I have never liked thorns

I looked at my old coveralls and sighed.
I had this pair of bibs for many years, they were insulated so they had come in very handy when winter came. Like a lot of my clothes they had become tighter.
I think our washing machine shrinks clothes.
Anyway, I noticed how tore up they were. The legs had many ripped spots and along with some holes from welding, they were looking pretty sad.
The rips had come from thorns, nasty sticky things I had stumbled into over several years of chasing rabbits.
I hate thorns because they hurt, they would rip my exposed skin and tear into my clothes. They make a nice place for small animals, but for a big guy like me they aren't nice at all.
In fact I wondered why have them at all? We can't eat them (as far as I know, at least I haven't tried to eat them on purpose).
Why?
As I thought deeper about it, we aren't equipped to handle them. Our skin would have to be a lot tougher to walk through them without getting hurt. Oh we can cut them and burn them but they show up other places.
Now that I think about it, we were never meant to live in a world with them.
As I recall my Genesis (the book in the Bible, not the band Phil Collins was in) God tells Adam this;
"17 To Adam he said, "Because you listened to your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, 'You must not eat of it,' "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. 18 It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return."
So before the fall, no thorns, after the fall...ouch.
We know something is wrong, we watch TV and see the pain that's out there. People abusing other people, death and destruction, injustice and corruption.
We know this isn't right, life isn't supposed to be this way.
And when the thorns hit home, when we have been wronged, or lose a loved one, or get bad news from the doctor, we hurt. It's not what we signed up for, especially if we are a follower of Christ. God is supposed to block the pain.
And then I remember it was the fall that created this mess, the choice to let God be the god of our lives or we are the boss.
I remember the line in the movie "The Princess Bride" (which I thought was a pretty good movie) the male lead tells the princess "Life is pain princess, anybody who tells you its not is trying to sell you something". Pretty good line and unfortunately it's true.
The fact we live in such a painful place should drive us into the arms of Christ, to know He died that we would one day live in a place where God would wipe the tears of our pain away.
I believe it is a place that is worth waiting for. It makes Christ's sacrifice even more special knowing that He loved me enough to offer such a place to me. I don't deserve it, but His grace and mercy are enough.
I have some great days on this earth, great friends, great family and good times. I have also seen and felt real pain. I have lost loved ones and seen others that I care about experience great pain in their lives. Being a follower of Christ does not exempt us from pain. John the Baptist knew all about that, but the best days are the ones that are coming.
I look forward to a time and place...
without thorns.

Joy to the world and get your hands off my Tickle Me Elmo.

How did we get here?
How did the celebration of the birth of the Messiah of the world, our path to God, the one who has saved us from eternal destruction, into a one day shopping melee?
I had not heard the term "black Friday" before, is this new or am I living in a cave?
Think about it, we sing happy songs at Christmas, Joy is the theme, celebrate God's gift to humanity.
Then we scratch, claw, over spend, and end up hating the very holiday that we are supposed to be overjoyed about.
We lose the true meaning because somehow we always bring it back to us. It's not about God, it's about being at a store hours before you normally get up. That kills me, let's open our store at 3 am and expect people to be in a good mood! I see people get up at 7 am who are crabby.
Now I realize that not everybody goes nuts at Christmas, many get it. I also want to state that if you want to fight the crowds the day after Thanksgiving, go for it.
But...
If you find yourself ready to kill to get the last $199 laptop, that you want to strangle the family in front of the check out line at Wal-Mart, that you want to say or do things that would get you a free nights stay at the local jail, remember this...
It's really about our salvation, our freedom, our savior.
It's not about maxing our credit cards and finding the biggest bargains.
This was brought home to me at the community Thanksgiving service. I was asked to speak at the service and I talked about what we should really be thankful for. As man came up to me after the service, thanked me, and told me how thankful he was, he had been "clean" for 8 years.
You see Jesus had freed him from an addiction. He understands better than most what an amazing gift God has given each one of us.
That's what Christmas is.
Please understand I find nothing wrong with giving and receiving gifts, one of my biggest thrills is giving my family gifts.
I just want each one of you to stop and think about what Christmas really means.
You might find the joy we sing about.