The BIG IDEA:  God wants us to see our chaos as an opportunity to trust in Him.

 Omar Rodriguez was the master chef aboard a U.S. Aircraft Carrier in charge of the menu for 400 sailors, 3 meals a day.  (And you’re wondering where everybody is going to sit at your house!)  On one particular trip bound for Australian waters, the ship was going to be at sea on Christmas day, but Rodriguez was ready.  He ordered special provisions for a traditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.  Rodriguez and his staff worked extra hard to make sure the evening holiday meal was just right.  At 4:45 the turkey was done, the dinner rolls were cooked to perfection, the apple pie fresh out of the oven, and all the places were set. At 4:50 the crew sat down for the big Christmas dinner. — But there was a problem: someone pointed out that at exactly 4:48, the ship had crossed the International Date Line.  So it turned out not to be Christmas dinner.  After all that work, it turned out to be the day- after Christmas dinner, because now it was December 26th.  All that work and Omar had missed Christmas.  Funny story, but do you ever work and work to make Christmas special, and some how you end up feeling like you missed it?

It’s easy to miss Christmas in the midst of all the chaos.  And “chaos” is no exaggeration.  Think about all the stuff we do every year.  Read the rest of this entry »

We’re in this series called Christmas Chaos and we’re calling it that, because some stress researchers discovered that Christmas is one of the forty most stressful times in a person’s life – not a bad Christmas, just Christmas. This week we are going to be talking about Financial Chaos, because financial chaos can keep us from experiencing the joy and freedom of being generous people during the Christmas season.

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We’re starting a new series today called Christmas Chaos, and here’s why we’re calling this series Christmas Chaos.  A couple of famous stress researchers came up with a list of the most stressful events a person can experience, maybe you’ve heard of it.  Two guys by the name of Holmes and Ray came up with a list of the 40 most stressful life events and assigned a certain number of points to each chaotic events a person might for each stress event in your life, and if you score really high – if you have really high stress, research shows that you are statistically more likely to experience major illness or a major accident or injury in the coming year.

So it’s kind of like a cholesterol test: scoring high is NOT a good thing.  On the list are things you would expect like going through a divorce, moving to a new place, getting in a major auto accident, or a death in the family.  But guess what else makes the list of most stressful life events: CHRISTMAS!  Not having a bad Christmas, just Christmas.  And it’s the only holiday that makes the list: Easter doesn’t, Thanksgiving doesn’t, 4^th of July doesn’t.  Just Christmas!

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