Merry Christmas from SOS to You and Yours!

We're thankful for the words and reflection shared below from our Camps and Programs Director, Ally Velderman  

Happy Christmas, dear friends!

What a joy-filled season of anticipation, especially in light of the hard and brokenness that surrounds us here on Earth.

Our hearts break over and over again seeing the ways in which the enemy is ever working to destroy us, our Father’s children: our right identity, our should-be flourishing families and communities, our hope, our joy, our relationship with our Father and Creator and King.

Yet, we take hope and embrace the wonder of God and the incarnation of Christmas. God leaves the perfection of Heaven and takes on flesh to be God among us. He breathes our air and becomes the fulfillment of the promises and prophecy of Isaiah to a worn down and disheartened Israel: “He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

That is a holy mouthful that I can rattle off, but begs me to stop and really chew on, too.

Wonderful Counselor. There’s no heartache or yearning or hurt or wondering or journey that He can’t handle. Rather, He invites us to share our hearts fully and earnestly with Him.

Mighty God. The God of miracles and outside of the bounds of science or time or logic. He can part the sea. He can use a shepard kid to slay a giant with pebbles. He can save His people. He will save His people.

Everlasting Father. The Father who walked with His children in the cool of the day in the Garden. The Father who prepares our steps and who has prepared a place for us with Him. A perfect, unmarred Father who offers each of us His perfect, unmarred love.

Prince of Peace. Peace in our hearts. In our relationships, in our homes, in our communities, in our nation, and in our whole world. It’s here in part and will be the mark of His kingdom when we see it in full.

“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6

May we know and commune with the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace whose birth we celebrate.