“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). Matthew 1:23
“God travels wonderful ways with human beings, but He does not comply with the views and opinions of people. God does not go the way that people want to prescribe for Him; rather, His way is beyond all comprehension, free and self-determined beyond all proof.
Where reason is indignant, where our nature rebels, where our piety anxiously keeps us away; that is precisely where God loves to be. There He confounds the reason of the reasonable; there He aggravates our nature, our piety—that is where He wants to be, and now one can keep Him from it.”
Dietrich Bonhoeffer in God is in the Manger: Reflections on Advent and Christmas (Louisville: WJKP, 2010) 22.
Today I travel from Denver to Newark to Frankfurt to Cairo to Alexandria. I’d appreciate your prayers for safe and healthy travel. If you think I face danger, imagine God in a manger.
When a neighbor asked about my travels today, I reminded them that God travels. He meets us where we are at. He is unpredictable, and He shows up in ways we least expect.
What does this have to do with generosity? Everything! When we empty ourselves, we end up enriched in ways we could never imagine unless we take the risk, and step out in faith.
Step out of your comfort zone this Advent. Jesus did. He traveled to be with us. That’s what I am doing. What will it look like for you to step generously out of your comfort zone this Advent?