"The young family in the Advent story speaks of places that are not home and of waiting: a girl on a donkey, heading away from family just a few weeks before her baby is due. She will have no familiar faces to look into, no mother’s or sister’s hands to hold as the pain of labor drags her into its fury. No familiar room to labor in. No room at all really, just space shared with animals. I am sure she missed home.
That displacement doesn’t end once the baby arrives. The labor room of a cave-barn and then the borrowed house in Bethlehem lead not to home but to
exile in Egypt before the family returns to Nazareth. Even when they return, they will live with unsettled hearts. They have a prophetic word: This child will bring both joy and sorrow. A sword will
pierce Mary’s heart. Nazareth will not be home enough. Their lives have been disrupted—for good.
Mary’s child will also know the pain of not belonging. As he grows up, he speaks often of the Father who sent him, the Father to whom he will return. He asks his Father to bring those whom he loves to
be with him in the house they share. He promises his friends that one day they will have a home with him and his Father. But not yet."
My
Christian Advent started yesterday. A day that I just rested and read my various small books that I'm working on right now:
1. The Promise of Security by Beth Moore
2. One Minute Prayers (For those who Hurt) by Hope Lyda
3. 199 Treasures of Wisdom on Talking with God by Andrew Murray
4. 199 Promises of God by Barbour Publishing, Inc
5. A Collection of Love Gifts by Helen Steiner Rice
6. Keeping Christ in Christmas by David C. Gibbs and David C Gibbs.
I'm going to be giving away Keeping Christ in Christmas as a Book Review and Giveaway here in this blog tomorrow or Wednesday. The book is really meant for churches and parents with kids in the public school and how society has drifted from being ONE NATION UNDER GOD to being Politically Correct and these two men are both lawyers for the Christian Law Association and they help Christians (for free) to get the message to their children's schools and public places what can and cannot be observed and honored in the Lord. What words, what Christmas Carols, Christmas Displays, Expressing our Joy amid growing Hatred, The Anti-Christian Agenda, Community Christmas Displays May Include Religious Symbols, Public School Christmas Displays May Include Religious Symbols, What Can I do to Keep Christ in Christmas. This giveaway will most likely begin in the middle of this week because I want to be sure that the book is out there in time for Christian parents and people in their communities to be able to get a chance to read it in time to do something. So look for that giveaway soon! If you want to get your own copy of this book I suggest that you go to: Christian Law Association and click those words to get there! And here's a direct link to the page that the book is on. Click Here. It costs $15.00 if you order from there (if you plan to use comments from his book in anything you write, then you should buy it there.)
BUT, if you're not planning on writing a blog entry using quotes from his book, then it's only $.99 (yes, 99 cents!) to buy it HERE. Buy now until Dec. 8th and get free shipping!.
We also took out the NEW and OLD and familiar Christmas decorations and put them up except for two things... the new shelf we need to buy to put on the wall to hold our Christmas Stockings. And the artificial Christmas tree we had passed down to us from my father. Every other year we used to put the stockings on each other's chair in the living room and Sandie's (my Sharpei mix dog) on the comfortable sofa that Sandie has taken over. She's in the picture below with her Christmas collar on and all her gifts in front of her along with her Christmas Stocking. Priceless!
