The Blog of Tom Dale

Love it or hate it, Christmas is upon us. And I, for one, love it!  It's not the festivals or decorations or food that I necessarily love, but it's the gift-giving. Specifically, the gift of God's presence.  God is, of course, always present with us. There is no place on Earth that is completely devoid of Him. Yet it is this time of year that reminds us of the mind-blowing fact that Jesus Christ, God with skin on , actually visited the Earth over two thousand years ago. The Light of the world "stepped down into darkness". The All Powerful Creator emptied Himself to become one of us, a weak and fragile human. Christmas reminds us that God gave us His presence even after we fled away from it through sin and rebellion.  This is why I love Christmas. It can be easy to forget throughout the year about the good news that God sent His Son into the world to taste death for everyone, so that all who might believe in Him can live forever. Without Christmas,

Not many people are holy enough to become a priest. Most people don't meet the spiritual qualifications to be a pastor. It takes years and years of praying, reading the Bible, and chanting Latin rhymes in order to be worthy enough to don a man-dress and a big golden cross necklace. Or at least, that is the subtle lie that I've bought over the years. Since becoming a Christian at the age of 14, I wanted to be a minister. I was told that I would first have to go to Bible college for four years, go to seminary for another three years, and then have to wait several months before a denomination could deem me worthy enough to lead a church.  Certainly pastors should be well educated and have a wide variety of life experiences. But sometimes those high standards can discourage a young man like me. I have a two year degree in theology, and when I applied to over thirty churches to work as a youth pastor, I was told I needed at least a master's degree. When I tried to ex