My First Dance

Sadly or interestingly enough (depending on your perspective) I attended my first dance ever this month. Thankfully I was not the one doing the dancing... it was in fact, my daughter's first dance. And while the dreamer in me would love to focus on the part that we were experiencing a first together, the realist in me concedes that I was little more than chauffeur and chaperone.

I was good. I did my job. This means I found a table in the back and tried to look cool as I leaned on it the entire night as if it would have collapsed had I removed my weight.

Because I work with students for a living, nothing I observed about that night was "shocking" to me. However, I did enjoy the experience at a number of levels that others may or may not.

1. the majority of the kids were there to have a good (yes, clean) time
2. most of them did... eventually
3. watching them figure out the way to do this was enriching

There they were the geeks and the jocks... the preps and the goths... all in the same awkward place trying to do the same awkward thing - not stand out... those were usually the same ones who stuck out like a sore thumb.

It gave my daughter a chance to hang out with girlfriends - a motive that I naively hope will continue. It gave me a chance for kids to see me outside of the church walls just being a dad. And it gave my daughter and I a common experience that we were able to discuss and learn from many days thereafter.

Thankfully Christmas Is Back

I never thought it would come to this. Thankfully it has. You heard it here first (or again)! Wal*Mart has issued a full statement to let us know that Christmas is officially back!!! Last year was abysmal. All that Happy Holidays stuff.

Give me a break! Since when did we leave Christmas to the whims of corporate America? I find it laughable at best - sad at worst - that Christian people everywhere seem to be praising the behemoth of sales (Wal*Mart) for their righteous behavior. Like it's about anything but the bottom line for them (and everyone else) this year.

I'm glad that Christmas is back. But I've lived long enough to know that this year is only this year. Next year (or the year after that) it will be business as usual. So is it up to Jerry Falwell and James Dobson to save Christmas? Yes! And... not exactly. Yes, it does fall to Jerry and James and Rob and whatever your name is if you are a Jesus-follower. The job of keeping Christ in Christmas is ours. The reason He is not at the center of this holiday anymore is because of so-called Christians failing to keep Him there. There is no conspiracy. It is not the fault of pre-faith people that Jesus is being removed from Christmas. The only way that Jesus gets removed from Christmas is if we who believe remove Him. Christ leaves Christmas when Christ leaves me. And though He never technically leaves me, unfortunately there have been times I have left Him.

How do we keep Christ in Christmas?

1. Be proactive, but not like you might think... make sure you understand and practice REAL Christmas.
2. Don't be like Herod... his answer was to kill everyone that could even possibly be associated with the Christ - resist the urge to do this in reverse.
3. Be sensitive to the traditions of others... being sensitive doesn't eliminate my voice or my understanding. In fact, it probably lends credence to it.