About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books. ² These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria.

³ Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed. ⁴ So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David’s hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David’s family.

Luke 2:1-4

The time draws near. Christmas is just a few days away. I have worked at choosing Scriptures that helped me talk about the story throughout Advent, but now I just want to tell the story.

I want to try to feel Christmas like a child (to steal a line from Third Day…check that song out here.).

Today I’ve spent a fair amount of time thinking about how easily I can lose sight of how truly amazing, how beautiful, how life-changing this time of year is…or how it CAN BE if I take the time to enter into the wonder of it.

I love that God, in choosing to come to earth in the person of Jesus, didn’t come to just the nice and pretty parts of life. He came to the mundane, the boring parts as well. He chose to be counted among us. To be part of the census. Just one more child among thousands.

Because though Jesus is extraordinary, he’s also ordinary. Like us. Like any one of us.

God is closer than you think, and more like you than you know. And that is wonderful.

As the Advent Season draws to a close, and Christmas comes ever closer, may you know that God is with you. That God chose to be counted among you. And that God has promised to never leave or forsake you.