now. Stuff that makes me want to cry, laugh, sing and be quiet. So, bear with me as I bare my soul a little bit.

Jesus is so...whew. It is hard to put into words all that I am feeling about Him right now. My relationship with Him has been so rich and sweet lately. For the past several mornings I have felt as though I could hear His voice beckoning to me to wake from my sleep. He calls me to His Word, He speaks truth to my heart and challenges, convicts and blesses me with it. We have spent some really beautiful times together on some really long walks during the past few weeks. I am not trying to be super spiritual or mystical with what I am about to say, but it has felt as though He has literally been walking right beside me. He speaks about what He is doing in my life right now and what He has planned for me in the future. I am overwhelmed at His love for me. He is so patient with me, so tender, so gracious. As I head back into the house after about an hour it is as if He gives me a big hug and says, "I can't wait for tomorrow." Jesus is my best friend. I can truly say that.

The world has been heavy on my heart recently. Some really good friends of mine have just returned from a mission trip to Romania where they loved on some orphan children with the love of Jesus. I have been with many of them on that same trip, or should I say on a trip like that (since every trip is unique and special). I know that it is such a blessing to be with those kids. I miss their smiles and their laughter. I miss watching their eyes as they listen to how much God loves them. I am leaving for Asia in less than 2 weeks. My team, which there are only 6 of us I think, will be teaching house church and factory church leaders for multiple hours a day. Teaching them what? The good and glorious truth of God's Word. We will be covering topics like the family, the Gospel, singleness, persecution and the New Testament. I am beyond words when I think about the incredible privilege and honor that is mine in this endeavor. Please, pray for us. Pray that we will be empty of ourselves and that we will walk full of the Holy Spirit. It is just such an awesome reality to be apart of what the Lord is doing all over the world. I am looking forward to being out of my comfort zone and smack dab in the middle of such an important work that the Lord is doing.

In the Gospel of John, in chapters 14-16, Jesus says something pretty incredible. He says that if we ask Him, God, for anything, He will give it to us. Now, I know that this is not referring to a spiritual blank check and that whatever we ask must be complicit with His will. I know that, but don't miss what Jesus is saying. He says that if we ask for anything, and that thing being pleasing to the Father, He will give it to us. I am not espousing "name it and claim it" theology, but I do believe that this truth should change our prayer life. I'll tell you one area that this has really impacted my praying and that is in my ministry. Youth ministry. I am praying, asking the Lord that He would give us Brighton High School. I am praying, asking that He would use students from my ministry to greatly impact that school for His glory. What all does that mean? Well, I will write more about that later and I am going to be preaching on it very soon. I just want to see the Lord display His power and might in our local context and I want Him to use our students to do it. I know that is a bold, big request, but I am talking to Jesus and I know that He can handle it.

Well, those are just a few of things that have been lodged in my heart as of late. I know that all of this seems random, but it's my blog, so deal with it. :)

The Author and Finisher

"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." - Hebrews 12:1-2

I love this passage. The guys that I disciple are in the process of memorizing all of Hebrews 12. We have spent some good time discussing these two verses. It would take about 30 or 45 minutes writing my thoughts/commentary to these two verses but I want to focus in on the phrase, "author and finisher." These two words are so rich and deep concerning the Lord Jesus that they demand some time spent focusing upon them.

Author. Faith originates with Jesus. I see this unfolding in two particular ways. First, Jesus is the originator of faith in general. Salvation through faith was His idea. He could have brought salvation through any means that He wanted to. He could have designed salvation to be attained through the keeping of the law, but He didn't. He could have hung a monetary price tag on salvation that you and I could have worked toward and eventual purchased with a treasure chest, but He didn't. He could have set up salvation for only the most moral do-gooders on the planet, but He didn't. The Lord Jesus has made, authored, salvation to come through faith in the work that He has already done on the cross. He designed it to be that way. Secondly, Jesus is the originator of faith for the individual. That goes deeper than just the system or means of salvation. This means that Jesus authored my salvation. I did not seek after Him (Rom. 3). I did not choose Him (John 15:16). Faith began in my heart because the Father began drawing my heart toward Jesus (John 6:44; Heb. 7:25). This overwhelms my heart. To think that Jesus pursued me, purchased me and began the work of faith in my heart is, well, overwhelming. Wow!

Finisher. Faith ends with Jesus. Just as with the truth of faith's authorship, it's ending unfolds in two particular ways as well. To really understand these two aspects however, you have to see a deeper understanding of the word finisher. Finisher can also be understood as perfecter. Our faith becomes perfect in Jesus. That really means that our faith finds it's perfect match in Jesus. There will be many, many very faithful people that will spend eternity in hell. Having great faith is not the key. There are Hindu men that have devoted themselves to crawling on all fours for the rest of their lives because they really, genuinely believe that by doing so they will find favor with one of their millions of gods. The emphasis is not about how much faith you have, it is what/who you have placed your faith in. This lands the heart of the Christian squarely in Jesus. He is our perfect match. In Christ, our faith is made perfect. Secondly, Jesus will bring an end to our faith. What? Is that true? That doesn't sound right. I know it doesn't, but it is true. Think about it. On the day that you and I see Jesus face to face, will we have any need for faith? Hebrews 11:1 says, "Now

faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." On the day that I see Jesus face to face I will not hope for Him and I will be seeing Him. Faith will disappear. It will be finished. What began in the heart of God in eternity past will fade away in the light of His wonderful face. Wow!

I know that I have only scratched the surface of the these two words and their implications. I encourage you to dig into God's Word and let it's richness soak into you. As for me, I am gonna keep pondering, but I am gonna do so over an ice cold slice of watermelon.