Kairos

“Happy Holidays”. This is now the political way of greeting someone during this season. It is a fact, many have gotten scared of the CHRIST in Christmas. Christmas tree is now a holiday tree. No longer are there Christmas parties, but holiday parties. In school, children sing "we wish you a happy holiday!" The Christ in Christmas has been obliterated and replaced with a more generic, non-offensive term “holiday”. As a Christian, are you okay with this? I am not. Christmas is Christmas because of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus CHRIST. It is His birthday. Christmas is a holiday for Christians who believe that Jesus came into this world as the Messiah who died on the cross to redeem mankind from all their sins. Now, tough if you don’t believe in Jesus -- but that’s a different issue altogether. Face it, wherever you go, there is bound to be someone whose belief, religion or spiritual principle is different than yours. But what are you going to do? Should you change eve...

I love Christmas. And everything that it represents... Holiday, joy, gift giving, gift receiving, love, peace, winter, shopping, sales, Christmas carols, Christmas trees, trimmings and decorations, family, parties and get-togethers, food, chocolates.…. and more chocolates…..and more food. But all these things are but superficial. Christmas is truly the commemoration of Jesus’ birth on earth. Christmas is when the WORD was made flesh and dwelt amongst us; When God the Father decided to send His own Son Jesus to die on the cross for you. And me. Yes! Jesus came to the world to die for me, a sinful one, totally undeserving of His love. Isn’t that an awesome thought? Why would the God who made heavens and earth hand-pick a nobody like me? Mind-blowing. What a great love. Deeper than the ocean that no one can fathom. Thank you Jesus for loving me before I loved you. Thank you for choosing me before I chose You. So what are you going to do this holiday season? Regardless of what you have pl...

Filipinos probably celebrate Christmas the earliest of any culture in the world. For us, Christmas begins as soon as the months of the year ending in “-ber” (e.g., Septem ber , Octo ber , etc.) come around. This is evidenced by the Christmas carols already being played in the malls and Christmas decorations already being put up and sold in many stores in the Philippines. My mother absolutely loved Christmas. Earlier today, my father and I were sharing this bitter-sweet memory of how, around this time of the year, Mama would have already started preparing her Christmas decorations. Mama would sort them and hang them one- at-a-time each day. Today, this memory has brought tears to my father’s eyes. Si mply put, Papa misses Mama, and the thought of putting up a tree this Christmas seems unbearable. Christmas is a special season of celebrating the Lord’s birth, bringing in good tidings and cheer. But for my family this year, Christmas will be a time of remembering and missing Mama, who ca...