"Have you ever faced a challenging Christmas?"

This Christmas it will be 17 months 10 days and 9 hours 45 min since we locked the door on the storage unit containing all of our household goods and began a journey (much like Abraham) in search of "the Promised Land. Last February our journey took us to Fredericktown, Ohio where we have been living in cramped quarters. No kidding, the place is so tiny that when visitors come I send the kids outside to make room for the guests. So how am I to decorate and shop for Christmas when even the thought of bringing one more thing into our microscopic bungalow causes nightmares?

Any dream I had of a "Martha Stewarta" Christmas is certainly unrealistic! I could grow a serious crop of wrinkles if I let myself wallow in self-pity. I could fall into a deep depression, but I don't want a Blue Christmas. Neither, do I want to spend Christmas whining because my expectations aren't met. Yet, all too I often find myself in agreement with Scrooge when he said,

"If I could work my will, every idiot who goes about with "Merry Christmas" on his lips would be boiled with his own pudding and buried with a stake of holly through his heart." I tell you, keeping the "Merry" in Christmas this year poses an amazing challenge. I straightened an ornament and muttered, "It will be interesting to see whose shoes I wear in this year: Scrooge's or Tiny Tim's."

Frustrated and fuming, I stood towering over the narrow Christmas tree nestled tightly in the corner of our living room wishing I had a few more days. "This year Christmas is at such an inconvenient time. If we had just another month, maybe two, we could have a real Christmas with a real tree."I prayed, "Oh Lord, don't let circumstances cloud the beauty of the season. Pain, loss and commercialism hide the glory of Christmas beneath mounds of artificial snow and tinsel. Keep me from becoming an unrepentant Scrooge. Help me see Christmas in a fresh way. Amen"

It was then that a new version of the first Christmas story began to unfold on the theater of my mind. In this story,

I clearly saw a frustrated and angry Joseph, storming through the house when he learned of Mary's pregnancy. In fact, I imagine a Joseph who wanted to call the whole thing off until an angel stepped in on Mary's behalf and explained what was going on.

He and Mary faced untold gossip, difficulties and arguments with Mary's parents about the proper way to finalize wedding plans for an unwed mother. Joseph could have grown winkles just thinking about it if he let himself wallow in self-pity.

When it looked like things might actually work out. Caesar Augustus ordered a census and a new tax. Great! That one really thrilled Joseph. Not only did he have to pay a tax he hadn't planned on paying. He had to go to his hometown to be counted for the tax. Joseph was merely a common laborer, carpenter by trade, he hadn't planed on making this trip or paying a new tax. Now a harried Joseph needed to scrounge up work to make ends meet. Extra taxes, the expense of an unexpected trip, an unplanned pregnancy, a kid (that wasn't even his) a bill he hadn't planned on paying. Talk about pressure. Joseph knew it. Talk about hassles. Joseph would understand the stress in my life.

Fighting crowds and busy towns people who were themselves heading out on unpopular "tax related" journeys, Joseph headed for Bethlehem with Mary ready to give birth on what promised to be a most uncomfortable journey. With every bump in the road Mary questioned, "Why now? Why does this baby have to be born now? Why couldn't it wait for a couple of months? In a couple of months, he'd have a proper home." However, babies never seem to be born at convenient times in fact they seem to choose the most inconvenient time possible..

When they arrive in Bethlehem, the inn is full, the young couple searches desperately for a place to stay in a city bursting with travelers. Joseph finally finds the only available accommodation, a stable. Mary settles into hard labor with sweat pouring off her forehead, she cries, "I want my mother." A cow moos and Joseph who had never delivered a human child tried to comfort her (and himself). The baby cries, and the angels sing. Joseph thinks, "Maybe now things will settle down and we will get a bit of a rest.” “Oops, wrongo!"

Shepherds visit, Wiseman bring gifts and an angel brings an urgent message, "Joseph, get up and get out of here. King Herod wants to kill the baby."

Okay, Joseph packs up the family and high tails it to Egypt, "Oh God, are things ever going to settle down?"

Yes, hassles, stress, taxes, travel, housing troubles, job crisis, family needs, and money difficulty have always been part of Christmas. The extraordinary truth of Christmas is that Jesus was born into a hurried, hurting world at an inconvenient time, and changed it in an extraordinary way.

When I am struggling with Christmas hassles, God wants to dazzle me with his glory. He is not a Cosmic Santa Claus, but he will meet my needs. He was there for Joseph and Mary. He sent angels with explanations, money for taxes and trips, a stable for a birthplace, and gifts to finance their escape. He does not want me to be consumed with problems and stress. No, he wants to burst into my world with all of its craziness and dazzle me with his Glory. When everything familiar is gone, everything is just right to experience an extraordinary Christmas!