Matthew 1:21-23  ²¹ She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”  ²² All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: ²³ “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”—which means, “God with us.”

As many of you are aware, we spent a number of years separated by a lot of miles from our family.  But now we are in NE Ohio with 3 of our 4 sons and their families.  Yesterday we got to spend the afternoon with them.  We don’t have to be actively playing with our grandchildren to enjoy them; just being near them is wonderful.  Donna and I watch them play, help them when they need it and just enjoy it all.

They love to see us – and be with us.  There is also the blessing of knowing we live only a few minutes away from each of them.  Last week John and Fabi needed us to take one of their daughters to soccer practice.  We took her and stayed to watch.  Periodically she would look over at us and wave and smile.  Being with her was and is priceless.

Because we live nearby, Fabi could call on us to help.  She also asked if we could stay for supper when the practice was over.  That invitation took a nanosecond to accept.  When we are running errands we can stop by to see any of our children or grandchildren, just because we can and are nearby.

We raised 4 sons and now we have 3 daughters in the wonderful wives John, Jamie and Michael have married.  (We are anticipating a 4^th daughter someday when Andrew marries.)  We love them all and count it such a blessing to be with them – even just to hear their voices and watch them in whatever they are doing.  And it is wonderful to help them in any way.  This is the joy of family.

Presence is an incredible component of family and love.  It is not some ethereal concept that we just convince ourselves is there.  How wonderful it is in our Christian faith that “Presence” is at its core.  It is something we have available to us due to the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus.  He saves us from our sins, but better still, Jesus makes us His family!

Jesus is Immanuel, which means “God with us”.  God saves us to Himself.   He promises to never leave us or forsake us.  Even though God is omnipresent, there is a difference in His presence when we are family – His sons and daughters.  The richness described above in terms of presence with earthly family is reflective of the treasure we have here and now with Him.