Cleaning House

Before Andrew and I moved in our house on Columbia Avenue it was a complete wreck.  Our neighbor Jimmy is also our maintanance man who is hired by our landlord, Mr. Miginis to take care of the properties.  Not only did Jimmy bring a team in to redo our kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and put a new roof on, but they also had to clean and get rid of all the trash.    This place had been vacant for about 6 months before we moved in.  The previous tenants were evicted and instead of taking the things they didn't want they just left them in the house and backyard.  No one in his or her right mind would have moved in the house based on its previous condition.  It was not only dirty but had a nasty odor as well.  We waited till everything was spick and span before we moved in.  Many times our life is nasty and dingy and instead of waiting for everything to be straightened out Jesus wants to make his way into the dirtiest parts of our life. And we see this even with his birth in a smelly, nasty feeding trough for animals.

My experience on a farm is limited but a few summers ago I hung out a few times a week on a farm and witnessed what a feed trough looked like.  I helped unload the feed into the trough and as soon as the feed hit the trough the cattle would start running toward it because they knew it was mealtime.  That summer I learned to watch my step because I didn't want to step into anything and to not get between the cattle and the feeding trough.  I was amazed that Christ was born in one of the smelliest and nastiest places, a place where animals slobbered and ate. This was not an ideal birthplace for a king, the long awaited Messiah.

A couple of weeks ago I went out with a few friends to the Pub on Nicholasville Rd. and above the bar they have a countdown to the Kentucky Equestrian games that doesn't take place till 2010 and downtown has a countdown meter as well.  The city of Lexington is spending millions of dollars getting ready for this world-renowned event in anticipation of many travelers and visitors coming.  Think about it we are spending millions of dollars for a onetime event.  And 2,000 years ago when Jesus was born there was no place for him to stay, no welcoming committee, the only place was a feeding trough for animals.

Christ not only wants to live among us, and be with us but he desires to be inside of us.  He wants to make his dwelling in our hearts if we let him.    We all have our struggles and I have said it before that we are all addicts or recovering addicts because we are all addicted to sin.  And sin takes many shapes and sizes.  We all have nasty parts in our life that are messy.  Christ desires to come in and clean house if we will let him.