For unto you is born this day in
the city of David a Saviour,
which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you;
Ye shall find the babe
wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel
a multitude of the heavenly host praising God,
and saying,
Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace,
good will toward men.
Luke 2:11-14
I lit the candles in the wrong order many times before
a Jewish friend watched me and said, "What are you doing?"
Now I light them the way they do.
Many things I did as the world does them before I knew Jesus, the Light of the World.
Hanukkah is a miracle. Triumph, safety, freedom, light in the darkness. There was a fierce battle like the one we are in now. The temple was taken. The menorah was stolen. Salvation was on the way, but everything they could see and touch and feel told them otherwise. Like now, maybe.
The light returned. The small amount of oil was enough.
I believe this story is like another. In the following the oil in the lamps is the Lord. Knowing Him means your lamp is full. Is yours? Even a small amount? What if He returned right now? (Jesus is the bridegroom. In these verses He returns for His bride the church, which is every believer, not a building or organization. It's us.)
Matthew 25:1-13
"At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were foolish and five were wise. The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’
Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’
‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’
But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.
Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’
But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’
Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour."
Then came the Festival of Dedication at Jerusalem.
It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple courts
walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.
John 10:22-23
For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile: Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.
Did you know ice sings? It does, like us.
This is a dear, old friend of mine who I have never met or spoken to in real life. But this is better than real life, isn't it? In real life I have wet socks and dirty coffee cups and my hair's a mess. Oh, and the Ancient Spirit she mentions? I know Who that is. Do you?
A whisper came on the wind, reminding her of bitter days. Bitter? Yes, but the memory colored the present. It made her grateful. Now the hearth was full of firewood and little shoes and drying socks. Bellies were full. Tears had been wiped away. Songs sang themselves. Had the battle been won? Truthfully, she had not really expected to win, but here they were. It had been won, the long war of mankind over the centuries, eons and days and forever. It was done. She was tired, but danced anyway and rejoiced and stood astonished at the sound of peace. They had never heard it before, this pause, breath, the still, soft whisper that reminded them all what they had been given. It was good.
No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.
The time came when he could no longer lie. He was a thief. Maybe you are too. He confessed. He told on his cohorts. He would no longer hide the truth. It came out of him like floodgates had been opened and he let it. Suddenly the facts mattered more than the fiction of his entire life, the trying to make something that is not, is. Only God can do that, yet man tries over and over again. He spoke. His friends were appalled. His enemies gloated, though they were guilty too. He told everyone what they had planned, the theft of us all, our very souls. Nevermind the wealth. True wealth is breath in our lungs. He was certain that now he would not even have that. But. He drew a deep breath and his friends drew back from him and left him alone. The truth had defended him, though moments before he had not imagined it would.
I have this hat.
It says, "Not all who wander are lost."
But I disagree
with my hat.
All who wander are lost.
For by grace you have been saved
through faith. And this is not from
yourselves—it is the gift of God.
Ephesians 2:8
I am so thankful for all of you.
Have a blessed holiday, those who celebrate Thanksgiving and those who don't.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego answered and said to the king,
“O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.”
Then Nebuchadnezzar was filled with fury, and the expression of his face was changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. He ordered the furnace heated seven times more than it was usually heated. And he ordered some of the mighty men of his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and to cast them into the burning fiery furnace.
Then these men were bound in their cloaks, their tunics, their hats, and their other garments, and they were thrown into the burning fiery furnace. Because the king’s order was urgent and the furnace overheated, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, fell bound into the burning fiery furnace.
Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished and rose up in haste. He declared to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” He answered and said, “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.”
I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 14:6
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,
for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Hebrews 13:2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.
And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent,
but by the power of an indestructible life.
For it is witnessed of him,
“You are a priest forever,
after the order of Melchizedek.”
Part 1: here.
She stepped through the wall like before, entering the past from the distant future. Her comfortable apartment became an old office in an old building in the capital of an old nation. Yesterday had a distinct aroma.
"What are you doing here?" The leader asked, surprised at her reappearance. At least this time she had come through on purpose, yet still dressed too casually.
"I need a hero," she said.
He winced. He made a terrible hero.
"Not you," she explained.
"Oh."
He drew a long, reluctant breath, then asked, "Why do you need a hero?"
"Something unexpected has happened."
"So you came to the past to look for a hero?" He understood immediately her problem was fear and said, "Perfect love casts out all fear."
He wasn't sure how he knew that until she reminded him it's in the Bible. "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 1 John 4:18."
He must have read it when he was a child.
"Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it. Proverbs 22:6," she said.
He nodded.
She was the one who was trained up, but here she was needing to be reminded.
He didn't make such a terrible hero afterall.
