Room in the inn, and room in the end.

Today is Christmas. The day we celebrate the birth of Jesus. The Son of God. Emanuel. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Over 2000 years ago a baby was born in a manger, a barn if you will, where all the cattle and livestock were kept. Not a very sanitary location for a baby to be born but there was no room in the inn, and there was no hospital on the corner. There was no mention of a doctor or midwife. Tho I'm sure that God provided the right person to assist in the birth of His Son. The local inn was full, I wonder if the inn keeper had any feelings for this expecting woman. If he had know this was truly the Son of God, would he have given up his bed?
The town was supposed to be crowded, so I'm sure there were plenty of people in the streets that saw this woman, who was very pregnant, ride in on a donkey . I wonder if any of the women that saw her had compassion. If they did, they didn't offer any help. No one offered to give her their room, or to share it with her.
Then in the stable there were the animals. I want to believe that they knew who this little baby was and how important this birth would be. Have you ever spent an evening in a barn? It's peaceful. The small sounds from the animals can lull you to sleep. The warmth they give is soothing. God took Mary out of the hussle and bussle of the crowded city and gave her a warm and cozy stable where the attendants therein watched in wonder at the amazing birth that was to happen. I can just vision sheep, cows, donkey and doves in the rafters watching as that little baby was born. What a glorious thing they saw and couldn't tell about it. We on the other hand can tell about it. We as Christians have experienced Christ. But do WE tell about it?
Are we caught up in our own hussle and bussle, too busy to observe the coming baby, or now, our coming King. He is coming again, have we made a reservation for Him?

Watch Night Service

Watch night services seem to be a thing of the past. Oh, you hear about them here and there but not like you use to. When I was a teenager (well maybe it wasn't so long ago, lol) you could locate a watch night service at about any church along the road. You would have to book even the local groups months in advance to get a good singing together. Most services would start around 8pm and you'd hear gospel music well after midnight. Just because the clock struck 12 didn't mean we had to rush out the door. One watch night service I remember lasted well past 1 am. The church house was full and no one was complaining. Good ol' hand clapping, foot stompin, shoutin style singings. We'd have one of the good local groups to sing, there'd be singers from the church, and usually a young group of teenagers trying to get started. We were all brought up on southern gospel like the Inspirations and the Florida Boys and don't forget the Chuck Wagon Gang, we all wanted to sing like them. Their songs were great and had a message. Listening to them is how we learn to sing parts. Harmonize. All the boys wanted to be a bass singer.
People just seem to have other things to do now days. Wonder how surprised we'd be if the Lord came back on New Years Eve and found us where we were? Guess what, He KNOWS where we are!

So are any of you going to a watch night service this year? Who is singing? Where is it? Let's get the word out and maybe instead of watching a stupid ball drop we can lift our spirits by feeding on the Spirit of the Word in song. Comment back, I want to hear from you!!!!