December 2006 Issue

Beyond "Z"
by Charles Lowery

It's that time of the year. Kids are trying to figure out how Santa gets into the house (I know that one — it's through Dad's wallet). Many of you are trying to figure out where the relatives will stay for Christmas, and many of you are trying to figure out your relatives. And the world is trying to figure out Christmas.

I know most are content with the ritual of Christmas, but in this season many do wonder about the reason for Christmas. When I think of Christmas I think of the two old men standing on the end of the pier. One tells the other to look at all of that water, and the other responds that that is just the top. At Christmas the world just sees the top — the Nativity, the birth of a baby. To figure it out you have to do what the little boy said Mary did, "She pounded those things in the heart."

When I stop to consider (ponder) that Christmas is the day we celebrate the entry of the eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient God into our world, and that we are celebrating by bringing out animals and showing this Christ child in a feeding trough, then my first ponder is that this is not normal.

Part of the difficulty is that childbirth isn't normal. You tell your grandson that he has a new baby brother and he asks, "Where's Mom? I can't wait to tell her!" It is hard to figure out childbirth. I can't even figure out how my sons-in-law can produce such smart kids. I'm not a scientist. The only thing that I know about the speed of light is that it gets here too early in the morning. I am a psychologist and I know what is not normal. Most people can spot "not normal" pretty quickly.

A man was standing in line at the bank wearing a ski mask. The teller pushed her panic button. When the authorities arrested him for attempted robbery, he had a weapon and a note and was still waiting in line to rob the bank. Not normal. Mary knew quickly that what this angel had told her did not happen in a normal ABC world. Let's see if any of the theologians I read can shed some light.

Let's try Dr. Seuss from his book, On Beyond Zebra.

Said Conrad Cornelius O'Donnell O'Dell, my very young friend who was learning to spell.

"The A is for Ape, The B is for Bear, The C is for Camel, The H is for Hair, The M is for Mouse, The R is for Rat ... I know all 26 letters like that.

Through to Z is for Zebra I know them all well,"

Said Conrad Cornelius O'Donnell O'Dell.

"Now I know everything anyone knows from beginning to end from start to close,

Because Z is as far as the alphabet goes."

Then he almost fell flat on his face on the floor when I picked up the chalk and drew one letter more, A letter he had never dreamed of before.

And I said, "You can stop if you want with the Z, and most people stop with the Z but not me.

In the places I go there are things that I see that I never could spell if I stopped with a Z.

I'm telling you this because you are one of my friends, my alphabet starts where your alphabet ends.

So on beyond Z it is high time you were shown, that you really don't know all there is to be known."

It is the same answer the angel gave to Mary. There is another world beyond your normal ABC world. For with God nothing is impossible. With God, beyond Z is the ordinary. God is always one step ahead of our ABC world. We can see it in our generation. We can see how we thought things were normal but they are not. Things change. What we thought had to be an ABC is now beyond Z. For example, if your great, great, great grandmother turned to your great, great, great grandfather and said she wanted to fly to London to see the grandkids, he would have told her she was nuts. People can't fly. It is against the law of gravity. You go up, you fall down. Now we know that the ABC world of gravity had a beyond Z. There is an aerodynamic law that says you can fly.

Our ABC world is limited by our mentality not God's ability. God wants us to think outside our ABC world. In the ABC world we could figure out that one perfect person could maybe pay for the sin of one sinful person but to atone for all of our sin he would have to be 100 percent human and 100 percent divine multiplied by God's infinity. It is beyond Z mathematics.

It is Christmas when we liberate ourselves from the bondage of the ABC world. We discover, like Mary and Joseph, that this maternity problem has an eternity solution. Normal is death and beyond Z is life. So if you are positively out of possibilities in your ABC world, believe what the angel said, "Nothing is impossible with God." Think beyond Z. Incarnation cannot be contained in categories. Adore this God of ours wrapped in human flesh and smelling like a baby. Feel the relief and release of Christmas. Let go of your ABC world. God loves you outside the letters. Breathe in some heavenly peace. Let's go back to Dr. Seuss. I'll take some liberty with his lines.

I'm telling you this because you are one of my friends.

God's alphabet starts where your alphabet ends.

So on beyond Z it is high time you were shown that you really don't know all there is to be known.

Eternal life is available to anyone who steps beyond Z.

So take a new letter and enjoy Christmas with me.

Charles Lowery is founder and president of LIFE, Inc. and is in a fulltime speaking ministry. You may contact LIFE, Inc. at 903-881-9422 or www.charleslowery.com.

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