{"id":7210,"date":"2025-12-24T11:35:40","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T17:35:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jordan-husband\/?p=7210"},"modified":"2025-12-24T11:35:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T17:35:42","slug":"merry-christmas-eve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ethnos360.org\/jordan-husband\/2025\/12\/24\/merry-christmas-eve\/","title":{"rendered":"Merry Christmas (Eve)!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Our family at the Ethnos M\u00e9xico’s Christmas party this year.
From our family to you and yours… \u00a1Feliz Navidad!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The moon shone bright
And the stars gave a light,
A little before it was day;
The Lord our God he call’d on us
And he bade us awake and pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bellman’s Song, verse 1<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Christmas of 1996 is one of my favorite childhood memories. Each year, my family would drive to my grandparents’ house – where we would spend a few days with them and my aunts, uncles, and cousins. We always looked forward to a lavish Christmas dinner, card games, a massive all-family gift opening, the seemingly endless cookie tray (including several Norwegian classics!), and so much more. But in 1996, something rather unexpected happened: over a foot of snow fell on December 27th!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Typically, we left my grandparents’ house a couple days after Christmas, returning home until reconvening for New Year’s Eve. That year, however, no one in the surrounding area was going anywhere!<\/em> The adults had to figure out work details and how pets back home would be fed… but with the lights and heat still working, we responsibility-free kids simply savored more<\/span> Christmas festivities! We played in the snow, enjoyed extended access to the cookie tray, told stories around the Christmas village, and spent more time with some of our favorite people. When supplies ran low, we even took our sleds and hiked out to a ‘nearby’ grocery store to restock. It was the adventure of a kid’s lifetime, and we relished every moment of that unbroken time together through January 2nd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Emceeing the field Christmas posada<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Amy and I at the posada’s photoshoot<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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A couple friends… from this same event, but just a few years back.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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I love wearing my Granddad’s old Christmas bowtie for such events!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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How did THAT one get in there?!!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Those same friends… now young ladies, growing up all too quickly.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The elementary kids shared a song to help advertise their upcoming performance of A Charlie Brown Christmas<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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My friend Tom and I, proudly showing off our respective prizes from the annual gift drawing.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Awake, awake, good people all,
Awake and you shall hear
How our dear Lord died on the cross
For us whom He loved so dear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bellman’s Song, verse 2<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

What makes moments like these stand out clearly so many years later? It’s the combination of two elements: we were already doing something special, and unique circumstances took things to a new level. In theory, our close-knit family could gather any old time… and often did, celebrating birthdays and other events together throughout the year! Yet these shorter gatherings weren’t as satisfying as the moments like Christmas, when we set several days aside from busy work and school calendars for extended time together. We needed to have a good enough reason – celebrating the birth of our Savior! – to make the extra effort worthwhile. And when winter storms forcibly lengthened the time we got as a result, while also giving the kids that rare extended white Christmas… well, that’s how you get lifelong treasured memories. Something already precious was unexpectedly elevated even further.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this Christmas season, we find much with which to fill our days. Treasured traditions enjoyed with treasured people result in photos, memories, experiences, and celebrations which delight us and keep our hearts full well into the coming New Year. Yet it is all too easy to make these things the point – letting the fun and enjoyment be their own end, without any deeper purpose. After all, we could plan these kinds of events at any point in the year, if we were willing to put forth the effort! We celebrate now<\/span> because we have a deeper cause for joy, a greater Gift of which our own small celebrations are merely faint reflections… and calling that truth back to mind as the root of our festivity, rather than mere excuse, is necessary for our hearts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is well and good that we mark Christmas in unusual and even elaborate ways, because the incomparable reality of God With Us outstrips anything we could do. We cannot orchestrate the unexpected ‘upgrades’ – like a generational snowfall – that turn ordinary gatherings into lifelong memories. We can<\/span>, however, celebrate with intentional focus on the reason which gives cause to our revelry. By doing so, not only do we remain centered on what is most important as we walk with God through His gift of today… but when those lifelong memories are<\/span> formed, they too can continually encourage us to live with our eyes on Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Preaching on the believer’s individual responsibility to missions in a local church<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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O fair, O fair Jerusalem,
When shall we come to thee?
When shall our sorrows have an end,
Thy joy that we may see?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bellman’s Song, verse 3<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Life has been rather busy since appendicitis came knocking back in September<\/a>! With Christmas now here, we have many updates to share… so buckle up!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The news from Las Moras is bittersweet. One of the powerful local groups competing for control has moved in to the village, which has pros and cons. There is increased relative safety for our former neighbors – though another group choosing to make an issue of the resident group’s claim could certainly change that. Food shortages have eased as resupply is now permitted. However, some of our friends would still prefer to leave – which would come with many kinds of risk. Additionally, the newcomers have taken some team belongings and laid claim to others. This makes it hard to picture how it would be wise for our former team to return to ministry at that location for quite some time to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is loss and mourning in this news – more for the Nahuatl people and the church planting team serving them than for our family, obviously – but it has hit hard for us as well. Since leaving the village in 2021, we made specific plans to return periodically in order to come alongside our former coworkers, encourage the believers, and strengthen the team’s position in the community. Apart from one trip only I (with other Chihuahua-based missionaries) made two years ago to bring out some family belongings<\/a>, that has not happened… and now, particularly for the rest of our family, likely never will.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet our hope is not in what WE might do, but in Jesus whose Name we praise and proclaim. Ministry was (and will continue to be) accomplished through the Ethnos M\u00e9xico team, but God’s Spirit was at work among the Nahuatl before their arrival and remains so after their departure. To date, two Nahuatl youths (including my good friend Efra\u00edn<\/a>) have received training at the Bible Institute here in Chihuahua… and we are hearing rumors of more training to come for some in that group. God is already using them to encourage, grow, and equip His church – both here and back closer to Las Moras – and this is just the beginning! We choose to trust the Lord with the hard circumstances of today, confident that His purposes continue unabated when our limits have been reached.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The 2025 e2 team, learners, and consultants with their families<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Celebrating with my good friends and co-laborers, Tom and Pete<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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My prize from the white elephant gift exchanget: a Nick Cage pillow!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The fields were green as green could be,
When from his glorious seat
Our blessed Father watered us
With His heavenly dew so sweet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Bellman’s Song, verse 4<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In our Chihuahua-based ministries, we have pressed on since putting September’s unexpected hospital stay in the rearview mirror. Here are a few highlights:<\/p>\n\n\n\n