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Welcome to The Arena
By Dan Panetti, Worldview Director

This is my favorite time of the year. I love Christmas music. I love watching the hustle and bustle of people out and about – there’s just something in the air around Christmas that rings of energy and excitement. It’s like the fourth quarter of a football game; even if the rest of the game was great, the fourth quarter is always the best!

I love Christmas parties – gathering with friends in the festive atmosphere surrounded by beautiful decorations and appetizing food. I love Christmas musicals, performances, festivals – all of them! Many of you have been to the Dallas Christmas Festival (which, by the way, is taking this year off in case you didn’t know) – it is such an amazing performance; the stage is incredible, the music is inspiring, the talent is inconceivable and the message is inspiration! Oh, and I absolutely love Christmas Eve at Prestonwood – the candle-lighting ceremony while we sing “Silent Night” – love it!

I also know that some people find this time of year to be the most depressing, and that really makes me sad. Many people are lonely during the holidays and divorce has made the traditional family gathering into a nightmare for some. That makes me sad. For many, the end of the year is the most stressful time in their business trying to close deals and many times having to travel more than normal. Holidays also bring to mind for many those loved ones who are no longer with us – it is a time of grief and healing as well.

Lost in all of the good, the bad and the ugly, far too often, is the proverbial “reason for the season.” As my boys said this morning in the car, Christmas is about celebrating the birth of Jesus – but I hope we don’t stop there. Jesus’ birth in a manger over two thousand years ago surely is miraculous and truly is the essence of Christmas, but at the core of Christmas is the understanding of what that birth means to mankind.

You’ve heard it a thousand times before, so let me be brief. At the core of Christmas is the physical representation of God’s love for mankind. That He would send His own Son to be born a man – and one day to die bearing my sin and shame – so that I could have a relationship with my heavenly Father…that is, simply stated, good news! I know you know the significance of Christmas and the birth of Christ; and I know that you’ll get a dozen reminders to keep Christ in Christmas. But it seems like now, more than ever, we need to be reminded and then re-reminded.

Of course, Christmas will come and go, and once again we’ll be looking in our rearview mirrors and ringing in a new year in a matter of days! So ask yourself, what will make 2007 different than the years before? When are you going to take your spiritual walk to the next level or are you still living off your conversion and baptism experience 10 years ago or the mountaintop experience at camp five years ago? Are you preparing yourself for the challenges and opportunities which lie ahead – marriage and family, career, new location, etc. – or are you living on the fumes of the past?

I love this time of year because it also challenges me to refocus my life, my priorities, my commitments – to see if I’m seeking first His kingdom or my own. Christmas is so much more than great music and food, more than gathering with family, and even more than remembering the past of what God did for us in sending His Son to earth – to me it’s about pressing forward, determining that next year will be a new opportunity to commune with Christ, and to devote myself to those spiritual disciplines that will put my heart and mind in the presence of my loving heavenly Father, who one day over 2,000 years ago reached out through time and eternity to send me the gift of redemption through His Son Jesus Christ who lived the perfect Christian life and now wants to live it again through me. That’s something to celebrate!

So, do me a favor…use this time to start planning for next year. You know the old adage, if you’re failing to plan, you’re planning to fail. What is your Bible study plan for next year? If you haven’t read the entire Bible in a year (or ever), let me strongly encourage you to do that. What about other outstanding Christian books – which ones will you read this next year? Is there a Bible study through your church or campus organization that you want to be a part of…or maybe even lead? What about attending a student leadership conference? The opportunities are endless, but if you put off planning for 2007, you’ll look up and the year will be gone. So enjoy the holidays and let this time serve as your stimulus, your catalyst as it were, to motivate you to take your spiritual walk to a deeper level, to pursue Christ with a renewed passion, to evangelize and engage the culture for Christ with an improved sense of urgency and importance. Live 2007 like it really matters…because it does!