Power Verse…… ““If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus Christ and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.......... For whoever calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved” Romans 10: 9 & 13

You may have just returned from one, you may be in the middle of one, or you are in the process of getting excited about planning one. I’m talking of course about family holidays. However, the whole process is far from easy. Then why do we do it? We pack our cases to the brim with items we’ll never use. (Perhaps that’s only my wife!) We endure the hassle of crowded and stressful airports. We return home overweight. Then why do we do it? We all know the answer.

We love to be with the ones we love.

It’s great to see the four-year old running in the park into the arms of his Grandpa....... Enjoy the relaxing cup of coffee with Mum mid morning and catch up with all the news.

That special moment when, for a few seconds, everyone is quiet as we hold hands around the table and thank God for family and friends and His goodness.

We love to be with the ones we love.

May I remind you? So does God. He loves to be with the ones he loves. How else can we explain what he did? Between God and us there was a distance-a great gulf. And he couldn't bear it. He couldn't stand it. So he did something about it.

Before coming to the earth, "He (Christ) had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of Himself that He had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came He set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave and became human." (Phil. 2:6-7 The Message translation).

 Why? Why did Jesus travel so far?

 I was thinking about this very question when I was reminded about the family of wild bore that wander around the ground outside our house. A family who have made their home amid the Spanish oaks and undergrowth close to our house. They’ve been around for some time now, we hear them rustling and grunting, but see them only occasionally. We hear their now familiar sounds as they hunt for food.

But I've never considered becoming one of them. Wild bore world holds no appeal to me. Who wants to sleep next to a rough haired bore with big brown eyes, not the most attractive face, and terrible table manners? (No comments from you wives who feel you already do.) I’ve no desire to give up my life style, all the things I enjoy, such as my family and friends, for a diet of who knows what and an uncertain outdoor life? Count me out.

But count Jesus in. What a world he left. Our classiest mansion would be a simple tree house to him. Earth's finest cuisine would be but a few scraps on heaven's table. And the idea of me choosing to become a wild bore with big claws and big teeth and rough haired skin? No thanks.

But such a choice is nothing compared to God becoming a one-celled embryo and entering the womb of Mary.

But he did. The God of the universe kicked against the wall of a womb, was born into the poverty of a peasant, and spent his first night in the feeding trough in a cattle shed. "The Word (God) became flesh and Blood and moved into the neighbourhood" (John 1:14 The Message Translation.). The God of the universe left the magnificence and glory of heaven and moved into the neighbourhood. Our neighbourhood! Who could have imagined he would do such a thing, and why?

                             Because He loves to be with the ones he loves.