The Extraordinary Season...

"For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."—Isaiah 9:6, New Living Translation

The biggest question permeating the dimly-lit upper room during Jesus’ last hours, pounding in the chest of each disciple reclining around the table with their best Friend, was “Where is He going? Why? I mean, is He really just going to leave us, after all of this?” It may be one of the biggest fears of them all: a sense of being abandoned, to have to figure everything out on your own, to do life without a net. Sure, the Lone Ranger lifestyle has its appeal and admirers. But even rugged individualists often depend on a map of some kind. 

Which is why this much-loved Old Testament forth-telling is such good news.

Rounding the bend to Christmas week, it is good to soak in and celebrate the fact that the Child born unto us is Mighty and strong with unimaginable and unlimited resources on our behalf no matter what the season. And there is no better blessed assurance to grab onto when the going gets tough than to remember that the Love of the Child born unto us is Everlasting, hindered by absolutely nothing, nor confined by time and space. And Peace. Who doesn’t want more of that—rather, more of the real thing, the kind that passes all understanding?

Better still, though, is the promise that comes first in the list—the one that God makes clear from the outset that we are never alone, and will always have a map, even if it seems overwhelming at times, and with many route options, and destinations that are hard to figure out. Not only that, it's a promise that it will be an interactive map that speaks, perhaps not as thunder but for all who seek Him as a still, small voice of “go there, try this, think outside your box, stay the course.”

In Handel’s Messiah, and in some Hebrew manuscripts, He is both Wonderful and Counselor. In many others, He is one and the same: He is Extraordinary, and an Astonishing Adviser, or He is the supreme Extraordinary, Astonishing Adviser.

But that’s not even the best part. His Counselor name isn’t some static occupation, confined to a nice story of past history, but rather from Hebrew roots that speak of “action” and “right now” and “always and forever”—for any and all who would believe He is who He claims to be, Jesus is the one-and-only Extraordinary Astonishing Adviser who continues to speak to and lead us in 2017 and into 2018 and beyond.

“And I will give you another Counselor to be with you forever…you know Him [Holy Spirit], for He lives with you and will be in you…the Counselor, the Holy Spirit…will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.”—John 14: 13, 17, 26, NIV

This time of year, life is good, or life is full, life is stressful, life is uncertain, life is nuts, life is painful right now, life is speeding by quickly. No matter how we come back to the manger, it is first good to know that there is always room for each one of us, and better still to know that because of His birth, life, and resurrection, none is ever alone, and that there will never be a period at the end of the Nativity story.

God with us, 24/7....

Hope of all hopes, dream of our dreams,

    a child is born, sweet-breathed; a son is given to us: a living gift.

And even now, with tiny features and dewy hair, He is great.

    The power of leadership, and the weight of authority, will rest on His shoulders.

His name? His name we’ll know in many ways—

    He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,

Dear Father everlasting, ever-present never-failing,

    Master of Wholeness, Prince of Peace.

—Isaiah 9:6, The Voice