{"id":20029,"date":"2026-03-11T08:41:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-11T08:41:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/uncategorized\/max-lucado-shares-why-he-loves-christmas\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T06:09:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T06:09:03","slug":"max-lucado-shares-why-he-loves-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpbookstore.org\/articles\/positive-living\/friends-and-family\/family\/max-lucado-shares-why-he-loves-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Lucado Shares Why He Loves Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love all the trappings of Christmas. Bing and his tunes, Macy\u2019s balloons, mistletoe kisses, Santa Claus wishes, the tinsel and the clatter and waking up \u201cto see what was the matter.\u201d I don\u2019t even complain about the crowded shops. The flight is full, the restaurant is packed. Well, it\u2019s Christmas!<\/p>\n

Why do I love it so much? Because someone somewhere will ask the question \u201cWhat\u2019s the big deal about the baby in the manger?\u201d<\/p>\n

Christmas is how it all began, the perpetual presence of Christ in our lives. He called himself \u201cImmanuel,\u201d which means \u201cGod with us.\u201d God where we are: at the office, in the kitchen, on the plane, around the tree. The manger invites, even dares us to believe that the best is yet to be. And it could all begin today. This is the moment….<\/p>\n

When love came down to save us from ourselves.<\/strong>
\nOne busy holiday season traffic had turned the streets near the mall into chaos. I made a right turn onto the avenue just as a kid in a low-riding, wide-wheeled, exhaust-puffing jalopy made a reckless U-turn around the median. We nearly shared paint. I honked at him, not a polite \u201cAhem, excuse me,\u201d but a long, strong, \u201cDo you know what you almost did?!?\u201d<\/p>\n

As the car accelerated, a long arm came out of the passenger\u2019s-side window and gave me a backhanded, one-fingered wave.<\/p>\n

I sped up. Thanks to a traffic light, I was soon side by side with the perpetrator. \u201cYou need to watch that wave, son,\u201d I said. In an ideal world he would have apologized, and I would have wished him a merry Christmas, but he smirked and said, \u201cMake me!\u201d<\/p>\n

When was the last time I heard someone say, \u201cMake me?\u201d Not since high school. The boy was a skinny, floppy-haired, testosterone-laden adolescent riding shotgun in his buddy\u2019s car. I\u2019m a 60-year-old pastor. The saints in heaven and all the angels were saying, \u201cDrive away, Lucado.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did I listen? No. That punk had activated the punk inside me. \u201cOkay, where do you want to go?\u201d I snarled. Yes, I really did.<\/p>\n

The light turned and I accelerated. In my side-view mirror I could see that the two boys were engaged in an animated exchange. By the time I reached the next stoplight, they were nowhere to be seen. Boy, was I relieved. I drove the rest of the way asking myself, Did you really just dare a kid to fight? Are you crazy? <\/em><\/p>\n

In that moment I forgot that the teen was a creation of God. He was a disrespectful jerk and I let him bring out the disrespectful jerk in me. The Bible has a name for this punkish tendency: our sinful nature, the stubborn, selfcentered attitude that says, \u201cMy way or the highway.\u201d<\/p>\n

Each of us entered the world with a sinful nature. God entered the world to take it away. Christmas commemorates the day and the way God saved us from ourselves.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: LIONEL BARRYMORE ON<\/em> A CHRISTMAS CAROL<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

When hope is there for the hopeless.<\/strong>
\nTwo years ago, the second weekend of Advent, I came home one night to find my wife, Denalyn, waiting for me in the kitchen. Her expression said that something was terribly wrong.<\/p>\n

\u201cMax,\u201d she said, \u201cJenna is pregnant.\u201d Jenna, our oldest daughter.<\/p>\n

Denalyn\u2019s announcement did not match her demeanor. She should have been waving her arms and hugging me. We would be grandparents at last! But her eyes were filled with tears. \u201cShe\u2019s in the emergency room,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Emergency rooms do not wear Christmas decorations well. A garland does not make an X-ray machine festive. Red and green bulbs cannot shed a happy glow on a gurney. An ER is still an ER, even at Christmas, and our daughter was in the ER.<\/p>\n

A nurse led us down the hallway into a room. Jenna was on the bed. She tried to be stoic, and succeeded, for about 10 seconds. Then she began to cry. She had wanted to surprise the family. She wanted to make a big deal out of a Christmas pregnancy. She wanted to have a baby.<\/p>\n

By the next morning, the doctor informed us it wasn\u2019t to be. Our family\u2019s December turned gray with sorrow.<\/p>\n

Flash forward. A year after Jenna suffered her miscarriage, her sadness was replaced by joy. Christmas brought the excitement of a healthy pregnancy\u2014so healthy, in fact, that Jenna gave each of us an assignment.<\/p>\n

She was at the point in her pregnancy when the baby was developing the ability to hear, so she asked family members to record messages that she could play for her yet-to-be-born daughter.<\/p>\n

Who could refuse such an opportunity? I retreated to a quiet corner and captured this welcome: \u201cDear, dear child, we are so excited to welcome you into the world. We are waiting for you. Your parents have prepared a place for you. You have grandparents, aunts and uncles ready to shower you with love. We cannot wait to spend time loving you and showing you your wonderful new home.\u201d<\/p>\n

When heaven\u2019s treasure became humanity\u2019s gift.<\/strong>
\nI was only four years old and the large box sat unexplained in the corner of our living room. It had appeared soon after Thanksgiving.<\/p>\n

Unlike other boxes near the Christmas tree, this one bore no wrapping paper or ribbons. It had no name, neither of giver nor receiver. It was taped shut, tightly shut, or my brother and I would have opened it. All we could do was inquire about it.<\/p>\n

Mom had no explanation. She seemed uninterested. \u201cJust something your dad bought for Christmas,\u201d she said. If anything, she assumed Dad had used the holiday as an excuse to buy himself something. We knew he wanted a new outboard motor for his fishing boat.<\/p>\n

On Christmas morning, while my older sisters opened gifts and my brother and I scampered about, playing with our new toys, my mom noticed the still-unopened elephant of a box.<\/p>\n

\u201cJack,\u201d she said, \u201caren\u2019t you going to open the big present?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dad could no more keep a straight face than he could walk to the moon on a moonbeam. He began to smile, his eyebrows arched like little rainbows, and he looked at her with a Santa sort of twinkle. \u201cIt\u2019s for you,\u201d was all he said.<\/p>\n

My brother and I stopped our play. Dad winked at us. We looked at Mom. She was staring at Dad. We knew something fun was about to happen. Mom stepped toward the box. Dad grabbed the eight-millimeter camera, and we kids scurried over.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: A CHRISTMAS STROLL THROUGH NYC HISTORY<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

Mom cut the tape on the nondescript box. She reached in and pulled out nothing but tissue paper. One armful after another.<\/p>\n

The image in the film, which our family later loved to watch again and again, starts to shake as Dad begins to giggle. \u201cKeep digging, Thelma,\u201d he says from behind the camera.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s in here?\u201d she asks, still pulling out paper. Finally she strikes pay dirt. A box within the box. She opens it to find another box. She opens it, then another box. This happens a couple more times until at last she reaches the smallest of the boxes. A ring box. My brother and I shout, \u201cOpen it, Mom!\u201d She beams at the camera. \u201cJack.\u201d<\/p>\n

I didn\u2019t understand the tender significance of the new ring. Not then. But I did learn a lesson that Christmas: A remarkable gift can arrive in an unremarkable package.<\/p>\n

One did in Bethlehem. No one expected God to come the way he did. Yet the way he came was every bit as important as the day itself. The manger is the message.<\/p>\n

Did you enjoy this story? Subscribe to <\/em>Guideposts<\/strong><\/a> magazine<\/em>.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love all the trappings of Christmas. Bing and his tunes, Macy\u2019s balloons, mistletoe kisses, Santa Claus wishes, the tinsel and the clatter and waking up \u201cto see what was the matter.\u201d I don\u2019t even complain about the crowded shops. The flight is full, the restaurant is packed. Well, it\u2019s Christmas! Why do I love […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28685,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[222],"tags":[62,25,65],"ppma_author":[634],"class_list":["post-20029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-family","tag-blessings","tag-family","tag-jesus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMax Lucado Shares Why He Loves Christmas - Guideposts Articles<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Max Lucado Shares Why He Loves Christmas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I love all the trappings of Christmas. 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