Emmanuel

A few weeks ago it occurred to me that when Jesus was born He was basically just like Sierra. He cried, He ate and slobbered, He babbled and squeeled, He peed and pooed, He aggrivated His parents, and He warmed them to the depths of their souls. Today being the first advent Sunday (advent refers to the four Sundays before Christmas) the shift in church has been to the Christmas story. The theme is Emmanuel which literally means "God with us", so those thoughts of Jesus being like Sierra hit me again. Jesus suddenly seems more real and personable than He ever has. Thinking of Him strictly as another adult human who lived long ago seems distant, like the Queen or someone famous who has no clue about real life. Yet when I thought of Him as a baby - like Sierra - I realized is all babies are born equally with the same dependancy and innocence. Jesus did not grow up in a cushy palace either - he was a common carpenter and lived a common life. Wow, in all my years of going to church and believing in Jesus I never grasped the concept that God became human like me. Like, really like me: a common-unexciting-go-about-my-day individual. Of course there's more to Him than that but if I had passed him in the mall I likely would not have given Him a second glance. Crazy eh? Cool, that an all powerful God would do that for His people to be able to genuinely identify with them.