The Bible

There's a new television series coming to the History channel next March called The Bible, appropriately named since it features stories from Creation to Revelation.  I'm not sure if it will be completely accurate (tho theologians and "experts" are consulted throughout) or worth watching all ten hours of it, but I'm pretty excited whenever I see someone tackling a project like this.  It's much too rare finding the opportunity to visually see the Bible played out, and in an age of visual entertainment, it's nice to offer my children a chance to learn more about the classic Bible stories in a different way.

During the Christmas season, it's always a good reminder for me when I watch Christmas movies, see a clip about the nativity story or watch an inspirational music video during the holidays because it's what I need more of during this time of shopping, baking, making lists, wrapping and decorating.  It injects the reality and purpose back into the days around Christmas, and I need that desperately.  Watch this video and see what I mean. And yes, I cried through the whole thing. (But I ask you, what mother can stand to listen to "Mary, Did You Know?" without crying?)

Christmas Guilt

I'm sitting here three days before Christmas feeling like an epic fail.  In the few precious moments I've spent on the computer in this most holy of seasons, I've read many inspiring articles, posts and reminders, watched cute nativity movies on Youtube and listened to beautiful Christmas music composed solely to worship Him.  All the family traditions we typically practice like Advent, Jesse Tree, reading stories about the nativity, etc. meant to focus on the Christ-child are traditions we love, but I haven't had the energy for this year. In my sleep-addled brain, I've lacked organizational skills, time and energy.  So what have I done instead?  Buy gifts.  That's easy for me.  In fact, giving gifts is one major way I show love to others (learn more about love languages).  Going online and punching a few keystrokes in order to purchase something that will be directly delivered to my door is the simplest, and most dangerous, way to shop for Christmas.  Now I sit here just feeling like I've delivered materialism to my children this year instead of Jesus.

I know, I know, I've got some great excuses.  I have a 6-month-old who's recently left behind colic and instead has taken up teething, who wakes every 2-3 hours to eat even in the middle of the night and who asks to be constantly held so even performing the most mundane household tasks becomes a practice in balance and strategy.  However my husband was put in charge of gift buying this year so he chose everything online and then had me complete the purchasing.  So why did I feel the need to also buy some things...here, there and everywhere?  Sure, we could blame it on my love language.  OR [cringing] on my natural materialistic tendencies that surface oh-so-easily when I'm not spiritually connected to my Savior. (You don't know how many times I had to rewrite that until sentence by sentence I narrowed it down to the painful truth.)

Of course, I could come up with a hundred reasons why I'm not connecting to God in this season of my life as well, but really, the truth of the matter is that I need to be connecting even more to God in this stage of life.  In fact, I should be clinging to Him desperately as I sleepily answer the cries of my hungry babe in the middle of the night or make my continuous rounds through the house always carrying, always rocking the baby or skip another hot meal to tend to the needs of the baby.  And I need to remember that besides my own baby, there's another greater one that was born more than 2000 years ago.

So with most of the presents already wrapped (thanks to my daughter!) and about to go under the tree, it's a bit late to be changing my tune with how we celebrate Christmas.  But just as an out-of-shape person finally hits bottom and decides at that point to diet and exercise, I've hit bottom and want to make our out-of-shape Christmas fit again.  Fit for a King!  After reading this post called The Christmas Conundrum, I'm very serious about using some of her "drastic" measures to get our focus back to where it belongs - on Christ.  I especially love her gift-giving policy for each of her kids: "Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.  That's it. (This year we are adding something to give...)"  So it may be a little early in making resolutions, but my hope is that by this time next year, our house will be filled with not regret but joy and not with tons of gifts but a focus on the One Gift.  

Happy Three Kings Day

In celebration of Epiphany (which is tomorrow and signals the end of the 12 days of Christmas and the Christmas season), I'd like to include a poem here by T.S. Eliot I came across.  It's called The Journey of the Magi.

"A cold coming we had of it,
Just the worst time of the year
For a journey, and such a long journey:
The was deep and the weather sharp,
The very dead of winter."
And the camels galled, sore-footed, refractory,
Lying down in the melting snow.
There were times we regretted
The summer palaces on slopes, the terraces,
And the silken girls bringing sherbet.
Then the camel men cursing and grumbling
And running away, and wanting their liquor and women,
And the night-fires gong out, and the lack of shelters,
And the cities hostile and the towns unfriendly
And the villages dirty, and charging high prices.:
A hard time we had of it.
At the end we preferred to travel all night,
Sleeping in snatches,
With the voices singing in our ears, saying
That this was all folly.

Then at dawn we came down to a temperate valley,
Wet, below the snow line, smelling of vegetation;
With a running stream and a water-mill beating the darkness,
And three trees on the low sky,
And an old white horse galloped away in the meadow.
Then we came to a tavern with vine-leaves over the lintel,
Six hands at an open door dicing for pieces of silver,
And feet kicking the empty wine-skins.
But there was no information, and so we continued
And arrived at evening, not a moment too soon
Finding the place; it was (you may say) satisfactory.

All this was a long time ago, I remember,
And I would do it again, but set down
This set down
This: were we lead all that way for
Birth or Death? There was a Birth, certainly,
We had evidence and no doubt. I have seen birth and death,
But had thought they were different; this Birth was
Hard and bitter agony for us, like Death, our death.
We returned to our places, these Kingdoms,
But no longer at ease here, in the old dispensation,
With an alien people clutching their gods.
I should be glad of another death.*

I wrote about Epiphany and my discovery of its rich tradition in a previous post - if you'd like to read more about it yourself, feel free to check it out here.  Hope your Christmas season was wonderful and your New Year is blessed!


*To read more about this poem, its background, symbolism, etc., go here.

My God, My King

I wanted to share this video with you as I was reminded of this, one of my favorite inspirational songs, during this season when we celebrate Christ's arrival on this earth.  If you have been to a recent Beth Moore conference, this will be familiar to you.  Enjoy and praise our Mighty King who came down for US!!!



* Revelation Song sung by Kari Jobe

Merry Christmas, Kajiji Girls!

Pondering Christmas

Only a couple more days until we celebrate the most cherished holiday of the year! I've just come back from a trip down South, and I have to say how pleased I was to notice how many businesses did not take the "PC" way and shirk from offending by wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. As we passed a big Pepsi-Cola plant, emblazoned on the front of the building was a huge Merry Christmas!. Along with the warmer temps and the sun, it was such a breath of fresh air. Christmas is typically a holiday of merriment and, when we think about it, of holy awe. As we prepare for the birth of our Savior, let us ponder on the significance of God's gift to us.

Migdal Edar*

When you picture the birth of Jesus Christ, what comes to mind? A cave converted into a stable? A manger, with Mary and Joseph looking at Jesus? Or maybe you imagine barnyard animals looking at the newborn baby? The Bible gives us some details concerning the birth of Jesus, but there are many things that we do not know, such as the location of the birth of Jesus. In this newsletter we would like to explore a possible location for the birth of Christ that we think you will find very interesting.

In our recent research we have identified Migdal Edar as a possible location for the place of Jesus' birth. Migdal Edar is located about two miles south of Jerusalem on the road to Bethlehem. The Bible clearly states that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, but Bethlehem at the time of Jesus was larger and more spread out than modern day Bethlehem. Today Jerusalem and Bethlehem are separated by only six miles.

Migdal Edar means "tower of the flock".

You might ask, "What flock?" The answer would be the flock that produced the lambs for sacrifice in the Temple at Jerusalem. In light of Jewish Law, under which Jesus was born (Galatians 4:4-5), this place would have been considered a "clean" location in which to give birth to the Messiah.

It is also interesting to note that the shepherds were told to go to Bethlehem and there they would find the Messiah. The shepherds did not need to ask where in Bethlehem they would find the Child, for they knew about Migdal Edar (Luke 2:11). The "sign" given by the angels was that He would be lying in a manger and dressed in swaddling cloths (Luke 2:12).

During this time of year, we often ponder the events surrounding the coming of our Savior. Migdal Edar was dedicated to producing perfect lambs for the temple sacrifices. It is our reminder that Jesus, the perfect Lamb of God, came to be the final sacrifice for our sins.

Wow. Even Jesus' birth heralded his death. As we celebrate Jesus' birthday this week, let us remember why He came. Our children are born because we love, and they are the result of that love. Jesus was born because we hate, and His death was the result of that hate. May His abundant love cover you in this year and the next. Merry Christmas!


*Taken from the most recent Grapevine Studies e-newsletter.

Paradise Foreclosed

One of the biggest questions of the human race has been, "How does God allow such pain and suffering for humans?" If He were a good God, would He not prevent the tragedies that continually befall our race? We see pictures of those less fortunate than us all around the world living in shacks in the middle of a place that looks like our local trash dump. We hear about those who are sick and diseased because of unclean water, infectious mosquitoes, contagious viruses. People die by the millions everyday from starvation and sickness. But I think the real question is, "How do we as a people deserve anything more than that?" Living in tin shacks next to a river of sewage is the perfect example of the only lifestyle we can spiritually afford. Our souls are bankrupt when it comes to righteousness, and we gave up the good things of Eden when we chose knowledge over God. Once sin entered the world, our proverbial bank accounts emptied, and Paradise handed us a foreclosure sign. Since when do we deserve anything but tragedy and misery? When did we start thinking that God's blessings were a right of ours?

The Scriptures are full of accounts of God's mercy and grace to those undeserving. How many times did Moses plead for God to stay His hand of judgment from the Israelites? And countless times, God showed mercy instead.

"Because Thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee" Psalm 63:3

We sit in our furnished homes and drive our luxury cars and eat our organic foods. God's blessings have been poured out on us abundantly. If we have a roof over our heads, we are blessed. If we are healthy, we are blessed. If we have food to eat, we are blessed. If we are warm in the winter and cool in the summer, we are more than blessed. If our children are without distended empty tummies, they are blessed. If we have a Christmas tree this season with gifts underneath it, we are abundantly blessed. If we have one dollar in our pocket to give to someone else, we are richer than most.

"Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful" Luke 6:36

Misery is what we traded paradise for, and yet God continues to shower us with His grace and mercy. Our life's wages can only afford us a life not worth living. Yet God took us out of our garbage dump existence and handed us a mansion. The world gives pain and suffering to us freely. But more than occasionally, God raises us up out of this existence to give us glimpses of Heaven.

"Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Spirit" Titus 3:5

God allows pain and suffering, because we chose it. It is not the right of His people to live like we do surrounded by every conceivable blessing; it is our ultimate privilege that God grants us the gift of His mercies and blessings. So the question truly is, "How does God allow us the tender mercies and bountiful blessings of which humans experience (even those with nothing to their name)?" How did we get so lucky in all that we've been provided and given? The answer is a simple one: "Because He first loved us..."

"This is how much God loved the world: He gave His Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life." John 3:16 (The Message)

In this season of Love, may the blessings you've received flow over into your charity to others so that those who are living in poverty, misery and poor health will see and experience Christ's love and mercy through you and be blessed. Merry Christmas!!