…It’s such an interesting season. There is so much to celebrate if you can push past all craziness that's created by the competing world systems. What would the shepherds and wise men think? I'm not anti-Santa Clause, the real person who gave gifts. It's sad, not surprising, but sad to see how the Savior's birth and the idea of giving gifts has been turned in to a commercial zoo… -KatyO (a friend from Virginia)

A Star in the East
[Matthew 2:1-11]

My mind had been on this very thing when Katy wrote this to me. How can a once Christian nation get so far off the path of the star?

The wise men originally followed the star when they had first seen it. At some point their human wisdom kicked in and they assumed that since they were close enough to Judea, it must be at the PALACE where the king was to be born. Bottom line: they stopped following their sign. After they realized that the child was not born in the palace of Judea in Jerusalem, they went back to plan A. They once again began to follow the star. Verse 9 tells us plainly that the star led them all the way to the exact place where Christ was! I don’t believe it had disappeared; I believe it was just ignored. If they had stuck with the original plan to begin with, Mary and Joseph would not have had to travel to Egypt, and probably hundreds of babies under the age of two would have been spared. Decisions HAVE repercussions.

This doesn’t just apply to Christmas and consumerism. This also has everything to do with life decisions.

An earthen vessel I am...

[Leviticus 14:4-7]



The procedure goes something like this: The Priest takes two birds, puts them inside an earthen vessel, stands over running water and kills one of the birds. The other bird is used to purify the lepor and then set free...

2Co 4:7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
2Co 4:10 Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.

Its amazing the way that God has his hands in our hearts always working in us death [by his law] and life [by his Son]. One part of us dies so that the other part can be set free. For now, I believe that the running water represents time. This is a continuous act of God that never stops...