♫ It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas ♬
In life we cannot anticipate what our future holds, but we know who holds the future. In our Christmas book, “A Royal Christmas to Remember”, our 5 princesses and 5 young knights-in-the-making are blissfully busy preparing for the upcoming Christmas festivities. Opening the castle doors over the holidays is a tradition that opens the hearts of the entire village to the real reason we celebrate Christmas.
In an instant all their plans are dashed when a message of imminent danger arrives at their front door! The King instantly leaves with his knights to protect their kingdom. That real meaning of Christmas quickly comes into focus. The girls choose to seize the moment of turmoil, changing their destiny and bringing joy to their father and the whole kingdom.
December has arrived here in California and the events and activities of the season are already in full swing. Having our “castle doors” open to family, neighbors and friends is a tradition we welcome each year.
♫ It’s truly beginning to look a lot like Christmas ♬
In the midst of preparations and a very busy afternoon a few years ago, I received a hushed and urgent call from Kim, my youngest daughter, who was teaching at an Elementary School a mile or so from our house. The school had abruptly been put on “lock-down”! There were policemen all over their campus and helicopters were swirling in circles overhead. She was yet to be informed of the circumstances…was it a bomb threat, someone with a gun, …
WHAT…??
Her daughter Megan Joy, my “pocket-baby”, was in the classroom next door huddled down on the floor behind locked doors and desks! The teachers and students had been in this imposed silence and been inaccessible for almost two hours! Frantic, my mind immediately went to the pictures of Columbine in Colorado…
Now that… was a wake-up call! In an instant my holiday plans took second place to the more important, as my priorities slipped back into a more realistic focus. Dr. Bob Jones, Sr. used to say, “Don’t sacrifice the permanent on the altar of the immediate!” No chance of that happening here. What could I do? Where was I needed? When would we know my daughter and granddaughter were safe?
As I watched and listened to the helicopters circling, hovering overhead, my curiosity overwhelmed me. A song that comforted me in the jungles of Panama immediately came to mind.
♫ He is my hiding place,
He always fills my heart
with songs of deliverance
whenever I am afraid,
I will trust in Him … ♫ Psalm 32:7
“God is our strength and power and makes our way perfect.” 2 Sam. 22:33 Our sovereign God was in control and He brought His “peace that passes understanding” in the turmoil. I began to pray to “our God of hope that He would fill Kim, with all joy and peace as she placed her trust in Him, so that she could overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit!” Romans 15:13
This happened two weeks before Christmas Day when families gathered to rehearse and celebrate the birth of the Savior of the world. Christians paused to praise their blessed promise and hope fulfilled in a manger bed. Many kneeled and prayed together giving thanks for His coming, His life and His sacrificial death in our place and His glorious resurrection.
Are you one of these?
Somehow… that particular Christmas 2016
became a singularly outstanding one for our family…
definitely… A Royal Christmas to Remember!
~Jackie Johnson - I am a former tribal missionary to the Kuna Indians on the Colombian border in Central America. Fluent in several languages, my husband and I currently pastor a Spanish-speaking church in Southern California. My passion is mentoring and equipping dedicated young women for life, marriage, motherhood, and beyond. I am the mother of two daughters and the grandmother of three Princesses and four young Knights.
