Our broken Christmas tree...I'm not talking about a crooked Fraser Fir; or a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. We're talking genealogy; family tree. Jesus's family tree is laid out in Matthew 1:1-17. Be honest, when you read Matthew's Christmas story, you start at vs 18. "Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows..." If you are like me, more than once you've skipped the first 17 verses. I mean Luke has a genealogy but he doesn't lead with it, it's buried in chapter 3. Matthew goes right to it. And the people that he lists, it's a who's who of who you wouldn't expect.

But that broken Christmas tree is a promise of hope. No matter what's in your past, your past cannot steal God's future. There is hope!