The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey HH #539 Conversations about Advent
If you’re not quite in the Christmas spirit yet, I think this episode will get you there, especially as we keep our focus on the birth of Jesus. In today’s episode, I interview four people, plus I’m giving away a ton of things (!!) so you want to stick around until the end!
My first guest is David Taylor and let me just say, after talking with David, I’m inspired to go and get my doctorate degree. David is a professor at Fuller University and he teaches about the Trinity, the Bible, and creation. His ultimate goal is for his students to know and love God. In this episode, David defines the meaning of Advent, discusses why it matters, and stresses the importance of churches and followers of Jesus committing to the practice of Advent.
My second guest is Clayton Greene. Clayton helps us to uniquely anticipate the days leading up to Christmas with our kids – not for the gifts they’ll receive but in anticipation of the birth of Jesus. I asked Clayton why Advent is so important to him and his family, and I think we can all relate to his story. In explaining to his five-year-old daughter that Christmas is all about Jesus, Clayton was met with her actual perception of the holiday, as she vocalized to him that Christmas felt like it was all about receiving presents. That’s when Clayton said he had to do something about his family’s priorities, so he created Advent Blocks. Advent Blocks are a way for kids to anticipate the story of Jesus leading up to Christmas instead of anticipating what gifts may be under the tree. When Clayton first started Advent Blocks, there were five families participating – today, around 16,000 families use Advent Blocks each year to observe Advent as a family!
My last guests are Raechel and Amanda, founder and co-founder of She Reads Truth. If you have been listening to the show for a while, you know these two are no strangers to The Happy Hour! Raechel and Amanda’s desire is for every person to have a heart that longs for Jesus. They have written serval great resources, and we talk about their most recent resource, “Joy of Every Longing Heart.” We end our conversation by sharing how we can look at the Christmas story and focus on our Savior’s return.
These resources that my friends have created are very helpful and they remind us what this Christmas season is all about: the birth of our Lord and Savior.
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