This morning I was listening to the first advent reading from God in the Manager put together from Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s writings.  It had been a hard night.  At midnight last night, we learned that fellow workers here had died.  How do you celebrate Christmas in times like this?  How do you celebrate when your heart aches and the tears come in force. It has been a hard year for our team-full of too many losses and too many good byes. Sometimes I have to remind myself that we are not alone in our grief.  All over the world, people are grieving the loss of loved ones to Ebola, the violence of the racial tension in Ferguson, marriages ending, and senseless killings in Iraq and Syria.  In the reading, Dietrich talked of Jesus knocking at the door.  I was reminded that Jesus is knocking at the door of this land. Some are answering the door while others are fighting against what Jesus can bring.   Nevertheless he is knocking.  When Dietrich wrote this letter to his parents, he was in prison but told his family to wait in anticipation of Christ coming.   He reminded them that it is in hard times (for them WWII) that we need to anticipate his coming the most.  So I am waiting for Jesus this season.  Even thought it is hard, I am clinging tightly to His promises and sovereignty in all things.  


Wait with me in anticipation of Jesus coming.  Come quickly Lord Jesus.