Birthdays: Corny but Fun?

When I was 14 I could hardly wait to turn 18 so I could get my drivers license. This I achieved. Our family birthdays were always celebrated considerably small since I came from a poor family in the jungle of Mindanao. But we always had plenty of food from our farm and shared with our neighbors.

Looking back

Looking back on past birthdays I cannot remember one that wasn't at least fun. Many times there were no gifts but that was okay. Some people in our country beg for gifts on the cool which I alway found disgraceful. It's as if the gift of life to begin another year wasn't enough.

Gifts do not make a birthday, it is family and friends who gather together in reverie. For me, like most Filipinos, family is everything. Birthday get-togethers are corny. People say the strangest things. My sister called me Lola when I turned 21. My fiancee called me an old maid at 22. Corny jokes, corny people, but it's all in good fun and done in the spirit of love that I appreciate.

Looking forward

I don't know how many birthdays I have left despite the fact that I am healthy and young. What I do pray for is time to raise my son up properly and well educated. As for birthdays, I can take them or leave them, but my fiancee never lets one pass without gifts and dinner out.

In his country, the United States, it is customary for people who are invited to bring a gift. Otherwise, the family bears the brunt of the expenses. Here in the Philippines this isn't always true.

For example, today my son and me are attending a birthday party 25 minutes away for a friend's son at a beach resort. This particular resort has an entrance fee and a swimming fee.

None of those fees are being paid for my my friend. It is what it is, I suppose, and I'll pay them. But she is getting a room on the premises so we can shower and clean up, and of course, she is supplying the food. It's all good - fun times ahead.

The birth of Christ

One important birthday is that of Christ Jesus. Unfortunately, people are not well versed about His birth. He was not born on Christmas Day. He was born in the fall when Shepards were still in the field, not in December when the rains and cold were present. Love had come into our world.

Yes, he was born in a manger, because there was no room for the family at the inns. And those wise men who travelled to see Him? Those were the Magi or learned men from Persia, modern day Iran. They knew of His birth from the book of Daniel which prophesied about His coming into the world as our only Savior.

Moreover, the errant concept that there were three wise men is based on the three gifts. The Bible does not say how many men there were, but some scholars estimate there were up to 200! I have no clue but I do know we cannot be sure it was only three simply because the Bible does not provide us with a number.

But we do know the wise men were not present on the day Jesus was born, but months or even years later. They had to travel far, roughly 800 to 900 miles, a long distance to ride a donkey laden with gifts.

There was nothing corny about the birth of Jesus. He came to redeem us from our bondage to sin. There was likely not too much fun, either, just a celebration - because Mary and Joseph knew who He really was - God in the flesh!

Do you know this Jesus? Do you celebrate His birth? What gifts that He has given to you do you use to glorify Him?

I was a happy birthday - joy to the world for all who believe on Him by faith, repentance, baptism, etc. They are not mutually exclusive but are rather a package, if you will, a package wrapped in faith.