On Christmas Eve

Tonight is Christmas Eve. For some reason, it just seems like this is one of the most special days in the year, almost more so than Christmas itself. There's such a heightened sense of anticipation and excitement. Everybody has one thing on their mind: tomorrow is Christmas.

Many people have a lot of traditions on Christmas Eve. I remember when I was little, we used to always go over to my grandparents' house in Thomaston to hang out with my dad's side of the family and exchange gifts with our cousins. It was always a blast. If you're curious as to what the Peek family Christmas looked like, take a look at the following pictures from 1989, 1993, 1994, and 1995, respectively (I'm the stud with the blond hair).









One thing that we always did for Christmas Eve was draw names between our cousins, and we would get that person a gift. When we were really young, it was mostly our parents who picked out the gifts for us, but as we got older, we started to pick out our own gifts to give to our cousins. This was always a really tough process. I mean, you're trying to find a gift for someone whom you don't see but a handful of times throughout the year, yet you want it to be meaningful. Hmmm. Quite the dilemna. Then Wal-Mart gift cards became popular and made things easier for us.

When I think about drawing names for Christmas Eve, I'm reminded of the gift that God gave us on that first Christmas. Like us, God had our names in mind when he sent his Son. Although we join the billions of other people for whom Christ lived and died, we were still central in the mind of God when Jesus came. It's almost as if he drew our names.

God didn't debate on what to give us, though. He knew all along. As one of my favorite songs by a Canadian band called Downhere says, "but sacrifice and paradise were in the plans that you made." God knew what he was doing when he sent his Son. He had planned it from the very beginning of time.

And even though we didn't know him at all, God gave us the most precious gift that we could ever receive.

That's the most personal gift that I've ever received, and I'm glad that I can share in that with you who read this blog.

Have a great Christmas.