Christmas chaos here and in Bethlehem

This is my favorite time of year. For months my kids have been asking me, "When is it Christmas?" Now I can say, "Soon." There are so many activities to be a part of, things to see and places to go. You can almost miss Christmas in the chaos.

Throughout towns and cites in the yards of churches and homes you'll find peaceful manger scenes cut out of plywood and in some cases with live actors each telling of a peaceful birth of baby Jesus in the small and insignificant town of Bethlehem. But when I read through the Christmas story in the gospel of Luke 2, I cannot help but think about how chaotic of a time this was.

There was chaos caused by expectations. Joseph and his pregnant wife-to-be Mary were expected to leave their small village when she was close to her due date and travel 60 to 70 miles on foot from Nazareth to Bethlehem to register for a census because an authority had an expectation that they must fulfill.

Every family has unwritten rules about how they do things, especially on Christmas. Usually these rules are discovered when a newly wed couple celebrating their first Christmas together realizes that their new spouse who a few months ago could do no wrong all of a sudden is celebrating Christmas wrong. We each have expectations imposed on us that often create chaos.

There was chaos in the traffic. The story in Luke tells us when they finally arrived in Bethlehem, there were so many people that there was no room anywhere. The only shelter left for weary travelers was a stable.

A few weeks ago my wife and I realized that we did not have a free date anywhere before Christmas and if we didn't go shopping no one would get anything. So we picked a day and took one very, very long shopping trip. Amazingly, weeks before Christmas, the stores were packed shoulder to shoulder.

Between expectations, travel and traffic it seems from the beginning that Christmas was full of chaos. Yet in the middle of the chaos the Prince of Peace was born.

We each can easily get caught up in the chaos of life -- longing for peace to come.

He did. The Prince of Peace overshadows the chaos of Christmas. He caused the little town of Bethlehem to be still. He still calms chaos.

Rob Hurtgen is a husband, father, minister and writer. Read more from him at robhurtgen.wordpress.com.