Preparing for Christmas

I live in Northern Virginia.  We have a nice rambler which is perfect for our little family.  Add a decent size yard and an annual vegetable garden and you would probably think our home is no big deal compared to so many other houses in Northern Virginia.

Actually, our home is right in the heart of where some of the most historic battles from the Civil War were fought.  My husband has even found some artifacts in our backyard.

Shhh...finders keepers!

So with a different perspective...it IS a big deal. Well, to my husband anyway :)

The point is, you would never know about the historical significance of our town unless someone told you or you did some research on your own.  It's incredible what my husband and I have discovered simply by spending an entire day at a local preserved battlefield and museum. Fascinating stuff.

Have you ever thought about doing a little digging to discover Bethlehem?

From David Jeremiah's book Why the Nativity?

Day 8 - December 8th

"Why Bethlehem?"

He writes:

"Why Bethlehem? Why your heart or mine? City and soul, they are equally silent, equally mixed in their histories, equally thirsty. Just as the Child quietly arrived in that town of towns, he longs to be born again in the hearts of every one of us."

Reading Dr Jeremiah's conclusion, it's almost as if he is saying, "Does it really matter where Jesus was born?"  But what is so brilliant is that he's not.  We so often miss all the connections in Scripture over this little town because the stories are spread over hundreds of years. Only once you lay them one after another, the town of Bethlehem seems to have a huge neon sign saying, "Messiah, We'll Keep the Light On For You".

If you haven't gotten the book Why the Nativity? to read about the significance of Bethlehem, do a simple search on Biblegateway.com to see how many times this little town comes up.  Start here.

Go on.

I'll wait.

[...tapping fingers]

Cool huh!?!

Doesn't that make you want to do a little digging of your own to find out why?  David Jeremiah is correct when he says that Jesus longs to be born again in the hearts of every one of us.  And when you find Him, you too can say,

FINDERS KEEPERS!


For further study: Read 1 Samuel 16:1-13. List three interesting things that happened in Bethlehem in this account.

And...here is the link for Why the Nativity? through Amazon.com:






 
  Many of you have told me you've gotten it.










Blessings for your day,