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Merry Christmas, turn to your 
neighbor and say you look pretty

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fancy tonight. 
If there was ever a night to be 

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fancy, it's tonight because we 
are celebrating the coming of 

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Jesus Christ and there is 
nothing more wonderful. 

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There's nothing more I would, I 
would just say majestic than 

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this kind of night. 
And so we hope for you tonight 

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that you would find yourself in 
a state of wonder, that you 

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would find yourself in a place 
where if you're coming in on E, 

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you're leaving on F. 
We hope that as we worship and 

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as we sing and as we pray and as
we think about these things, 

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that God would do a special work
in our hearts. 

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And in the same region there 
were shepherds out in the field,

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keeping watch over their flock 
by night, and an Angel of the 

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Lord appeared to them, and the 
glory of the Lord shone round 

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them, and they were filled with 
great fear. 

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And the Angel said to them, Fear
not, for behold, I bring you 

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good news of great joy that will
be for all people. 

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For unto you is born this day in
the city of David, a Savior who 

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is Christ the Lord. 
And this will be a sign for you,

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that you will find a baby 
wrapped in swaddling clothes and

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lying in a Manger. 
And suddenly there was it with 

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the Angel, a multitude of the 
heavenly host, praising God, 

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saying, Glory to God in the 
highest and on earth, peace 

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among those with whom he is 
pleased. 

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When the angels went away from 
them into heaven, the shepherd 

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said to one another, one 
another, Let us go over to 

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Bethlehem and see this thing 
that has happened which the Lord

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has made known to us. 
And they went with haste, and 

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found Mary and Joseph and the 
baby lying in a Manger. 

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And when they saw it, they made 
known the saying that had been 

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told them concerning this child.
And all who heard it wondered at

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what the shepherds had told 
them. 

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But Mary treasured up all these 
things, pondering them in her 

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heart, and the shepherds 
returned, glorifying and 

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praising God for all they had 
heard and seen as it had been 

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told them. 
May it also be for us. 

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Please stand and sing with us. 
Lord, we thank you so much for 

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this evening and all that it 
means. 

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And as we reflect on Your word 
here in a moment, I just ask 

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that You would help us to 
understand something new about 

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you, because this is an all too 
familiar story. 

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That from this evening we might 
go with haste, like the 

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shepherds in wonder and in awe 
and telling everyone what you 

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have done because it's pretty 
amazing. 

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And it's your name we pray. 
Amen. 

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They say not all who wander are 
lost. 

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I have found that when I am 
wandering that it's a high 

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probability that I am lost. 
And I can say that that maybe 

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I've only truly been lost maybe 
one or two times, like the scary

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kind of lost, like you have 
Agps, but you're still lost, 

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right? 
And this was actually one of the

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times where I was delivering 
coffee and water in Fayette 

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County a long time ago when I 
was in seminary and I was I had 

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to deliver to a construction 
site. 

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And those don't have addresses, 
but they had like coordinates. 

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And so luckily I had Agpsi had a
Garmin, which as you will come 

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to know, I think is they are 
complete trash. 

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I mean, if you've ever used one,
I'm sure that you've turned 

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prior to when the turn actually 
is because the voice says to do 

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so. 
Or actually maybe you don't turn

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fast enough or maybe you would 
turn on a road that didn't even 

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exist on that map, which is what
I did. 

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And so I am following this GPS 
and I am trying to find this 

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construction site and like I've 
delivered just things like this 

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before. 
So I'm like, it might be like a 

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trailer, right, 'cause sometimes
they just drop a trailer and 

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say, hey, that's it. 
Like back when South Fayette was

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building their school district, 
like that's, that was the 

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construction site, was the 
trailer on the GPS. 

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That's where I went. 
So I was like, hmm, all right, 

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I'll go. 
I'll try to find a trailer in 

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the middle of the woods in 
Fayette County. 

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So as I'm driving my windows 
down springtime, I thought I 

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heard banjos and I started 
getting nervous. 

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I'm like, why are there dueling 
banjos out here in the middle of

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the woods? 
But I kept driving and I kept 

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driving and I'm following this 
GPS which is taking me further 

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and further into the woods. 
And I look up and I realize I've

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been driving for about an hour, 
right? 

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I probably only really went 6 
miles because down there every 

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Rd. is like a snake and all that
kind of stuff but I am. 

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There was a moment where I went 
hmm I started calculating how 

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much time was left before it got
dark and I thought I am not 

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making it out of here in time. 
So I'm driving and driving and 

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driving and I'm going down this 
at at one point it stops being 

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pavement and it starts being 
rocks and some sometimes it's 

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like mud and sometimes it gets 
down to one lane. 

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And that's where I'm taking this
big FedEx sized coffee truck. 

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And so I'm doing things I 
probably shouldn't be doing in a

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truck that big, almost getting 
stuck and stuff like that. 

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And then all of a sudden in my 
peripheral I see a trailer and I

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go, yes, but it wasn't it, it 
was actually somebody who lived 

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there who is not very friendly 
or happy that I stopped at their

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residence. 
And so I did what any delivery 

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person does, I look for dogs and
I get out of there And so I get 

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back in the truck and I'm like, 
all right, this delivery, this 

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delivery may not happen. 
So I'm driving more and more. 

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It's another 40 minutes in and I
go, you know what? 

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I'm not making this delivery 
because I remember the word, the

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immortal words of my boss were 
like, there are no heroes in the

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delivery business. 
And he used that usually to tell

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us like, don't go down someone's
driveway frontwards if you 

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should go down it backwards, 
right? 

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Because the whole idea with a 
delivery truck is it's not how 

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you get in, it's how you get 
out. 

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So if you can't do it, there's 
no heroes in the delivery 

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business. 
And so I did what I had learned.

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I set my GPS for the closest gas
station. 

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And so pro tip, if you're ever 
lost, no matter where you are, 

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go to your search and find a gas
station that will likely get you

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back to some kind of Rd. that 
you can then work from, whether 

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that's like you get directions 
from the person who's working 

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there or it pulls you out of 
wherever you are. 

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And luckily it pulled me out 
from wherever I was and I ended 

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up like down by Waynesburg, 
which if you've ever been down 

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by Waynesburg, you know, that's 
a haul back to our area. 

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And so I finally decided, hey, 
I'm not making this delivery and

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I am getting back home. 
But this entire time when I was 

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in this, I was focused on just 
making this delivery and getting

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out, right? 
It was all about getting in and 

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getting out. 
And I was also worried about the

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state of my truck. 
I was worried about that banjo 

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music. 
I was also worried about like, 

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what kind of company lets you 
use a Garmin GPS anyways? 

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And from that day forward and, 
and at this point, Google kind 

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of became a map app and that 
kind of thing. 

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I didn't use the Garmin ever 
again. 

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I used my phone. 
I used the Garmin or not the 

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Garmin. 
I used my the Google map. 

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And luckily I never got lost 
after that. 

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So if you are a Garmin fan, I 
will get you a not Garmin for 

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Christmas. 
But I was so focused on getting 

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out. 
I was so focused on making it 

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home. 
Now, you probably are familiar 

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with the idea of feeling lost, 
but I would imagine that when we

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are in a state of being lost, we
are so focused on getting 

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wherever it is that we are going
that we don't really understand 

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how lost we truly are. 
Like I went back and I looked at

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the trip summary because my boss
had the routing software and he 

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tracks the van. 
He was like, you went past the 

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same thing like 6 times. 
Like don't you have any 

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awareness? 
Did you notice? 

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I was like, man, I was just 
looking for a trailer. 

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I don't know what was happening,
but I saw what I had done and I 

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was really lost. 
OK. 

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And the Bible is totally full of
stories of people who go on a 

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journey and and they get lost, 
right? 

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One of the most famous is when 
Moses takes the Israelites out 

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of Egypt and they end up where 
wandering for 40 years. 

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I was lost for a couple subsets 
of 40 minutes. 

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The Israelites were lost for 40 
years. 

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I would lose my mind. 
I would give up hope. 40 years. 

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There's another period of time. 
It's called the intertestamental

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period. 
It's from like the end of 

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Malachi, which is the last book 
of the Old Testament, and it 

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goes all the way up through what
we have, the Gospels, Matthew, 

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Mark, Luke and John in the New 
Testament. 

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Guess how much time elapsed in 
that space? 

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Roughly 400 years. 
So 40 minutes. 

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You know what? 
No sweat, right? 

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40 years, I would have already 
given up. 400 years, forget it. 

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Imagine being a group of people 
who have been waiting on a 

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promise and they just have to 
wait and wait and wait and wait.

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So tonight, my hope is this, 
that no matter what state of 

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waiting you are in or what state
of wandering you might be in, 

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that we would also kind of see 
something bigger. 

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And that's a sense of wonder. 
Now, did you know that in the 

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springtime in Fayette County, 
the honeysuckle was blooming at 

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that point and I missed it. 
I smelled it when I was driving,

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but I didn't look for it. 
There was all. 

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There was a there was a stream 
that I kind of went by. 

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Beautiful thing. 
I missed it. 

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There were so many things that I
was so focused on that I missed 

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what was right in front of me. 
I was so busy wandering that I 

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didn't wonder at all. 
So busy wandering that I didn't 

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wonder at all. 
And this, this, this evening, my

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hope is for you that whatever 
your Christmas looks like, 

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whether you haven't wrapped your
presents yet, whether you 

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haven't bought them yet, whether
you are still trying to figure 

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out what you're cooking 
tomorrow, anything of that 

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nature, put it aside for 20 
minutes and take a moment to 

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wonder. 
If we are going to wonder as we 

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are wandering, have any of you 
ever heard that OFT not popular 

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Christmas song I Wonder as I 
Wander? 

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It's in the hymnal. 
We sing it maybe every seven to 

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10 years. 
It's actually unbelievable. 

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If you go on the Internet and 
just look up the lyrics and you 

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see what's being said, I promise
you it's incredible. 

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And so if we are going to wander
with wonder, it takes our 

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attention. 
Now. 

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00:15:12,760 --> 00:15:17,760
I have been waiting for 
Christmas to hit like the 

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00:15:17,760 --> 00:15:23,680
feeling of awareness that 
Christmas is here because if I'm

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00:15:23,680 --> 00:15:27,520
honest, I'm limping into this 
holiday season. 

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00:15:29,840 --> 00:15:34,000
I've even intentionally tried to
slow down things and wrestle 

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00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:37,800
with my awareness. 
Like I've listened to all the 

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00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:42,240
music and if you think you have 
a playlist, you don't. 

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I do it. 
It's unbelievable the amount of 

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00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:48,680
Christmas music that I have on 
all the time. 

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00:15:49,000 --> 00:15:56,520
Ask my children, they hate it. 
I have watched all the episodes,

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programs, and specials hoping 
for a little something. 

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00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:11,160
Nothing. 
I have read all kinds of stuff 

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00:16:11,160 --> 00:16:18,400
about this story and it wasn't 
until like 2:00 PM today that it

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hit me. 
Because this entire time I was 

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looking for something. 
I was chasing after something as

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opposed to someone. 
And if we're all honest, I'm 

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00:16:39,000 --> 00:16:42,760
pretty sure we could agree that 
we've been doing a lot of 

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chasing some things. 
And what tonight is all about is

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someone. 
The wise men that we hear about 

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00:17:02,520 --> 00:17:08,040
all the time, though so many 
things about them are a 

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00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:14,520
conglomeration of lore. 
They were absolutely fixated on 

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00:17:14,520 --> 00:17:22,520
the person. 
So they followed that star with 

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00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:27,200
everything that they had. 
That star was better than a 

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00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:32,760
garment. 
The shepherds, they got an 

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00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:37,720
angelic announcement, and here's
what it sounds like. 

215
00:17:37,960 --> 00:17:40,320
And there were shepherds living 
out in the fields nearby, 

216
00:17:40,320 --> 00:17:42,320
keeping watch over their flocks 
at night. 

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00:17:43,120 --> 00:17:45,840
And an Angel of the Lord 
appeared to them, and the glory 

218
00:17:45,840 --> 00:17:49,440
of the Lord shone around them, 
and they were terrified. 

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00:17:54,120 --> 00:17:55,800
That's an extreme form of 
wonder. 

220
00:17:58,120 --> 00:18:00,480
But the Angel said to them, do 
not be afraid. 

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00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:06,560
I bring you good news that will 
cause great joy for all the 

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00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:10,200
people. 
Today in the town of David, a 

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00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:14,000
Savior has been born to you. 
He is the Messiah of the Lord. 

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And this will be a sign to you. 
You will find a baby wrapped in 

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clothes and lying in a Manger. 
All of this is awesome. 

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All of this we should be paying 
attention to. 

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But there's one thing that I 
learned this week that I never 

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knew, and it blows my mind. 
First, we have shepherds in the 

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fields. 
There are so many sheep to keep 

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track of. 
And so there's all kinds of 

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other shepherds who are trying 
to do the same thing, right? 

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Companies are shepherds all out 
there. 

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And the thing that I learned I 
actually caught by sitting in a 

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classroom as somebody with felt 
and wood figurines explained to 

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me what Advent meant. 
And what happened was they had 

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somebody visiting them from 
Bethlehem. 

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Now, right now, Bethlehem's kind
of a, a hotbed of a place. 

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And so this person kind of came 
from there just to try to get 

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away from it all. 
And they, they make nativities 

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and things, and he's trying to 
sell some of the things that he 

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made. 
And so in the conversation that 

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he had had with the person who 
was talking to me, they told her

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that like, this idea of a 
swaddled baby is actually a very

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big deal. 
Here's why there are something 

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like 48 caves in that Bethlehem 
region, right? 

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And so shepherds are occupying 
many of these spaces. 

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So they they're out there. 
And so there's, there's 48 of 

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these kind of cave spaces, which
I mean, the Manger is not like 

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this wood arc thing that we we 
all like to kind of envision. 

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It was likely that a cave was 
involved. 

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And so these shepherds. 
When they get this, this message

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that this baby is going to be 
wrapped in clothes, they go, OK,

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there's 48 caves for me to 
search. 

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And so this is actually really 
good information because as you 

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remember Jesus and his family, 
we're going back to Bethlehem as

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a part of a census, as a part of
being counted, which means 

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there's probably other young 
families who are involved that 

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fit the description. 
But when the shepherds are to 

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find this particular family and 
see this baby wrapped up, here's

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what goes off in their minds. 
When they themselves were 

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keeping their sheep and their 
lambs in the sacrificial sense, 

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they would swaddle them so that 
they would stay clean, so that 

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they wouldn't become dirty and 
they wouldn't get mixed in with 

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anything else. 
That is how they were separated.

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So this imagery is familiar to 
shepherds and what do we call 

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Jesus? 
Often times the Lamb of God, 

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right? 
So in your mind, bell should be 

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going off, whistles should be 
happening, that Oh my goodness, 

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look at the imagery. 
My entire life I have heard this

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Christmas story and this is the 
first time I heard anybody talk 

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about this. 
Now, could it also be a part of 

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lore like with the wise men? 
Who knows? 

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But it's pretty good lore 
because when you think about it,

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to have Jesus swaddled that way,
that is one of the ways that 

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just the imagery of it, the 
perfect Lamb of God who will 

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eventually be the sacrifice for 
you and for me. 

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And it would make it a lot 
easier for them to find him. 

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So you have that space. 
Verse 13. 

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Suddenly a great company of the 
heavenly host appeared with the 

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Angel praising God, saying, 
Glory to God in the highest, 

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highest heaven and on earth, 
peace to those on whom his favor

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rests. 
When the angels had left them 

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and gone into heaven, the 
shepherd said to one another, 

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Let's go to Bethlehem and see 
this thing that has happened 

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which the Lord has told us 
about. 

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They took the terrified wonder 
and it became curiosity. 

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They went from being terrified 
to being curious, and guess 

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what? 
They took off. 

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They didn't wait. 
They said We're getting out of 

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here, we got to go. 
So they hurried off and found 

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Mary and Joseph and the baby who
was lying in a Manger. 

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And when they had seen him, they
spread the word concerning one 

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had been told about. 
The told them about this child, 

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and all who heard it were amazed
at what the shepherds had said 

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to them. 
But Mary treasured up all these 

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things and pondered them in her 
heart. 

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Verse 20 The shepherds returned,
glorifying and praising God for 

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all the things they had heard 
and seen. 

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Terrified, curious witness, They
actually heard it and went and 

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00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:06,160
saw about it. 
Because to wander with wonder 

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takes intention, like the search
that I have been on and the one 

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00:24:14,080 --> 00:24:16,560
that I find myself on pretty 
much every year. 

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And, and to some degree, I 
wonder if you agree with me on 

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00:24:21,560 --> 00:24:28,080
some of this, that every year we
are looking for again, a fresh, 

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00:24:30,120 --> 00:24:33,400
just kind of fresh something 
about this night. 

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Because since he came the first 
time, it's been a lot of years 

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and we don't know when he's 
coming back. 

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Because as you're not, you're 
not going to know the day nor 

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00:24:44,680 --> 00:24:50,120
the hour. 
But when I come, you will know, 

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right? 
And so how can we keep up that 

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level of intention? 
How can we find ourselves in a 

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space where it just seems like 
year after year rolls on and on 

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and we are waiting and we are 
watching the world sometimes 

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crumble around us and we're 
like, when are you coming back? 

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I think having intention in this
matter is is is probably the 

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00:25:29,290 --> 00:25:31,130
answer. 
How you become unlost. 

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It's like making the decision to
stop driving towards nowhere and

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actually set your set your 
destination on a gas station. 

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And that's perhaps something 
that you and I need to do 

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00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:53,200
tonight. 
Perhaps we have been driving the

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wrong direction. 
Perhaps we are coming in here on

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empty because we are more 
concerned about our current 

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00:26:05,800 --> 00:26:10,200
destinations rather than who we 
are going to see. 

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And finally, to wander with 
wonder. 

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It takes reflection. 
Do not let another Christmas go 

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by where you do not take some 
time to reflect. 

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00:26:31,960 --> 00:26:36,040
I don't get to do this every 
year, but roughly 10 years ago 

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somebody told me that this is 
what they did on Christmas Eve, 

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and I thought, that's pretty 
awesome. 

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So here's what happens long 
about two in the morning, I go 

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outside either on the back porch
or on the front patio or 

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00:26:54,720 --> 00:27:03,320
whatever, and it's dead quiet. 
Now, if it's raining, I don't go

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00:27:03,320 --> 00:27:07,080
out. 
I watch out my window. 

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00:27:08,520 --> 00:27:10,480
But if it's snowing, it's even 
better, right? 

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I go out there and for a moment 
it's quiet, like silent night 

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00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:28,000
quiet. 
And I just, I just sit. 

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00:27:33,480 --> 00:27:37,480
Because I know at 7:00 AM or 
6:00 AM or 4:00 AM, the boys are

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00:27:37,480 --> 00:27:41,640
going to come in and kick me and
wake me up and it's time for 

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00:27:41,640 --> 00:27:46,520
presents and that kind of stuff.
So like this is a moment where I

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00:27:46,520 --> 00:28:08,920
simply just get to go. 
Do that however you can and one 

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00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:11,480
of the greatest Christmas movies
ever, Die Hard. 

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00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:17,240
Some of the advice that John 
Mcclane is given as he gets off 

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00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,240
the plane is to wherever he's 
going to take off his shoes and 

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00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:24,360
ball up his foot into a fist. 
And it's really funny because he

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00:28:24,560 --> 00:28:26,400
kind of scoffs at the guy on the
airplane. 

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00:28:26,400 --> 00:28:31,200
But when he gets into Nakatomi 
Plaza and he's in his wife's 

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00:28:31,200 --> 00:28:36,520
office and he's, he's like, oh, 
it's actually kind of nice. 

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You don't have to go outside at 
2:00 AM. 

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00:28:42,400 --> 00:28:48,600
But I do ask that sometime in 
the next 12 hours, you take 30 

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00:28:48,600 --> 00:28:52,560
seconds to reflect. 
And one of those moments that's 

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00:28:52,560 --> 00:28:55,480
kind of built in the Christmas 
Eve, which we are about to 

352
00:28:55,480 --> 00:28:58,440
experience in a few moments, is 
going to be when we light 

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00:28:58,440 --> 00:29:05,360
candles and sing Silent Night. 
That is the perfect time to try 

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00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:09,240
to reflect. 
And here's some questions that I

355
00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:14,480
want to prompt you with when we 
get into that space #1 what 

356
00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:16,120
state is your heart in right 
now? 

357
00:29:19,720 --> 00:29:22,320
What is the state of your 
relationship with Christ like 

358
00:29:22,600 --> 00:29:27,880
right now? 
What are the state of your 

359
00:29:27,880 --> 00:29:32,360
relationships with others? 
Maybe you're dreading Christmas 

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00:29:32,360 --> 00:29:38,000
dinner tomorrow, or visiting in 
laws or something like that. 

361
00:29:42,000 --> 00:29:48,920
And do you know, if you are 
wondering, have you taken a 

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00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:52,760
moment to actually see where you
are on the map? 

363
00:29:57,800 --> 00:30:00,080
Because even though we can be 
going in the right direction, we

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00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:04,840
think it's quite possible that 
we can become lost and not know 

365
00:30:04,840 --> 00:30:10,320
it. 
But know that no matter where 

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00:30:10,320 --> 00:30:14,560
you have gone, Jesus can bring 
you home. 

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And so as we continue in worship
this evening and as we kind of 

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00:30:21,200 --> 00:30:25,880
watch an artistic kind of 
telling of the story of the 

369
00:30:25,880 --> 00:30:36,200
Bible here in a second, just 
marvel at the story of God and 

370
00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:39,960
know that you are in it. 
You are not the hero of the 

371
00:30:39,960 --> 00:30:44,240
story, Jesus is, but you are 
most certainly a part of the 

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00:30:44,240 --> 00:30:47,920
story. 
So let us reflect at this time.