Advent: In our dirt.

You can tell a good teacher when you see them get down on the floor with their students and joyously mesh playtime and learning time. One of my dearest friends is a kindergarten teacher and from the first time I met her, I knew Jennifer belonged in a class room. She has this amazing ability to talk to children in a way they understand. Her playful spirit, contagious laugh, and abounding energy have a way of capturing the attention of room full of germ laden noise makers. Where she is right at home in a class room, you'll find me in the corner...hiding. She gets on their level immediately and opens their little eyes to all sorts of adventure... even if it is math. She is simply amazing.

I feel that teachers must be humble beings to go to no end to reach a child.  I've known, personally, teachers who take pay cuts and pay for school supplies out of their pockets for the sake of the students in their class rooms. My friends who work with disabled children clean up messes that some of us would never dream of touching. Actually, I feel quite humbled thinking about them and my cozy desk job.

God incarnate is probably one of the most difficult concepts for a skeptic to grasp. Before we even discuss the sacrifice of God's only Son, we must accept that The Almighty God intentionally chose to visit an inhospitable environment. More so, Creator God who knew His creation dropped Himself into a time period before public sanitation, refrigeration, and modern medicine.

Why? Why would a God who sits on a throne on high leave his station to join the slaves in the poorhouse? 

God in flesh is approachable. 

God in flesh is a walking visual aid. 

God in flesh is touchable and audible. 

God in flesh is a walking proof of eternity. 

God came in a form we could see and understand to get on our level, to educate us, and to reveal His wild unmatched love for us. He did not come to understand us. He came because he already did understand. Our Creator knew we needed a form we could touch. He knew that the sacrifice of animals hurt but not nearly enough. He came to silence any doubt of His love for His children. 

Phillips Brooks, preacher and lyricist of Oh Little Town of Bethlehem said this, "The incarnation is the supreme assertion that only through the highest medium, which is humanity, can the highest messages be given to mankind."

The Word became flesh and made his home among us. 

He walked in our mess and in our dirt.

Holy God was willing to leave glory to reach our hearts.