This past week the trailer of Waypoint Community Church was stolen. Not broken into…stolen. So I have been imagining what the thieves were expecting when they lifted the white trailer, got bolt cutters and then lowered the doors.

Rather than being filled with a bunch of sports equipment, or whatever else they may have expected, the first two things they would have seen would be a giant green sign that says “Welcome to Waypoint” and a box of Men’s Devotional Bibles.

I love that my children prayed on Sunday night that the thieves may have accidentally found what they were truly looking for and decide to read the Bible…and maybe even join us for worship!

Disappointment springs from the gap between our dreams and our reality. When our dreams of a trailer filled with expensive sports equipment become the shattered reality of a bunch of church gear. When our dreams for a child become the shattered reality of infertility. When our dreams of going to Duke become the shattered reality of a state school (just seeing if you read the entire devotion). When our dreams of a promotion become the shattered reality of a severance package.

This is what Christmas does…it shatters our perceived dreams but provides us with an even greater hope. When the people of Israel had heard that the Messiah had finally arrived, I imagine many had the same level of disappointment to discover that the Messiah was a newborn infant being cradled by an unwed mother sleeping next to the unclean animals of the shepherds. Yet, this child grew to surpass anything our dreams could ever imagine.

So this Christmas, where are you disappointed and how can you turn that disappointment towards the One who will never disappoint?