So this Christmas, focus on Christ being born in you. Maybe that’s why He was born the first time into a smelly stable. Not that much different from being born in us.

Here at the Catch, we talk a lot about Christ living in us. We speak in terms like, “Christ taking up residence in our lives,” or “the indwelling life of Christ,” or we’ll take up scriptures like, “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). We talk about the fact that it’s the Spirit of God that actually does this because that is His role in the trinity, to take what Christ taught and make it known to us by living inside us and communicating with us via our hearts and minds.

But don’t you ever wonder how the Holy Spirit can live in us when our lives are still inundated with sin, known and unknown? We have so far to go, how can the Holy Spirit put up with this process? How can perfection dwell within imperfection? Here’s the answer to that question: I don’t know, but maybe it has something to do with Jesus coming into the world in such an inappropriate place for a king to be born. Maybe that’s part of why God chose to be born in a stable, to show us that He has no problem identifying with straw poverty. If God can be born in the middle of hay, manure and cow dung, maybe He can put up with me. If it had been a high-class birth into a pristine environment, how could He possibly be born in us? We would be forever trying to clean ourselves up in order to receive Christ, but no, Christ comes to us just as we are.

This is something magically won at the cross — not only the forgiveness of our sins, but the fellowship of God in spite of our imperfection. Suddenly the stable makes sense — He was getting Himself ready to come into our lives. If He can be born in the vicinity of cow dung, He can probably put up with our B.S.!

Wall of Recognition
Special thanks to the participants in our Fall Annual Campaign.

Ed & Kathy

Merlyn, from Goodyear, Arizona

David, from San Diego, California

Mike, from Sacramento, California

Priscilla, from Rochester, New York

Kristin, from Chesterfield, Missouri

Patrick, from Milan, Michigan

Jay, from Franklin, Tennessee

Dave, from Reno, Nevada

Tom, from Arlington, Virginia

Tami, from Pensacola, Florida

Dick, from Lantana, Texas

Christina, from Colorado Springs, Colorado

James, from Mt Pleasant, South Carolina

Darin, from Schuyler, Nebraska

David, from Chehalis, Washington

Joanne, from Lynden, Washington

Richard, from Nashville, Tennessee

Carol, from Melrose, Massachusetts

Rob, from Sacramento, California

Roger, from Whittier, California

Rebecca, from Cullman, Alabama

Cynthia, from Harlingen, Texas

Keith, from Portland, Oregon

Daniel, from O Fallon, Oregon

Steve, from Nashville, Tennessee 

John, from Coralville, Iowa

Wayne, from Modesto, California

Gary, from Sidney, Ohio

Allen, from Exton, Pennsylvania

Mike, from Cambria, California

Joe, from Sugar Land, Texas

An Anonymous gift from the State of Washington

Stewart, from Gunnison, Colorado

Noel, from Blue Hill, Maine

Lisa, from Sunland, California

Daniel, from Hershey. Pennsylvania

John, from Ft Mitchell, Kentucky

Neil, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania

Bob, from Iowa City, Iowa

Herb, from Blue Mountain, Mississippi 

John, from Los Altos, California 

Laura, from Campbell, California