I am a creature of habit. I like to figure out a routine that works for me and then I like to stick to it pretty hard. Every weekday morning starts with a 5km walk with my dog and a friend. Every Friday I take the day off and drive to Oshawa to see friends. Every night I read for a while before going to sleep. Every Sunday I am found at St. A’s participating in worship. My life has a lot of routine to it, and I like it that way.

But every once in a while something throws my routine life a little out of whack. To say that my trip to the Holy Land threw my Advent/Christmas routine out of whack is a bit of an understatement. The decorating won’t progress past two-thirds-finished (I’ve just given up that battle all together). The Christmas shopping is usually finished by now so that I don’t have to fight my way through the mad crowds. Alas, this year I will be blessed if I can finish it all by this coming Sunday. And don’t even talk to me about where I am with worship prep. It’ll all get done and it’ll all be beautiful, but it is all slightly out of whack.

And that is reflected here in my tiny corner of cyberspace, as well. Normally, by now, I am half way through an Advent Calendar on my blog – blogging every day a short reflection on the Christmas story. Not this year. I haven’t blogged about Christmas…at least, not in the focused-Advent-Calendar-blog-entries way that has been my routine for the past few years.

So that’s going to change now. Each day between now and Christmas, I will post a blog about this season and the One who is the reason for it all.

Tonite I start simply with the reminder that in this world of routine-breaking-chaos, we take time each year to remember the child whose birth, life, death and resurrection brought light into our darkness and order into our chaos. And that is why we call him the Prince of Peace.

For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Isaiah 9:6 NLT