Jesus In a Minivan (And Other Unlikely Places to find a King)

I ran to the window and peered through the lace curtains to watch Jesus drive away in his minivan, "TX" license plates fading from view.

Only moments before he had stood at the end of the neighbor's driveway as his wife sorted through piles of pink and lavender baby clothes.  In just a flash of time, a caramel-skinned child, ran past him, her arms flung back in the delight of her dash down the driveway towards the freedom of the street.  He turned to follow her.

Fright lodged in my throat as I noticed the speeding car coming down the road.  Parked along the curb, the man's minivan blocked his view of the on-coming vehicle, but at the last minute he spotted it, turned, sprinted, and snatched his daughter from the street.

His face beamed.

He scooped her up high, laughing, tossing her, delighting in his prize, and she returned his joy with her own giggles and a toss of her black hair, unaware of the failed snatch of death just beyond her next footstep.  Her daddy did not scold or shame, but carried her in his proud arms, eyes twinkling with triumph.  He buckled her into her car seat and they were gone, but my heart was full of gratitude for what God had allowed me to witness.  Just like the Daddy, Jesus snatched us from peril and rejoiced in having done so!  I can imagine how his eyes twinkle and dance in the triumph of moment.

Jesus shows up in the most unexpected places, such as as the neighbor's garage sale last summer.  And tonight as the clock nears midnight, I am awaiting the celebration of Christmas Day when we commemorate the birth of our Savior in an unlikely time and place.

Living here in Haiti I have a great imagination for what it could have been like for Jesus to have been born to poor, common, rural folks.  No fanfare, no royal clothes or decrees, perhaps just a simple stick shelter off the side of the house with a laboring woman and a common birth.  I can imagine the cows and goats had been walked home for the evening and were standing nearby lending warmth and scent to the scene.  And here the Savior of the world quietly enters into humanity; Emanuel - God With Us.  He identifies with folks who are nobody to the world, from an unimportant tribe, and who exist in the lower strata of society, in order to let us know what is most important to him and that his values are going to look different than what we might expect.

I am pierced with the realization that I am frequently looking in the wrong places for the Christ.  I am more comfortable thinking about the bright star and angel chorus than the feeding trough and strips of cloth.  I think I would have checked out the palace first, just as the wise men from the East did in their search for the one prophesied about.  I am more comfortable thanking God for the extensive "blessings" in my life rather than thinking about how I might change my list of "needs" to better appropriate resources to those who live "without".

It might be a week early for resolutions but during this next year, I want to be on the watch for Jesus.  Where will I see and experience his moving in and around my life?  Will Jesus show up in an outdated minivan?  On the back of a ragged horse or a road-weary moto?  And in which ways will I grow in being able to anticipate where he might be found?

If you'd be willing to pray for me, please pray that God would unsettle my clinging to what is comfortable and set me free to see him and follow him wherever he leads in this Haiti adventure.