Hello old friend! Here I am again writing after another much too long hiatus. As has been my current pattern of late, I’m checking in again after a few months to confirm that I am, in fact, still alive. “Where have you been, Kevin?” You may be asking. “Why have you barely written anything these months?” Well, because, to put it bluntly, 2025 has been one of the worst years of my life. For today, I want to say something about this year’s Christmas celebration against the backdrop of one of the most unexpected years of intense suffering I have ever faced.
Christmas has historically
always been a special time for me. It
truly is, as the angel said to those shepherds in Luke 2, “good tidings of
great joy which will be to all people.
For there is born to you this day in the city of David, a Savior who is
Christ the Lord” (verses 10-11). Amen and
amen! But, to quote from Donny Hathaway’s
1970 song “This Christmas”: “This
Christmas will be a very special Christmas for me.” Oh yes, it’s true, the Christmas celebration
for 2025 truly is a very special Christmas.
Why? Because as Truman Burbank in
the movie, “The Truman Show” (one of
Jim Carrey’s great acting performances, in my opinion) put it, “Life is
fragile.”
If this year has taught me anything,
it is to treasure the immense blessing of the people in your life. It’s a sobering reality that your best
friend, spouse, family member, etc. can be in good health one day, but the next
day, you’re shocked because they are in a hospital emergency room. So you find yourself in that lonely waiting
room, wondering what your world will look like when it’s all said and done;
after all, it could be that your loved one may not be in it anymore. You say, “Kevin is back, and he is in rare
form. This is intense stuff.” You are not wrong. But Truman was absolutely right, “Life is fragile.”
Therefore, because there
finally appears to be a season of calm on the horizon, I can finally breathe. The surprise calls to drive to the hospital
in the middle of the night have ceased.
I rejoice because this is a wonderful time of the year. Believe me, I anticipate and celebrate the
birth of Jesus. He is the One who came
to give His life for us on a cross, out of selfless love. This fact, coupled with knowing a loved one remains in the land of the living, leaves me feeling grateful. Thus, once again, this Christmas will be, to
quote Hathaway again, “a very special Christmas for me.”
God bless,
Kevin
