Jimmy Fallon – Entertainment Weekly’s 2014 Entertainer Of The Year. It makes sense now. Fallon has reinvigorated The Tonight Show with a sense of joy and clips that go viral on a regular basis. He’s righted the ship of NBC late night after 5 years of shakiness between Conan and Jay Leno.

But if I had told you 5 years ago that Jimmy Fallon would be the most beloved entertainer in America, you would have laughed harder than, well, Jimmy himself when he breaks up during a sketch.

Believe it or not Jimmy Fallon wasn’t a huge hit when he took over “Late Night” in 2009.

His interviewing skills were awkward at best. It took him a good while to translate his comedic talents to a talk show.

Stars weren’t always willing to come on Jimmy’s show and participate in his ridiculous games and sketches. But now it’s commonplace to see people like Reese Witherspoon singing awkward Christmas Carols:

So how has so much changed in the past 5 years? How does Jimmy Fallon get a-list celebrities like Barbara Streisand, Brad Pitt, and Tom Cruise to smash eggs on their head, spit food at each other, and yodel on rooftops?

Easy. He does it with them.

Jimmy’s version of the Tonight Show isn’t all about making of the fun celebrities. Jimmy rarely plays jokes on his guests. He doesn’t send them off to do something embarrassing on their own.

Jimmy jumps right into the game with them. He makes a fool of himself. He puts his all into every game.

He gets egg on his face – literally.

Every week Jimmy Fallon exhibits the Christmas spirit, doing exactly what God did on a quiet night in Bethlehem.

On the first Christmas, God showed us once and for all that we did not have play the game of life on our own.

Never again would we have to play the fool. Never again would we have to face the crowds by ourself.

Instead God took the form of man, standing alongside his creation, empowering us to overcome our fears, showing us the way.

God sending Jesus into the manger is His way of saying, “I’ll do it with you.”

At Christmastime, I want to challenge us all to follow the footsteps of Jimmy and Jesus. 

Because for all time I spend crafting these blogs to inspire the people who read them, the most meaningful parts of my day will be the actual interactions I have with people.

The moments I step out of my self-absorbed world and do life with other people. The conversations with clerks and cashiers, with neighbors and nobodies. The moments when we enter someone’s world because we’re doing with with them.

None of these interactions are accidents. These are the moments Jesus asks to follow His lead and spread the gospel through our actions, through our words, through our presence.

As you go about your Christmas shopping today, remember the best gift isn’t always the most expensive present.

Sometimes the most important thing you can give is to just be present in someone’s life.

(Welcome to The 12 Blogs Of Christmas! Join us everyday through Christmas Eve for a new post exploring the presence of God in the pop culture of Christmas.)