Christmas

On Tip-Toe

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Today I am making available the 2018 Christmas devotional “Mary I Have News” both in a Kindle edition and in paperback. The concept for the theme this year began with a song I wrote last year for our young people to sing for a Christmas program. So often we think of Christmas on that Silent Night when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. But the birth announcement by the angel to Mary marked the moment when God came and entered the world secretly while angels stood on tip-toe to see what God would do next!

The whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own. Romans 8: 19 Phillips version

Does it seem that Christmas has become tedious or even a bit boring? I recently learned a lesson from our grandson Alex as we walked to the nearby fire station one morning. Along the way he picked up every seed and stick stopping every few feet for new discoveries. When we got to the fire station, he peered through the windows at the fire trucks and even opened their letter box to see their mail!…

Excerpt from Day 1: Mary I Have News: 30 Christmas Reflections (Kindle Locations 27-32). Kindle Edition.

Mary I Have News

Mary I Have News!

All is Bright?

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 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. John 1:5

Silent night Holy night / All is calm all is bright      Josef Mohr 1818

I am not sure of the exact inspiration for Josef Mohr when He wrote the words for Silent Night. What strange word are these? What Silent night? What holiness could be seen? From the braying donkey carrying Mary to Bethlehem to her cries piercing the night as she gave birth; there was no silence or holy place given her. ” All is calm all is bright.” Yet it would be hard to imagine Joseph being calm when there was no better place for Mary than a stable or cleaner spot to lay her child than a feeding trough for the cows! Yet the oddest of all these lines is “All is bright.”  All is bright? I have memories of milking our cow at 4:45 a.m. in a barn without electricity. My only light was a candle stub which I placed on a beam. There was nothing at all especially bright about those cold early mornings in the barn.

And yet by faith we sense the deeper reality of the silence of angels, stooping low to see the Savior. We recognize the holiness of the child conceived by God’s Holy Spirit. We feel the calm assurance of Mary and Joseph’s hearts as everything happen

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ed just as the angel had foretold. We see the brightness as the first flicker of God’s light in our dark and waiting world. From that first Christmas till now, the darkness has never put it out!

Drawing Close to Bethlehem

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And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:) To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. Luke 2:4-6 KJV

We cannot know from this passage if it was on the night of their arrival that Mary gave birth, but we can imagine her weariness as they plodded through the outskirts of Bethlehem. How much longer would it be till the child’s birth? Where would they stay? Who might welcome them? Who would believe the miraculous story they carried in their hearts?

Remember me with signature

This Christmas God is also bringing you and me on a journey. His goal is for us to go where He has prepared for us to be. Like Mary you might have times when you might be wondering: Where do I really belong? But God who has prepared a place for every sparrow’s nest has also planned a place for you. When we wish to be welcomed, He reminds us in those moments that we are always welcome to come to Him. Just as Joseph and Mary could only trust God’s timing on the long road to Judea so also we must be patient as the seconds tick down on the changes that lie ahead for us. You might think that no one can know the story of your heart, but God will send angels stars or shepherds to help you as you draw closer to Bethlehem.