Okay…so winter and snow sort of go together.  But the snow today was extraordinary. I don’t know if there is such a thing—“ordinary snow.”  I suppose all snow is extraordinary in the sense that no two flakes are exactly the same-like finger prints.

But today’s snow was extraordinarily extraordinary.  No, that’s not redundant.

The snow today was soft, fluffy, inviting and peaceful.  I don’t have any photos but if you live in the Traverse City, MI area you saw it…unless you didn’t see it.  I’ve been teaching on that lately…not seeing the things right in front of our faces or not really hearing the people who are talking to us.  Way too often I’m that guy.

But as I looked into the sky and saw millions of flakes drifting gently to the earth I got all choked up.  It’s how Jesus came…gently, unannounced, minus all the pomp and circumstance.  He didn’t come with a clenched fist demanding obedience from the world he created.  He didn’t come like an NFL football player who just scored a touchdown—drawing obscene amounts of attention to himself.  He came, the God of the universe, as the result of the consummate crisis pregnancy.  And there he lay…in a barn…in a trough used to feed animals.

I love Van Morrison’s song, “Crazy love.”  But the more I think about Christmas the more convinced I am…this is the craziest of all crazy love—Emmanuel, God with us.

If you’ve not listened to Chris Tomlin’s “WInter Snow” you might consider it.