Although we are squarely within the Christmas season now, Bree and I have been watching Christmas movies since September. Yep. We’re those people. We decorate early. Listen to Christmas movies for months, and watch Christmas movies for one quarter of the year. We love it! There is obviously a rotation of movies we go through from Elf to cheesy Hallmark B-Movies, to Home Alone. However, there is one movie that we really only watch once in the rotation (mainly because Bree doesn’t like it nearly as much as me) National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Now, if you’ve never seen this movie, be warned if you're sensitive to foul language or suggestive humor, but it’s a chaotic riot. At one point in the film the protagonist, played by Chevy Chase, finally loses his temper after trying to hold it together through trial after trial. He goes on a vicious and profanity-infused rant about his boss and how he feels betrayed after all the work he’s done.

In no way does Paul in his letters to the Corinthians come close to the rage that Chevy Chase displays, but in chapters 10-13 we see Paul at his “ranty-est”. Clearly, Paul is flustered due to the rumors flying and false accounts some are giving about him, so he goes on to present his pedigree as a Hebrew, an Israelite, and as a descendant of Abraham. Explaining that if anyone has claimed to be a “chosen one” it’s him. Then, he goes off listing the various trials and experiences he’s gone through from shipwrecks, poverty to even being stoned. Paul’s like, “Look! I’ve seen it all!”

Again, unlike Chevy who punctuates this speech by asking, “Where’s the Tylenol?” Before storming off, frustrated with his personal inability to change his circumstances, Paul lands at an important point with the Lord: “My grace is sufficient for you. My power works best in your weakness.” If we are going to boast about suffering and trials we’ve been through, let us not punctuate these testimonies with sighs of grief and self-righteous suffering. Our suffering is not so we can one up one another with, “well if you think that’s bad!” It is so we can tell them through tears of joy knowing that it is because of His grace that we were brought through them! Hallelujah!