Christmas is a special time of the year and it’s best to spend it with family when you can. This is my fifth consecutive Christmas in the Philippines. I sure miss Turkey dinners, Pumpkin Pie, and Egg Nog, but most of all, I miss my American family.

Christmas can be a very lonely time to many people because they are focusing on the family that they don’t have or the physical distance separating them from the ones they love, but the real reason for Christmas is not about you. It is about Jesus (Immanuel) leaving Heaven and His entire Kingdom just so he could be with you. How can you be lonely on the very day we celebrate that Jesus left Heaven just to be with you?

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”). —Matthew 1:23

Merry Christmas from the Philippines!