A thrill of hope...

Wow.  So my last post was in August, eh?  Oops.

The fall came and blended into winter and that means I've been living at the rink.  For the most part anyway.  I am playing for a women's team, coaching a girls' team, and was also participating in all the on-ice sessions for YWAM Hockey's third DTS.  This summed up to about 6-8 ice sessions per week.  So if you were wondering where I've been, that's where.  It's been a blast!

There have been many blog-worthy moments since my last post.  I could write about my wonderful visit to Michigan in August to see my energetic godson Xander and his lovely mom Johanna.  I could go on and on about the birth of my nephew Emmit and how adorable he is.  I could tell stories about the two Canucks games for which I had been given free tickets and also about the time I was upgraded to the second row for the first BC Lions game in the newly improved BC Place.  There were some epic celebrations surrounding my 27th birthday this fall.  And there's also the weekend I was able to meet the likes of Pat Quinn and Hayley Wickenheiser, a personal hero of mine in female hockey.

Those are the good things.  There have also been struggles.  Some more personal and some very much outside of my control.  Challenges at the rink, hard times surrounding those I play with and those I coach, unexpected changes, and also working some things out within myself.

But mostly I want to write about the fact that it's Christmas.

Immanuel.  It means "God with us."  What a promise.  He made himself a man.  He "being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.  And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death - even death on a cross!"  (Philippians 2:6-8)

That is what Immanuel means to me.  God with us.  God among us.  God right next to us holding our hand, seeing what we see, feeling what we feel, understanding it all.  And giving everything up for us.  Funny how Easter and Christmas tend to come to the same point....

I've loved the Christmas hymn "O Holy Night" for quite some time but I've been paying close attention to some of the words this year:

O holy night, the stars are brightly shining
It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
'Til He appeared and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn
Fall on your knees
Hear the angel voices
O night divine
O night when Christ was born

The soul feels its worth.  A thrill of hope.  A new and glorious morn.  Fall on your knees.  O night divine - Christ was born.