Saturday, December 22, 2012
This year's 'Awkward Family Photos'
I think explanations may take something away from these little jewels....
Friday, December 21, 2012
Merry Christmas
Thousands of years ago, a baby boy was born to very young, poor parents in a barn. There were no silver stars layed in marble, no lines of weeping adorers, no sparkling crosses in the night sky, or towering churches to celebrate His arrival; just a few shepherds and the animals. Straw, flies, dung, and dirt...this was the first breath taken by our King.
The baby was taken to Egypt to keep Him safe from those who wanted to kill Him.
When it was safe, the boy was brought back to Israel. In the temple in Jerusalem, He taught important, smart people...and they were all amazed at how well the boy knew our Heavenly Father.
He grew-up in Nazareth. But I didn't go there. I was told by locals, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
As a man, He taught in view of the Sea of Galilee. He taught the people about loving each other, and becoming one. He fed them. And healed them. And cried with them. He walked on this water.
He came to this river. It has a silty bottom, with lots of slimey rocks in it. Here, the only perfect person to ever live was dipped below the dirty water by his cousin, and lifted out again. He did it to show us how to become like Him.
One week before He died, He came through the gates of Jerusalem where he was greeted by the inhabitants waving palm branches. I'm sure that they hoped to receive the healings, and prayers, and bread he had offered to those in the North of the country. And He gave it to them.
But, in the days that followed, he found himself on the outside of those gates, on the Mountain of Olives, looking down on the city, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem...how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" He needed them to understand that the bread was more than bread, and the healing was more eternal than eyes, and skin, and blood.
The time had come. So He prayed in a garden; perhaps these trees and an angel were his only witnesses. This is the place where he bled, and cried, and felt alone. This is where He made it possible for everyone to be healed, not just the people who lived in Israel 2000 years ago.
That night, a friend that He love very much, helped take Him away to the people who would kill him. They hurt him first. And then made him walk to the spot he would die.
They took him to the 'skull mountain', Golgotha, and nailed Him to a piece of wood.
He died. And was put in a nearby borrowed tomb. On the third day, a girl sat in front of the tomb, crying. "Why weepest thou?", He asked her. And then he spoke her name.
This story about a little baby born in a little town, became a story of how every hurt can be healed, and every dead thing will be made alive again.
(the dead sea)
Beginning with a single star shining over Israel, we were told the story of Light of the World.
(all pictures taken by Karren Wilde)
The baby was taken to Egypt to keep Him safe from those who wanted to kill Him.
When it was safe, the boy was brought back to Israel. In the temple in Jerusalem, He taught important, smart people...and they were all amazed at how well the boy knew our Heavenly Father.
He grew-up in Nazareth. But I didn't go there. I was told by locals, "Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?"
As a man, He taught in view of the Sea of Galilee. He taught the people about loving each other, and becoming one. He fed them. And healed them. And cried with them. He walked on this water.
He came to this river. It has a silty bottom, with lots of slimey rocks in it. Here, the only perfect person to ever live was dipped below the dirty water by his cousin, and lifted out again. He did it to show us how to become like Him.
One week before He died, He came through the gates of Jerusalem where he was greeted by the inhabitants waving palm branches. I'm sure that they hoped to receive the healings, and prayers, and bread he had offered to those in the North of the country. And He gave it to them.
But, in the days that followed, he found himself on the outside of those gates, on the Mountain of Olives, looking down on the city, "Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem...how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings, and ye would not!" He needed them to understand that the bread was more than bread, and the healing was more eternal than eyes, and skin, and blood.
The time had come. So He prayed in a garden; perhaps these trees and an angel were his only witnesses. This is the place where he bled, and cried, and felt alone. This is where He made it possible for everyone to be healed, not just the people who lived in Israel 2000 years ago.
That night, a friend that He love very much, helped take Him away to the people who would kill him. They hurt him first. And then made him walk to the spot he would die.
They took him to the 'skull mountain', Golgotha, and nailed Him to a piece of wood.
He died. And was put in a nearby borrowed tomb. On the third day, a girl sat in front of the tomb, crying. "Why weepest thou?", He asked her. And then he spoke her name.
This story about a little baby born in a little town, became a story of how every hurt can be healed, and every dead thing will be made alive again.
Beginning with a single star shining over Israel, we were told the story of Light of the World.
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