Immanuel

          Getting past the glitter and chaos of the Christmas season, to think about the incarnation of Jesus can be a challenge.  But it's worth the effort.  I love the name "Immanuel"--it means "God with us."  Contemplating the implications of Jesus leaving the Father and the Spirit and heaven to come to an ungrateful, sin-laden world is beyond my grasp in many ways.  The resolve, the humility, the love, the sacrifice--I can only imagine this in the most superficial way, but I try.
          Dr. John Feeney was a young physician doing a summer internship at Balboa Naval Hospital when he came to stay in our home for those few months.  He was a new Christian and exuberant about his new faith.  He rose early each day to spend time reading and praying before heading off to the hospital.  I was always in the kitchen making breakfast and packing lunches when John would arrive before the rest of the family.  He loved to share with me whatever he had read in the Bible that day.
          The reason I think of John especially at this time of year is because of a praticular morning when he burst into my kitchen with unusual excitement.  "I know why Jesus wept when he learned Lazarus was dead and he knew that he was going to raise him from the dead," he exclaimed!  (John 11:1-44)
          I asked "why?" more as a courtesy than a genuine curiousity, distracted as I was by my morning preperations.
          "Becuase Jesus loved Lazarus, and he was going to raise him from the dead and he knew what it was like--how terrible it was--to leave heaven to come to earth."