¹⁹Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

Matthew 28:19-20 (NIV)

Jesus’ command is both sobering and compelling. As followers of Christ our mission is to both know God (“surely I am with you always”) and make Him known (“make disciples of all nations”). If we had to choose one passage to propel us through the rest of lives, Matthew 28:19-20 would be a strong contender. But today I have been thinking: Is there a difference between outreach and reaching out?

A quick perusal through the dictionary forced me to concede that in the literal sense these terms could mean the very same thing. But there is more to language than the literal word. Just as most spoken communication is non-verbal (how you say things communicates more than what you say), the mentality and perceptions of individuals can often be understood from the way they choose to communicate.

For example: Some team leaders will refer to the team as, “my team.” Of course it is their team—they’re the leader—but their word choices communicate that they recognize their position as leader as being one of ownership before partnership. A leader who recognizes their position in a team as one of partnership first will often refer to this team as, “the team,” or, “our team.” I am certainly not saying you can never refer to a team as your own (whether you’re the leader or not), but what I am saying is that over the long-term the choices an individual makes when communicating defines and solidifies their position.

To provide another example: Some church leaders and parishioners often refer to the gathering of people at their location as, “the church.” There isn’t anything inherently wrong with this, we are the church after all; however, other church leaders and parishioners will refer to this same gathering as, “the community.” The former can often communicate institution, but the latter communicates belonging. The difference is subtle but important. An employer creates an institution for people to congregate. A family creates a belonging that people are inescapably a part of. As with the first example, this is not to say a family or church cannot institute things. Nor is it inconceivable that people could consider their workplace a family. The point is that the core values of an institution are different than that of a family. And the church is the family of God.

These subtle differences are also true when using the word outreach. It becomes more difficult in church circles because outreach is a buzzword used to describe any and every effort to fulfill the great commission Jesus charged us with in the above passage from Matthew.

I have been to a lot of churches in my life. Some have been great. Some just seemed great. Still others, the writing was on the wall. I have realized that thriving churches focus on reaching out. This is not to say they ignore people once they’re in, but rather their focus is on action (“reaching”) and direction (“out”). A reaching out church recognizes that they “will always have the poor among [them]“ (John 12:8 NIV). That realization creates an immediate sense of urgency that propels the church community to not invite the outside community in, but to go out to them and show them the love of Christ by meeting their felt needs.

³⁴“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? ³⁸When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’

Matthew 25:34-40 (NIV)

This is a stark contrast to a church that focuses on outreach. The outreach church will hold programs, encourage its members to invite those on the outside, and maybe even host or participate in an outside community event. The intentions may be honourable or dishonourable, but the inevitable conclusion is that this church will at best only sustain. Their focus is on remaining inside the proverbial walls of their building and drawing people in. Holding programs, inviting others, and so on in itself is actually fine, but true followers of Christ must go beyond. In fact, the word translated “go” in Matthew 28:19 is a Greek word that means “go.” There is no hidden meaning. The word is used throughout scripture, especially in the gospels, to describe people moving from one place to the another. This is the contrast between outreach and reaching out—one compels us to physically change our location to get the job done, while the other is content having others change their location. Or more plainly, the outreach church invites outsiders to meet on its territory, the reaching out church meets outsiders on theirs.

This seems a fitting description, as well, since outreach is a noun and reaching out is a verb (well, a verb and an adverb). This is why I postulate that even though outreach and reaching out could mean the same thing from a literal point of view (one is a noun that describes the verb), each represents an ethos that over the long-term determines the choices a church makes, which further defines and solidifies their position. This position will pave the way for that church’s future: Obscurity, mediocrity, or world-changing.

This release corrects a bug in which the keyboard shortcut used to open an article using FancyBox would not always open the correct article. It adds a checkbox in the Preferences screen for Simplify GR to hide feeds listed under Subscriptions that have no unread items in them. This should help people who use Google Reader to peruse hundreds of feeds and want a screen that looks a little more tidy.

On a minor note, I have updated the bundled jQuery library to 1.5.1.

Hit the update in Safari or download the latest version directly and try it out. (As usual, please post bug reports and feature requests on the actual Simplify GR page. Thanks!)

Last year we had the opportunity to travel to Europe again. We had been there a few years back and really enjoyed the atmosphere and sites. This time we toured a bit of the Netherlands and Italy. One of the great things about Europe is its age. There is a lot of history in the countries and so many places to visit (and sites to see) that there simply isn’t enough time to take everything in. In total we took nearly 1000 photos. Read more to see a photo gallery highlighting just a small selection of the great places we visited, along with some details about our trip.

Our stay in the Netherlands was short—more of a stopover on our way to Italy—but we thoroughly enjoyed it. In hindsight, we enjoyed staying in the Netherlands even more than Italy. The people there are incredibly friendly. I know the general consensus is that Canadians are friendly (and we are, eh?) but the Dutch have us beat!

We stayed in the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Just outside our hotel was a large courtyard. The city is very old and the architecture and roads were quite stunning. Some people might think the antiquity was marred by modernization (there was a McDonald’s just down the street from our hotel), but we found everything to be done in a way that really communicated the original styles. In the centre of the courtyard is the city’s original water well. Of course the city no longer uses the well, but they’ve preserved it and you can actually stand on top of the well and look down through the glass. During the day that we toured the area the courtyard was bustling with the local market activity. Also nearby were two of the best restaurants I have ever had the privilege of eating at. The food at these places was absolutely amazing (and do not even get me started on the desserts!). If you happen to find yourself in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, I strongly encourage you to visit In den zevenden hemel [photo] (our personal favourite) or Bistro Tante Pietje [photo], which is right across the street. There are a myriad of restaurants in the same vicinity and we didn’t have the time to visit all of them. Nevertheless, I think it’s a fairly safe bet to assume you will not go wrong regardless of the restaurant you pick. If you’re in the mood for a coffee, then just a short walk away is a small cafe named de Stip. The coffee servings are a tad on the small side (more like an espresso cup) but the taste more than compensates for it.

At the end of the week we flew to Italy. Visiting the Colosseum has always been on the top of my list; it’s history spans back to Biblical times and it truly is an engineering marvel. Naturally a trip to Italy wouldn’t be complete without a sampling of the local cuisine. In our last trip to Europe we found this great Italian restaurant (in Germany) that made the best pizza I have ever tasted; I wrote about it at the time. Sadly, our experience in Italy didn’t usurp that restaurant at all. Most of the food establishments we went to had poor tasting, sloppy and expensive food (or, more succinctly, ick, uck, and blah). There is not a doubt in my mind that our abysmal experience was only a result of being located in the heart of a tourist area. I have heard that as one travels away from such regions the food improves.

One of the biggest challenges we faced in Rome was from motorists. If Italy has rules governing how people are to drive, I’m not sure they enforce them. On several occasions we were legitimately afraid for our lives. Thankfully we never had to pilot a motor vehicle (although the rental scooters could have been fun) as most of our journeys were on foot or using public transit. The trains and subways are a very economical way to cover larger distances while traveling by foot allowed us to see most of the sites with only a few hours of walking each day. One thing to be aware of as a pedestrian is that while the motorists seem crazy, they actually will yield to pedestrians. Sometimes it felt like we were putting our lives on the line by stepping onto a busy street that had no crosswalk, but the drivers won’t stop until they see the foot traffic taking the initiative; when that happens you can rest assurred that they will come to a rapid halt and (cheerfully?) allow you to cross.

Our excursions led us to the Colosseum and the Arch of Constantine, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, the Spanish Steps, and many other great sites. Speaking of the Spanish Steps, the last photo in the gallery below is a shot from the top of the steps. Climbing the steps isn’t an overly arduous task, but, that street you’re looking down, we walked the whole thing to get there. That was a long day. For those interested in learning more, Wikipedia’s Rome page has some stock photos and descriptions for many of the places we visited.

One of the most remarkable observations during our tour was to be able to walk down a modernized city street and see excavation sites on either side. Many excavation areas were closed to prevent people from walking through them, but these were mostly only cordoned off by small fences or bars—making it easy to see inside and snap photos.

The week-long trip gave us an opportunity to see some history and experience a different culture. Of course it’s always nice to be “home,” but it was an exceptional experience to visit cities so rich with history. Check out the photo gallery for a snapshot of our trip.

I have added a frequently requested feature: Keyboard shortcut support. Pressing the letter b will toggle opening the article in FancyBox (the Alt key will alternate between Instapaper text view and the original web page, depending on your Preference setting, when clicking the article link or using the keyboard shortcut).

This version adds support for the following Google country sites: .ca, .de, .nl, .fr, and .it. It also includes two new stylesheet options Lucidica and Mac OS X Snow Leopard. Lastly, the bundled FancyBox and jQuery versions have been updated to 1.3.4 and 1.4.4, respectively.

Hit the update in Safari or download the latest version directly and try it out. (As usual, please post bug reports and feature requests on the actual Simplify GR page. Thanks!)

This new version enables the much-requested support for Google Reader over an SSL (https) connection. If you are using Google Reader over an SSL connection, the extension will also use an SSL connection when loading articles in Instapaper’s text-view.

The bundled versions of FancyBox and JQuery were also updated in this release.

Hit the update in Safari or download the latest version directly and try it out. (As usual, please post bug reports and feature requests on the actual Simplify GR page. Thanks!)

At the time the only place I could find to purchase the $39.99 USD device from was IK Multimedia’s web site. The idea of paying a foreign currency, plus the cost of shipping, plus the cost of the iOS app(s) did not seem immediately appealing. I put the prospect of owning one on hold. That is, of course, until I happened to be at a local Apple store and the package caught my eye (and for only $39.95 CAD).

The iRig setup consists of two components. First there’s the hardware. A small device that provides a 1/4″ connection for your guitar or bass, and two 1/8″ connections—one female for a set of stereo headphones, the other male to connect to the iOS device itself. The second part is the iOS software, AmpliTube [iTunes link].

While the hardware supplies the means for connecting your instrument, the software provides the amp simulation and effects. The entire package provides an incredibly portable guitar rig for light jamming and learning new music (more on that later).

The AmpliTube iRig Setup

Most of the power behind the iRig lies in the software. In total there are five different options when making your purchase from the iTunes App Store; these are (all links open in iTunes):

• AmpliTube FREE, Free;
• AmpliTube LE, $2.99;
• AmpliTube, $19.99;
• AmpliTube FREE for iPad, Free;
• AmpliTube for iPad, $19.99.

The first three represent iPhone/iPod Touch versions, the last two represent iPad versions. It would have been nice if IK Multimedia made the app universal, instead of forcing people with multiple devices to potentially pay twice for essentially the same product. Both iPhone and iPad versions have the same capabilities, the smaller screen of the iPhone obviously limits the number of settings available on the screen at any one point in time.

The free versions provide a single amp, entitled Lead, that comes with one 4×12″ cabinet. Also included are a small handful of effects—Delay, Noise Filter, and Distortion is available as a free add-on if you register the software. Having the option to download the software for free affords one the opportunity to try the iRig with little financial investment (i.e. only the price of the hardware). The zero-cost downloads provide in-app purchases for adding additional effects, amps and cabinets (the cabinets come with the amp purchases).

For those only wanting a few effects, the free software is a welcome option. You can save a substantial amount of money by buying effects or amps à la carte; however, the cost of in-app purchases add up quickly. Some effects, for example, can be bought for $2.99; amps for $4.99. A few purchases will put you very close to the all-inclusive, full-price version (if not beyond it).

I opted to download the free app for my iPhone and the $19.99 version for my iPad. I won’t really be using the device on my iPhone but it will be nice to have for the times when I need it. While the idea of having an entire rig in a device the size of my iPhone is appealing, the small screen makes it necessary to tap through different screens to change effects or make other adjustments. When you’re playing guitar, you want to play—making adjustments to your sound only as necessary. The iPhone version doesn’t allow for quick tweaks as much as the iPad version does. Both the iPhone and iPad software operate in the same manner, but the increased screen real estate provided by the iPad means four effects (the maximum allowed in the software) as well as the selected amp’s tone controls can be adjusted on a single screen.

Using the Hardware

There isn’t a whole lot to the hardware (see the gallery at the end of this post). One side has a small cord with a male connector to plug into your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad. On the same side is a female port to connect your headphones. The opposite end houses the female connector for your guitar or bass patch cable.

The entire enclosure is compact yet feels quite solid. The cord to connect to the iOS device appears very sturdy and the connector itself is reinforced with a heavy plastic. In fact, the connector had so much plastic reinforcement that it wouldn’t plug into an iPhone 4 housed in Apple’s bumper case—a minor irritant.

Using the Software

Using the software is very straightforward. If you have any experience using a Line 6 or other multi-effects boards this software will seem like a walk in the park. There are 11 effects, 5 amps, and 5 cabinets.

• Effects: Delay, Fuzz, Distortion, Overdrive, Wah, Envelop Filter, Chorus, Flanger, Phazer, Octave, Noise Filter.
• Amps: Clean, Crunch, Lead, Metal, Bass.
• Cabinets: 1×12″, 2×12″, 4×12″A, 4×12″B, 1×15″.

Each effect, amp, and cabinet can be mixed and matched to produce a plethora of tones. As mentioned earlier, you can only layer up to four effects at once, but you can double up the same effect. So, for example, you could have two delays one after another to create some interesting sounds. One minor grievance is that the effects cannot be re-ordered on the fly. You can swap one effect for another in any of the four banks but you then have to adjust the settings for the newly placed effect if you had previously adjusted its default settings.

Like effects, amps have default settings and cabinets. When you select an amp these defaults are used but it’s easy enough to adjust the bass, mid, treble, etc. (the actual knobs presented for each amp depend on the specific amp selected). The cabinet can be changed by tapping the cabinet button at the bottom of the screen; similarly, tapping the microphone toggles between two types of microphones.

Every time a new effect or amp is selected, it reverts to its default settings. Thankfully, AmpliTube comes with a presets panel that allows storage of up to 36 presets displayed 12 at a time across three screens. I haven’t played around with the presets much, but transition from one preset to another seems quick enough. They are labeled 1–36 with no option to add a text label to indicate the saved configuration. Saving a preset is as simple as tap and holding the desired button.

AmpliTube comes with a few really nice extras:

1. A metronome;
2. A tuner, and;
3. A song player.

The first two require no description. The song player, however, is a great addition to an already great bundle. I mentioned earlier that the iRig setup makes it easy to learn new music and the song player is what does the deed. It lets you add up to 20 songs that can be played alongside your own playing. The volume can be adjusted independent of your instrument. The player has an option to mark in and out points and continuously loop the selected section of a song; great for nailing down a solo or lifting a complicated part.

One very noticeable caveat to using the song player, however, is that the track appears to be placed inline with the amp selection. This means songs will sound fine when using the clean amp, but the midrange is very much absent when playing with the metal amp. Given the primary purpose of the player is to learn new parts or jam along with your favourite band, it’s a minor annoyance, but it’s definitely something IK Multimedia should address in a future update.

Adding songs to AmpliTube is a bit cumbersome. It doesn’t allow selection from your existing song library on your iOS device. Instead, you have to enable a sharing mode on the device (by clicking the Add Song button) and visit a web page it creates over your local network. Songs must be uploaded one at a time. Apparently this process of manually adding songs is necessary so the application can properly buffer the song while you play. Cumbersome? Yes. A deal breaker? No.

The Sound

Let’s be honest, between the iRig hardware and the AmpliTube software you’ll be spending about $60.00 (plus regional taxes). You’re not going to get the Fender clean or saturated tone of a Mesa Boogie. However, you will definitely get more than what $60.00 would get you elsewhere.

My biggest observation was that the overall volume level was very low. I normally keep my headphone volume quite low and can hear just fine. With the iRig I had to crank the volume of my iPad to nearly 100% (and, on occasion, I did hit the 100% mark).

My initial tests were done using stock Apple headphones. The sound quality was quite acceptable. Using my Shure E4c’s helped a bit with the low volume issue and also provided a much richer and fuller sound. To be completely candid, I was really impressed with the quality of sound when using the Shure’s.

The amps in the software have an on/off switch that acts very much like a bypass. My Godin LGX-SA is equipped with piezo pickups to provide a unique acoustic sound (if you have ever heard one of these, you’ll know it sounds very much like an acoustic guitar, albeit a different acoustic guitar). I was able to switch the amp off, turn my electric pickup volume down and my piezo pickup volume up. The acoustic sound was pleasing and clear.

The Final Verdict

The AmpliTube iRig isn’t going to replace your rig. It’s not going to produce the same quality sound or provide the same versatility as more expensive amps and multi-effects boards. It will give you the versatility and tone you need (and can enjoy) for individual practice sessions. The hardware is lightweight and easily fits in a guitar case—meaning your guitar and iPad are all you need to start playing.

I would have really liked the opportunity to try playing the output through a professional sound system. Nevertheless, with headphones the sound quality is quite remarkable for such a simple and affordable product. The iRig is going to be a regular part of my home practice routine.

My goal in putting this together was inspired by my use of Reeder on iOS. Reeder is an iOS app for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. It syncs with a Google Reader account and lets you read your articles in a very elegant manner. After using Reeder for a couple of months I always found using the regular web interface for Google Reader a little cumbersome. Having to open some articles in separate tabs in my browser seemed unnecessary and time-consuming. I also appreciated Reeder’s ability to use services like Instapaper to show only the text and images in the actual article (not all the menus, ads, etc. that go along with a web page).

The end result of all of this is Simplify GR. A small, easy to use extension that makes using Google Reader a more enjoyable experience.

Give it a try and share your comments. (Please post bug reports and feature requests on the actual Simplify GR page. Thanks!)

¹O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory
above the heavens.

²From the lips of children and infants
you have ordained praise
because of your enemies,
to silence the foe and the avenger.

³When I consider your heavens,
the work of your fingers,
the moon and the stars,
which you have set in place,

⁴what is man that you are mindful of him,
the son of man that you care for him?

–Psalm 8:1-4 (NIV)

I’m sure the stars seemed brighter in David’s day. At least they would have been easier to see (with the naked eye) than today living in a brightly-lit city. Of course David’s “consideration” of the heavens, moon and stars would have been different from ours. David didn’t have access to all the space telescopes we have today. For me this only solidifies that David’s words were divinely-inspired.

I happened to come across an interesting article on Popular Science’s web site. In it they share a video that was created for an exhibit at the Rubin Art Museum. The video simulates, to scale, the journey light takes as it travels from Earth through space. All the way to the edge of the known universe (then the video reverses). I generally take things from Popular Science with a grain of salt, given their prejudicial favour against Creation, but this video simulation really helps put into perspective just how small we truly are in light (pun intended) of all that God has created. It lends credence to David’s closing words in Psalm 8:

O LORD, our Lord,
how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Psalm 8:9 (NIV)

Click the link to watch the video.

After watching this I was reminded of a message I shared a few years back, Beyond Wonder. At the time my church was doing a series on how wondrous God is. You can get that message in audio and video. Update: The media files for this message is no longer available, sorry.

Read on for the satirized, scientific study.

1. No known species of reindeer can fly. BUT there are 300,000 species of living organisms yet to be classified, and while most of these are insects and germs, this does not COMPLETELY rule out flying reindeer which only Santa has ever seen.
2. There are 2 billion children (persons under 18) in the world. BUT since Santa doesn’t (appear) to handle the Muslim, Hindu, Jewish and Buddhist children, that reduces the workload to 15% of the total–378 million according to Population Reference Bureau. At an average (census) rate of 3.5 children per household, that’s 91.8 million homes. One presumes there’s at least one good child in each.
3. Santa has 31 hours of Christmas to work with, thanks to the different time zones and the rotation of the earth, assuming he travels east to west (which seems logical). This works out to 822.6 visits per second. This is to say that for each Christian household with good children, Santa has 1/1000th of a second to park, hop out of the sleigh, jump down the chimney, fill the stockings, distribute the remaining presents under the tree, eat whatever snacks have been left, get back up the chimney, get back into the sleigh and move on to the next house. Assuming that each of these 91.8 million stops are evenly distributed around the earth (which, of course, we know to be false but for the purposes of our calculations we will accept), we are now talking about .78 miles per household, a total trip of 75-1/2 million miles, not counting stops to do what most of us must do at least once every 31 hours, plus feeding and etc.
   This means that Santa’s sleigh is moving at 650 miles per second, 3,000 times the speed of sound. For purposes of comparison, the fastest manmade vehicle on earth, the Ulysses space probe, moves at a poky 27.4 miles per second–a conventional reindeer can run, tops, 15 miles per hour.
4. The payload on the sleigh adds another interesting element. Assuming that each child gets nothing more than a medium-sized lego set (2 pounds), the sleigh is carrying 321,300 tons, not counting Santa, who is invariably described as overweight. On land, conventional reindeer can pull no more than 300 pounds. Even granting that “flying reindeer” (see point #1) could pull TEN TIMES the normal amount, we cannot do the job with eight, or even nine. We need 214,200 reindeer. This increases the payload–not even counting the weight of the sleigh–to 353,430 tons. Again, for comparison–this is four times the weight of the Queen Elizabeth.
5. 353,000 tons traveling at 650 miles per second creates enormous air resistance–this will heat the reindeer up in the same fashion as spacecraft re-entering the earth’s atmosphere. The lead pair of reindeer will absorb 14.3 QUINTILLION joules of energy. Per second. Each. In short, they will burst into flame almost instantaneously, exposing the reindeer behind them, and create deafening sonic booms in their wake. The entire reindeer team will be vaporized within 4.26 thousandths of a second. Santa, meanwhile, will be subjected to centrifugal forces 17,500.06 times greater than gravity. A 250-pound Santa (which seems ludicrously slim) would be pinned to the back of his sleigh by 4,315,015 pounds of force.

In conclusion—If Santa ever DID deliver presents on Christmas Eve, he’s dead now.

Source: www-cs-students.stanford.edu/~dufour/HUMOR/Santas.html

¹⁸This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

²²All this took place to fulfil what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³“The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”–which means, “God with us.”

–Matthew 1:18, 22-23 (NIV)

The book of Matthew launches a new era in Biblical writings: The New Testament. The book initiates a new beginning of the Bible that builds on the foundation of the Old Testament and starts the ball rolling with a series of writings that together comprise a single narrative. What is remarkable about Matthew is that even though it begins with the Christmas story, the birth of Christ, there is something that takes place in the first few verses that is even more interesting: The genealogy of Jesus. Although I find reading genealogies a tad dry, the fact that God chose to begin with one illustrates a facet of His character that I find most intriguing.

As far back in Biblical history as one may choose to read, whether it be Psalms or Chronicles or even Genesis, God has consistently demonstrated a desire to knit His plans into our lives. God certainly does not need us, but He repeatedly includes us in His life. It is difficult to make any conclusion other than this: God wants to be a part of our lives.

Whether it was a man by the name of Joseph, whose sole act of forgiveness and love saved his family and thereby the nation of Israel. Or a young shepherd boy by the name of David whose love for God so moved the Creator that David was known as, “A man after God’s own heart.” Or even a prostitute by the name of Rahab who made a decision to take a stand for what she knew was right. Her lifestyle, scorned then just as much as it is now–even more, not being a barrier to what God had planned. All of these lived without ever meeting Jesus, yet share a similar place in history. They were ancestors of Jesus and, more importantly, their actions had a measurable effect on the course of history leading right up to the birth of Jesus Himself.

Jesus’ birth set a series of events in motion that ultimately fulfilled a pivotal element of God’s plan. Jesus created a way for us as individuals to have a relationship with God. No religious motions. No repetitive prayers. A direct connection that allows us to discover how great God is and how we have been knit into the fabric of His life (His plan).

²⁶From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. ²⁷God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

–Acts 17:26-27 (NIV)

This passage might not seem to meld with the theme of Christmas, but what it tells us is that God set in place where we would live and He did this so we would have the greatest opportunity of encountering Him. It would be like some great force dropping you on a highway in such a way that you would be as close as possible to the exit you need to take. The only choice you have to make is to take that exit. In much the same way Jesus made a choice to walk out God’s plan, we must also make that same decision.

So why are we unable to escape the fascination that is Christmas? Is it the tradition of a newborn Child? The start of a great new book series authored by God? Or is it the beginning of a realization that God has knit all of us into a tremendous sequence of events?

There is an ineffable quality within people that draws us to the spiritual unknown. It is the same quality that forces us to ask the question, “Why am I here?” The answer is surprisingly simple. You are here for a time such as this. In much the same way Jesus was born to fulfil His God-assigned purpose, you are here to fulfil yours. The only real question that needs to be answered is, “Are you ready?”