I wear my camping headlamp to bed. It’s true, every night; I tuck under the covers and click on the bright white light strapped around my noggin. I use it to see the pages of the book read. It works better than a nightstand lamp. I can use it laying on my back, my side or propped stomach-down on a pile of pillows. This kind of reading, really helps me sleep, and it’s the best way I’ve found to do it.

That’s just one practical use for my headlamp, when I’m not camping.

This week, I took on some more tasks at our restaurant. I was ordering a bunch of supplies. I decided that wearing the head mounted flashlight would be a good way for me to see our inventory. It lit up the many places we have cans and boxes stashed and stacked all around our back room, storage and freezer areas. It worked brilliantly.

The thing helped because I didn’t have to turn on all the lights in the whole place. Also, it brightly illuminated the exact areas where I needed to see. I could count easily, quickly and confidently, when I could read the labels or see inside of the boxes of plasticware.

I probably looked silly to someone watching me work. My view however was perfectly vibrant and I was happy to see so clearly.

One time, several years ago, I personally asked Jesus, to come into my heart. The invitation was as sincere as it was uneducated. I didn’t have any idea of the challenges and the highlights that would come from that moment. I am constantly now aware of a whole new world of truth that I was previously blind to. I enjoyed the Christmas family time back then, but didn’t really feel that profound appreciation of the birth of the Christ child.

I now have a spiritual headlamp that illuminates the world in new ways to me all the time. When I don’t forget to turn to Him, my travels and interactions in the darkness have a special clarity and glow. I probably look weird to the observer. Why does a person ‘need’ to be a Jesus-freak, or Churchy or a Bible-banger? I don’t know why for sure.

I know that I have tried to navigate the inky midnight fog with my natural abilities. I know that I used to have eyesight adjusted to seeing the subtlety of black on black. Constant bumps and bruises were just part of life, it happened all the time, before Jesus answered my request.

This morning He arrives. In the darkest hour, among the weathered wood and musty hay, the antithesis of worldly power arrives in Bethlehem. A tiny babe, a savior that will turn the entire world upside down, begins his journey in the most counter-intuitive way.

The change that happens, when a person asks Emmanuel into their heart, is nothing short of amazing. A transformation occurs that can look absolutely ridiculous to the casual observer. At the same time, it restores pure vision. Honest and absolute love washes through. We can continue in our broken sinful ways. We aren’t fixed, but we have restoration and repair now and forever available.

I can wear my camping headlamp, at any time that it seems to help me out. I don’t care whether or not, I look silly doing it. The light of the Savior of the World, works much the same way. I hope, this Christmas that I can remember, more often, more creatively, and more completely, that Jesus is here, right now, for me and for you unequivocally.

May the love and wonder of the miracle of Christmas be yours today, and forever. My friends, I love you.

Sincerely,

Aaron Nichols