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DECEMBER 23 18 "This is real love— not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" —1 John 4:10, NLT C hristian "boot camp" for me was two summers spent at Lakeside Bible Conference serving children, including those with special needs, from New York City. The work was difficult, the circumstances were challenging, and the growth in faith—as we were led and mentored by a founder and director with the gift of faith—was indescribable. My first summer, whether we could sing or not (I certainly could not), all the counselors formed a choir to represent the ministry of the camp at a church on Long Island. While having to sing was unsettling, I still recall the song "The Love of God," written a hundred years ago by Frederick Lehman. The songwriter captured the inexhaustible nature of God's love in stanzas describing His love as "greater far, than tongue or pen can tell, it goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell," and "To write the love of God above, would drain the ocean dry. Nor could the scroll contain the whole, though stretched from sky to sky." The essence of Christmas is the demonstration of God's love through the sending of His Son. "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins" (1 John 4:9–10, NLT). Such unfathomable love should fill us with deepest gratitude. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD) attempted to put the love of God in perspective: "He so loved that for our sakes he, through whom time was made, was made in time; and he, older by eternity than the world itself, was younger in age than many of his servants in the world; he who made man, was made man; he was given existence by a mother whom he brought into existence, he was carried in the hands which he formed; he nursed at breasts which he filled; he cried like a baby in the manger in speechless infancy—this Word without which human eloquence is speechless." It is in embracing God's love for us through becoming followers of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are able to love others (including our enemies), commit our lives to kingdom values, and choose to live our lives for others. Randy MacFarland, DMin Provost and Dean The Love of God