{"id":1257,"date":"2018-12-07T15:46:40","date_gmt":"2018-12-07T15:46:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/?p=1257"},"modified":"2018-12-07T15:46:40","modified_gmt":"2018-12-07T15:46:40","slug":"the-un-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2018\/12\/the-un-christmas.html","title":{"rendered":"The Un-Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last evening I went to my granddaughter&#8217;s school program. She is in 6th grade. It was not billed as a Christmas program or even a &#8220;holiday&#8221; program. But being the time of year and, past events and past years that had a &#8220;holiday&#8221; theme or even a Christmas theme, I had some expectation.<\/p>\n<p>As far as I saw, there wasn&#8217;t a decoration, a tree, a candle anywhere to be seen. <\/p>\n<p>The families came. They took pictures. They were excited to see their child perform. All seemed the same.<\/p>\n<p>The children did well. The title of the program was &#8220;The Travelers, A Quest for Sunlight&#8221;. The Story line was a group of people had lived in darkness for too long and were seeking the light. The children sang, Simon and Garfunkle&#8217;s <em>Sound of Silence,<\/em>, the Beatles, Let It Be, Journey&#8217;s <em>&#8220;<em>Don&#8217;t Stop <\/em><em>Believing&#8221;<\/em><\/em>, U2&#8217;s <em>&#8220;Stuck in the Moment&#8221;<\/em>, Taylor Swift&#8217;s &#8220;<em>Shake It Off&#8221;<\/em>, and the final song was the Beatles&#8217;, <em>&#8220;Here Comes the Sun&#8221;.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>At first, I was angry at the lost opportunity and the message which was human-centric and &#8220;group-think&#8221;. <\/p>\n<p>They almost got it right &#8211; but they missed it by a mile. We were in darkness but we didn&#8217;t have to go search for The Light. It has shined out of that darkness into our hearts in the person of Jesus Christ. Scripture tells us that the light did shine in the darkness but the darkness did not comprehend it. I saw that last night. <\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Because of the tender mercy of our God, with which the Sunrise from on high shall visit us, to shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.&#8221; (Luke 1:78-79)<\/p>\n<p>Our culture has moved away from the Truth. They are trying to un-Christmas &#8211; the greatest gift of light mankind has ever received. We don&#8217;t have to search in the darkness. The Light Has Come!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last evening I went to my granddaughter&#8217;s school program. She is in 6th grade. It was not billed as a Christmas program or even a &#8220;holiday&#8221; program. But being the time of year and, past events and past years that had a &#8220;holiday&#8221; theme or even a Christmas theme, I had some expectation. As far&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":466,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[143,226,115,330,131,308,331,12,333,329,332],"class_list":["post-1257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-children","tag-christmas","tag-god","tag-holiday-program","tag-hope","tag-light","tag-simon-and-garfunkle","tag-thankful","tag-the-beatles","tag-truth","tag-u2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Un-Christmas - Safe Place with Ruth Graham<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/safeplacewithruthgraham\/2018\/12\/the-un-christmas.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Un-Christmas - Safe Place with Ruth Graham\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Last evening I went to my granddaughter&#8217;s school program. She is in 6th grade. It was not billed as a Christmas program or even a &#8220;holiday&#8221; program. But being the time of year and, past events and past years that had a &#8220;holiday&#8221; theme or even a Christmas theme, I had some expectation. 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No stranger to heartache, she seeks to provide a Biblical perspective to her journey of faith. She is warm and talks openly about her own need for a safe place as she journeyed through her husband\u2019s infidelities, her subsequent depression, her divorces, her teenage daughter\u2019s two unplanned pregnancies, another daughter\u2019s bulimia, her son\u2019s battle with drugs, grandson's special needs and returning to school at age 40. Although born into the \"famous\" Graham family Ruth did not feel she had a safe place to unburden the secrets of her life. She felt she had to project and image and wear a mask that she \"had it all together\". She had to meet others' expectations of her. It was not until a mid-life crisis did that she fully discover the unconditional love and grace of God. Her life's passion is to connect people to that same grace and love she found, no matter who they are or what sin. Ruth is an experienced conference speaker and Bible teacher. She has appeared on a variety of radio and television shows including: Good Morning, America, The Hour of Power, Focus on the Family, Moody Broadcasting, Fox &amp; Friends, CBN, Life Today and CNN. She has worked in publishing for over 14 years and is the founder of the Ruth Graham &amp; Friends Ministry. Ruth has three grown children and nine grandchildren. She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. 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