Unexpected

Unexpected events under the hand of God are destined for beauty. I didn’t expect cancer, but I got healing. I didn’t expect a pandemic, but I grew closer to God. For all of life’s challenges, grace has been there for me.

Jesus came into my life unexpectedly when I was young. Like the nativity manger, my heart was empty and ready for a Savior. I needed Him, and He was there. Christmas is not merely a holiday. It’s an opportunity to experience the unconventional Son of God who didn’t do anything the way people thought He should.

Certainly, prophecies predicted the Messiah, but people didn’t expect Him to live, act, and speak the way Jesus did. He didn’t fit the mold they created for Him, but He fit a manger crib perfectly. From the beginning and throughout His life on earth, He surprised everyone and still does.

An angel astonished Mary, and she consented to the impossible. An angel also appeared to Joseph in a dream, and he agreed to the implausible. Then a census forced the couple to journey to Bethlehem where Mary delivered her first Child without any preparations, midwife, or appropriate lodging. But that was just the beginning.

Jesus listened to His Father in heaven, not the assumptions of the crowds, religious elite, or even His disciples. He welcomed society’s rejected, healed all who came to him (even lepers), cast out demons, performed miracles, and forgave sins, all of which caused a huge commotion, especially when done on the Sabbath. He taught thousands of people on hillsides and shorelines how to surrender their lives to God and live from their hearts, not their religion. His authority was so palpable, people discerned it superior to that of the religious leaders, whom He had no problem correcting when necessary. But He never tried to be a political figure, probably the biggest surprise and disappointment to His contemporaries.

Before His death, He rode a donkey instead of a well-bred steed for a royal procession, cleared a temple of greed-infested marketing, accepted inhumane suffering and death on a cross with a quiet dignity that no one understood while most of His disciples abandoned him.

Then, full circle from an empty manger, unexpectedly He emptied a grave and saved all humankind, thus revealing the biggest surprise of all. Jesus is Emmanuel not only as “God with us” but also in us and always for us.

Throughout my life, I’ve been surprised by Him, how pure, smart, deliberate, merciful, and powerful He is. Thanks to Him, I can live in sync with the Father’s heartbeat through the power of His Spirit.

I pray you and yours will know how amazing He is, experience the extravagance of heaven’s good will toward you, and find peace.