Well, it's Christmas Eve and I'm here at my church preparing for our Christmas Eve services. And I got to reflecting on this past year and it has been a doozy.

And then I got to reading John chapter one and and we I got to that verse that says, And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

And we beheld His glory, the glory of the one and only Son.

So beautiful, so poetic.

I really love the way Eugene Peterson puts it in the message. It says, and God moved into the neighborhood.

Woah, that is Christmas. God moved into the neighborhood.

No matter what your year was like, whether it was a great challenge or the best year of your life, guess what? God was in the neighborhood with you. He was there with you. He was either seeing you through it or celebrating with you in it and I think that's beautiful. So tomorrow, when you probably open presents, probably eat too much, when you enjoy being with family or endure being with family, depending on what your family is like, I hope you also take some time just to pause and to realize God moved into the neighborhood.

Merry Christmas.