Christmas 2008

I wanted to tell you a story about the greatest Christmas Present that I ever got. I remember it like it was yesterday and every year at Christmas time I have to think about it because every gift that I receive reminds me of that story.

Back then I was still a little kid, I must have been five or six years old. We were celebrating Christmas Eve at my parents house. All my Family was there and I we all had actually finished unwrapping our presents. As usual everybody was pretty content with what they got and the women chatting and preparing dinner and the men were playing with their new gadgets.
I was playing with whatever toys I had got and was happy as a clam.

Then the most amazing thing happened. My Dad was standing right next to a wardrobe that was standing in our living room and said: “Come have a look! It seems that there is another gift for you behind the wardrobe!” I could not believe my ears, so I went there to see what he was talking about. Really, behind the wardrobe was a rectangular box. Funny enough, it was NOT wrapped in giftwrap. So I carried the box so the middle of the room, where the light was better. I opened the box and could not believe what I saw. It was a toy gun! Not some plastic, cheap of the shelve toy gun. It appeared to be custom made and I have never seen one like it after that. The stock was made out of real wood and all the other parts were made out of metal. It looked real. It was for me. I remember taking that toy gun to bed with me that night.

I was not expecting such a gift. I had gotten a lot of things that Christmas and was already quite happy but after that surprise I was blown away. I had that toy gun for many years until it was so worn out that one could hardly recognise what it was.

Christmas is about surprises. And I believe that God wants to surprise you today. Maybe you don’t expect anything this Christmas. Maybe your family lives for away or you are not in touch with them at all. Maybe your happy just to make it through the holidays without getting depressed.
Back when Jesus was born we know the story of the shepherds in the field. They were tending to their flock, working hard just to make a living. They were poor, the slept outside. Everything was business as usual. They did not expect anything spectacular to happen. We know the rest of the story. Angels are appearing, they see heaven open, then they are told to go and see a new born king, the promised savior. They go, actually the find this baby king, born in a stable just like the angel told them. The fall to their knees and worship. I am sure that when the shepherds went back to their fields they had a hard time falling asleep. They must have been awestruck by what the have seen and maybe some of them were dreaming about this new king that would bring salvation to everybody.

God want’s to surprise us. No matter what our expectations are, he wants to overwhelm us with his goodness and love. At Cream And Sugar we want to make you feel welcome. We want you to experience that God is real and that He loves you more than you could imagine. He wants to reveal himself to you. If you get the chance, ask us for prayer. You might be surprised…

Gerald