I love the challenge to open up the packages with shrink wrap. Go ahead, the fiber strapping sealing this envelope will take all your best scissors. Adhesives and duct tape have set new standards for making packages impossible to open. Catch this poem:

Your cartons and bags, I can’t cut with a knife.

The strength of your cardboard - fantastic!

I’m sure I’ve spent easily half of my life,

Just fighting my way into plastic.

Your labels resist any solvent on earth,

Your tape is as tough as an ox.

I’ve paid for my purchase - but what is it worth,

If I can’t get it out of the box? (Counselman)

Packages arrive at your house and mine. Someone has sent something to us. Pick up the package. Shake it- not too hard. Open it. Within the plain box we find brightly colored Christmas wrapping. We might shake it again, even smell it. It’s very presence fills you and me with anticipation. Until then we stand in front of a calendar with December 25 clearly marked. We say to anyone listening, "Only 16 more ‘hoping’ days until Christmas." (B Keane) How true. These are our hoping days...until the 25^th arrives!

On that day - yes, we open gifts. But we Christians also rejoice - the hope of the world did come to us! God’s gift of grace came wrapped in swaddling clothes just for us!

December 25 marks the day that we never forget! We welcome Him into our lives and homes. Then we spend the rest of our lives unwrapping His love for others.

The story seems IMPOSSIBLE! Mary received the news that day: you have found favor with God! No, not that word. Many people think that God favors them, too. The word of promise came: You will bear a son. How? I’m a virgin! This will be different. The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you...your offspring...the son of God! Now that is a Mighty God!

Stunned! Shocked! Joy? Well, perhaps. But God always chooses His men and women who are willing to go ahead with Him anyway! The Virgin Birth underscores how God works. The Virgin Birth has more to do with Christology than it does about gynecology. We must think theologically, not biologically. That goes for all His mighty deeds.

With Moses, He parted the Red Sea, and gave water from a rock. In battle Joshua called and God stopped the sun for a moment to clinch the victory. Using Prophet Elisha and the muddy Jordan River, a Syrian general was made whole from leprosy.

But here is the wonder of wonders. That same Mighty God was born, lived and died. But the story continues. He was raised to life. When believers tell others of this Mighty God, Jesus Christ, many become "born again." The Mighty God continues to do miracles! The Virgin Birth challenges our minds and stretches our faith. His grace fills this "ever told, never old, always bold story of God’s gift to the world." (Strayhorn) The Mighty God joined us in a manger.

POSSIBLE

He makes possible what we think to be impossible! What seems to be impossible to you? Name it. Describe it! I need a job. A better job. I need to get into a special school, but have no money. I have an impossible marriage...a 22-year old son or daughter that will not face the future. Those are the grim reminders of impossibilities.

But what if God whispered in your heart, "I have great things for you to do in My name. I will be with you. Just take the next step." Could you? Would you? Dreams often lie dormant, because we can’t believe God wants to use "little old me." Look at the three women God used today. Be encouraged to know that the same mighty God is here!

Our Lord spoke with Abraham and Sarah (Genesis 18). At the end of visit, God planted His seed of hope in them. But Sarah was "in the tent." She had withdrawn from the Lord. He heard her doubt expressed in a laugh. It must have been mixed with pain.

Question: where are you when God gives you His promise of a great future? Have you pulled back from Him? Have you believed what others tell you about yourself? Or, are you willing to allow God His way? God had the last laugh with Sarah: Isaac = Laughter!

"Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived a son in her old age..." The angel Gabriel had to keep Elizabeth’s husband Zechariah quiet during the whole time, because he had doubts. Not Elizabeth. If God could shut her husband’s mouth, she knew God would keep His Word to them. She only needed him to fulfill his duty - he did!

Gabriel came to Mary. God knew her relation to Joseph - she was promised or betrothed to him. God also knew her condition - a virgin. Guess what? God knows your relation to others. Married or single, widowed or divorced. Employee or employer, teacher or student. He knows your condition- stubborn or broken; in charge or overwhelmed; full of hope, or hopeless! Yet, He still comes to us! He gives us a future to consider no matter our relation or condition!

"Impossible!" Each woman must have considered the moment. But they only heard the wonderful statement of promise: "Is anything too difficult for the Lord?" And all of us today hear the same great words: "Nothing will be impossible with God." Friends, that makes all the difference when you face your IMPOSSIBLE PROBLEM.

God IS THE POSSIBLE for us to overcome our Impossibilities! You see, God comes to us just as we are. But He comes as Mighty God. His greatest proof has always been that day so long ago in Bethlehem. The greatest gift that ever came to us came wrapped in the heart of God, then in the womb of a virgin, and finally in the rough form of a manger.

I believe God had to come as an infant. That is the only way most of us will accept and receive His great message and gift. I remember when I was chaplain at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, seeing some military personnel just returning from training. One of the men covered with camouflage saw his young son and went toward him. The little boy fled screaming to his mother. His father removed his helmet and wiped some of the camouflage from his face. Only then did the boy realize who the soldier really was.

That describes how God had to come to us. Jesus is God without camouflage or helmet. God in His glory would make us all run screaming. But our hearts melt when we see an infant...just the way we came into the world! In order for His gift to benefit us, we have to open the package and take this gift to ourselves.

Our greatest problem continues to be US! We are the ones who hear the story again of the Mighty God coming as a baby. If He can do that...don’t you think He can move you and me through the impossible things facing us? He can, when we accept Jesus as the greatest gift we will ever have.

Do this and He changes the way we look at everyone and everything. The world can be harsh and lonely. So, our Lord comes as one of us. Jesus becomes proof to us that no matter the disappointment or the challenge facing us...the Mighty God becomes our Best Friend. The impossible no longer is impossible with God. With God, all things are possible! That is the key. With God! Return to that long list of impossibilities you face.

The Mighty God comes to us in the midst of failed dreams and frustrated lives. Watch what God can do! Impossible for you to get your job, or the promotion? Watch what God can do! Impossible for her to live with you? Watch what God can do!

In your life. In your family. In your work! Watch God! All He asks of us - accept and open His gift in your life - Jesus Christ. Take some steps toward this Mighty God of ours. Like Mary, ...

First, Be willing to do anything it takes to conquer, but ask for His help. She states, "I’m ...a virgin..." She did not say, "I’m only a virgin." We state, "I’m ...a student...a clerk...a teacher." Be who you are. God likes that!

Second, Be positive, even when others think you to be crazy. "Behold, the bond-slave of the Lord." Start with Jesus. Be sure that He is alive in you. Not sure? Take that Christmas package from God. Open it. The card says, "I love you!" Signed God the Father. That’s the best crazy thing to do. Now, look at the impossible person or problem and rejoice you love a God greater than them.

Third, watch God take you to meet your impossible situation. "Be it done to me according to Your Word." He might take you over it or through it. Victorious! He might take you around the problem. Victory will come, but with time. But if He doesn’t do any of those, He does something wonderful right where you are! Watch Him hold you steady as He turns any scars you have into shining stars of His wonderful love. That mountain of impossibility...He turns into a diamond mine of love for others.

Make this Christmas the best ever. He has proven Himself as the Mighty God who makes all things possible... And hang on! He will prove Himself in your life. Welcome Him!