This coming Wednesday will be the twelfth day of Christmas, a day that Christians refer to as the Epiphany. Epiphany celebrates the arrival of the wise men in Bethlehem, and provides evidence that God's love is not just for the residents of Judea, not just for the people of Israel, but for the whole world. The birth of Jesus is for everyone! And in a world where people seem to take delight in setting themselves off against each other - thinking that their lifestyle, their team, their country, their religion is better and more true than their neighbors' - this manifestation, proving that Jesus is God's gift for the whole world, and that God's gift of love is for everyone, is an epiphany indeed!

The prophet Isaiah tells us to arise and shine, for our Light has come! And as the Christmas season draws to a close, its good for us to think about this Light.

I must say, the people of East Tennessee know how to do Christmas lights! We greatly enjoy driving our visitors to see the incredible display of lights at Mr. Trout's house over in Loudon. And that wonderful house just over the bridge between Loudon and Lenoir City. And, of course, the lights at what people say is the trash man's house over on Highway 11. We will tell them we're going to see Christmas lights and they usually react with a kind of ho-hum indifference to the idea. But when we pull up to the houses, they gasp out loud and say, "Oh, my God...!" or "Holy mackeral...!" or some other exclamatory religious expression indicating that they have been thoroughly epiphanied! And its not just outside the village. Why, in my own neighborhood off Toqua Road, we have Gene and Judy Wessel's house on the hill, with that great big illuminated candy cane and about a million other lights, and below them, Bill and Joyce Peterson's house whose lights I refer to as the aurora borealis. They, and others, bring such wonder to the Christmas season by their creative use of lights.

And over in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg - well, you know what its like over there. One of my all-time favorite light displays is on the bridge leading into Gatlinburg from Pigeon Forge. Now, to the untrained eye, it doesn't appear to be much of anything. Seems that the bridge simply has string upon string of white lights hung horizontally along both sides and on top of the bridge. But to those of us who spent years of our lives taking our kids to the various Star Wars movies, this bridge is quickly identified. Its a warp-speed-ramp into hyperspace. And the way you're supposed to experience it is by hanging back from the traffic in front of you so that, when you get to the bridge, you can push the accelerator to the floor. And as the car speeds up, the lights fly by in horizontal streams! And everyone in the car starts humming the theme music from Star Wars - dum-dum-da-da-da-dah-dum...! Well, it takes a little imagination.

And I guess imagination is what it took for the magi, too.

There they were. Hundreds of miles away. Different country. Different culture. Different religion. And yet, when they gazed into the star-filled sky one night, they saw something no one else saw. At least as far as we know.

Now its not that others were not looking at the stars. From the beginning of time, people have gazed heavenward. But an awful lot of what you see depends upon what you're looking for.

Surely, there were some sailors that night who lifted their eyes to the heavens looking for the constellations that would guide them toward their distant destination. People have for generations navigated the seas, and the land, and even the airways by watching the stars.

And I'll bet there were some others that night who used celestial navigation not to guide a ship, but rather to guide their lives. Surely astrologers were busy working out their horoscopes for the morning newspapers. Why, thousands of Capricorns would be anxiously awaiting insight about navigating their lives in the days ahead. Or - if Jesus was actually born in March as some scholars believe - maybe they were Aries.

And still others looked to the stars in those days of Christmas. Some children no doubt were wishing upon a star, and career-minded people thought about how to hitch their wagon to a star, and there must have been some very talented people who dreamed about becoming a star.

People from the beginning of time have gazed heavenward, looking for some kind of direction. But an awful lot of what you see, depends upon what you're looking for.

And in that Christmas sky nearly two millennia ago, a small group of wise men looked for something few others were searching for. You see, most people seek out personal destinations, personal guidance, personal blessing, personal achievement, personal success. Most people who rely upon celestial navigation do so to accomplish their own goals. They look for personal-sized stars.

But what makes the wise men so heroic is that they dared to search the sky for God-sized stars.

And way off in the distance, they found one. A star that pointed the way to God's will for their lives, and to a personal encounter with the Messiah!

I wonder, what kind of stars are you looking for as you gaze out into the expansive heavens of 1999?

A week or so ago, Sandy and I received a beautiful Christmas card from our dear friend Beverly Harrington. Bev is our neighbor from the lake in New Hampshire whose husband Dave was tragically killed in an auto accident about a year and a half ago. When we saw her that summer, just a month or so after the accident, Bev was in pretty rough shape and we all sat around one day and talked about the accident, and about Dave, and we cried together, and we struggled to grasp the significance of what his loss would mean. She shared tearfully how alone she felt. Now that some time had passed, family and friends, even fellow church members, had returned to their lives, and more and more, Bev found herself isolated. When you've loved and lived with another person for so long, and then lose that person, the loneliness can be profound, as some of you well know.

During our visit with Bev that summer, I told her about our church's new Stephen Ministry which was getting ready to start up in the fall. I explained that a Stephen Minister is a Christian friend who has training in how to help and support and just be with people going through difficult times. And when Bev went home to Massachusetts, she sought out a Stephen Minister through a nearby church that had the ministry. And over the next many months, her Stephen Minister made such a difference in her life that Bev caught a vision of what I think can only be described as a star on the distant horizon. She began to get an idea of establishing a Stephen Ministry in her own church - and she was willing to donate the money to get it started, in David's memory. Bev's Christmas card told us that she and Paul Adkins, her pastor, had gone through the leadership training, and that their first class of Stephen Ministers will start training this month. In fact, Bev's story is told in the summer edition of In Touch - the Stephen Ministry newsletter. Some copies of that article are located back in Newcomer's Corner. How excited I am for that church, and especially for Bev.

Because, you see, as she looked into the vast dark sky of her husband's death, Bev was somehow able to discern a God-sized star that has not only guided her through her loss, but has led her more deeply into God's will for her life, and into a powerful new encounter with Christ.

I dare say, never again will Beverly look into the night sky of another person's loss without remembering that, among all the stars that guide, there are some that are God-sized stars that lead to new life and hope and to God's purposes.

And here we are, standing on the third day of a brand new year. Out before us is the vast expansiveness of 1999, a star-filled sky indeed! And I want to challenge you to do something important this year.

I want to dare you to look for three God-sized stars - three God-sized goals - to devote yourself to in the months ahead. Yes, we all want to win a national championship with the Vols, we all want to cut some strokes off our golf games, we all need to lose some weight and get more exercise. There are plenty of personal-sized stars to follow this year.

But I want to ask you to look higher. Deeper. Further.

What God-sized goal can you aim at in your family life this year? What God-sized goal can you reach for in ministry to others this year? What God-sized goal can you set for yourself as a growing Christian?

What an exciting year it will be in your family, in our church, and in your own life as we - like the wise men of old - set out to follow these three God-sized stars!

To be a Christian, you see, you must learn the art of celestial navigation.

And its not just found in a story from long, long ago.

God still hangs stars in the sky!

And you can follow them to the place where Jesus is, and where your life will never be the same again!