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She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke 2:7, and for me, says much about Why Christmas is Unreal.

From humble beginnings came the saviour of the world. A carpenter. Not a rich man, nor of sufficient physical note to warrant any kind of particular description in the gospel. Just a man. Born in a shed.

I love seeing the unlikely rise up, and I usually cry when we get to matters of destiny in films. Superman. Luke Skywalker. Anakin Skywalker. Frodo. Forest Gump. Because it doesn't make sense - why this guy? He's just a regular guy.

I'm reminded that without God, Jesus probably would have been of no historical note. But Jesus was the son of God and became an amazing human, but completely to remind us of who God is.

I get annoyed with myself for my failings. I get frustrated when I see opportunities slipping by because of my inadequacies. I'm small. But it's God who specialises in the big stuff.

Soon there are angels filling the sky singing not to powerbrokers, city squares or armies, but to Shepherds. Shepherds. The McDonald's workers, or office cleaners (no offence Burkie) of biblical times. Ordinary dudes seeing extraordinary things.

Throughout the bible it's there -
- God only swept by Moses (stuck in the dessert for years, saw a little sun) and he came down with a sunburn.
- Peter was a fisherman.
- David, Samuel and Joseph were boys.

Unremarkable people, but willing.

For me, this year, Christmas is all about God being God. What we cast aside as unremarkable He takes and uses to change the course of human history forever.

Sometimes I think I focus on Superman Jesus, and Christmas seems odd to celebrate him at his most non-god-like. But at Christmas (or April, whenever it was), God gave us a baby. An unremarkable, helpless, totally dependent baby. A willing baby who changed the world with the power of God.

Everything else comes back to Jesus: and Jesus points us to God.