Happy New Year!

I love butterflies.

I don't mean in the little girl, pretty delicate pink and yellow polka dotted butterflies with sparkles. I mean the gorgeous beauties in nature that fight with every beat of their wings to survive. Most especially I love the Monarch.

I love everything about these beautiful creatures.

I will tell you why.

But not today.

Today I will tell you of one verse.

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: the old has gone, the new is here!" (2 Cor 5:17)

What a wonderful truth to remember as we ring in the New Year with all the grace He has given us!  Celebrate it. Embrace it. Live it.

Blessings for your new year, 

Opening the mind...and heart

I certainly hope you enjoyed visiting with me while we read Why the Nativity? by David Jeremiah before Christmas. I did. I really, really did.

If you recall, what I loved most was reading his words that painted pictures in my mind and took me back to ancient Palestine.  I believe those images opened my thought process and truly helped prepare my heart for the powerful message of the Nativity.

Now I'm at it again. This time with another author; however, this author is quoting several writings from 1st century Jews and other scholars and writers, while taking me on a trip to understand the culture and perception of the time surrounding Jesus and his contemporaries.

For me personally, it's really mind blowing and also enlightening. And I'm thoroughly enjoying it.

One of the quotes in this book says exactly what I have felt about studying the bible properly in order to truly understand what is being said. As a note, remember what I wrote about looking too close and not enjoying the forest because you're focused on examining bark and only bark. There is a time and place for everything.

But I digress.

Here it is:

"to grab a few lines of Jesus and drop them down on someone 2,000 years later without first entering into the world in which they appeared is lethal to the life and vitality and truth of the Bible."

Did you catch that? Lethal. 

Lethal to the...truth.

Woah.

I'm already almost half way done with this book and the deeper I dig the more I'm discovering on my own.  If I've peaked your interest and you want to know what I'm reading I'll tell you.  Actually, if you don't care stop reading here because I'm going to tell you anyway...silly.

Just know one thing, I've been told all my life I'm a perpetual student and I get bored easily if I'm not challenged.  So with that said, don't be surprised because I've traveled from Why the Nativity? by David Jeremiah to Erasing Hell by Francis Chan.

If that didn't give you whiplash, then you know me all too well.

Blessings for your day,

Merry Christmas!

Blessings for your day,

Preparing for Christmas - 12.23.2011

There is so much I could personally say about today's chapter from this power packed little book we are going through. As a matter of fact, it's really not the book that has me overwhelmed and overjoyed. It's how the deep corners of my heart are being filled with the blessing being poured out during this season.

It's something completely intangible.

It's something both skeptics and believers alike have difficulty understanding.

It's something so beyond my comprehension and my desire to be logical that it makes my brain hurt.

And yet, I can "feel" it.

It.

The unexplainable, inexplicable, unbelievable, what cannot be seen or heard.

It.

Or just maybe...Who?

I try to wrap my mind around the danger in asking the question and I'm simply blown away at how desperately my heart wants to hear the answers...again, and again, and again.

From David Jeremiah's book, Why the Nativity?

December 23: Why Did Jesus Come?

This is probably the longest chapter his book. Not because it is filled with convincing arguments or a well rehearsed speech that is carefully typed out for the reader to follow and understand "it". Dr. Jeremiah lays out verses of scripture and then describes ideas and thoughts and examples everyone of us can understand. He goes over them as if reciting the chef's specials at a five star restaurant. You can almost envision on the plate in front of you what your ears are hearing and you just KNOW it's going to be amazing...every single bite.

However, you still have to choose to be present and sit and listen.

"The news is so good, so outrageously wonderful, that the world finds it difficult to believe."

I'm not going to lay out what David Jeremiah wrote in his book. It's like the choosing and the tasting in the world's finest restaurant. I can tell you all I want at how good it is but until you sit down for yourself and savor it, you will never know how outrageously wonderful "it" is.

Get the book. Read and get curious. Ask the questions. Ask your own questions.  Sit and chew on every morsel of discovery.

Don't delay. Your table awaits.
Why the Nativity?

Preparing for Christmas - 12.22.2011

If you've been following along for the past few weeks, I'm sure you're beginning to see a trend...and pick up on a very important point.  If you are new and haven't necessarily been following along, may I suggest you start reading from the first post: Christmas 2011 - Why the Nativity? 

May I also suggest that if you haven't picked up your copy of the book, you do so now.

(great, here comes the gratuitous link)

Yup - here it is! Why the Nativity? by David Jeremiah

Today's chapter is a perfect example of how in depth actual historical records have been studied by skeptics and believers alike.  There is so much history in the timeline surrounding the actual true event of Jesus' birth that it is no wonder you can take courses simply on that portion of history.

There are numerous Christian believers that believe simply on faith. I am one of them, however, I love to do research and dig deeper. When I find information that can paint a picture for me, even if contrary to what I was raised believing, I gobbled it like a famished being.

For example, I have a Jewish calender in my Bible. I also know the global position of Ancient Palestine compared to where I live -- eastern US.  So when I'm reading through the Old Testament and an event is referenced solely by "the fifteenth day of the second month", I can look up the time frame on the Jewish calendar and get a sense of the weather they may have been experiencing or how long a trip took them, etc.

I love that!

So when it came to studying all I could discover about the birth of Jesus and how Christmas is celebrated AROUND the world, not just here in the US, I again devoured all I could.  For some time now I've know there is a great possibility Jesus was born in the spring. Isn't it funny how many Nativity scenes have snow?  Nevermind that most of the of the places where Christmas is celebrated there is never snow on December 25th.  I mean, Hawaii...come on now. Snow?  But that's ok.  They celebrate it in a way that is customary to them.

Regardless, there was most probably no snow on the ground in Bethlehem either.

Recently I came across a post by another blogger that was written in a manner that was unloving in an attempt to mock and ridicule Christians for saying "Jesus is the Reason".  What I thoroughly enjoyed about this writer's post is that the factual information was true.  I love knowing why Christmas is celebrated when it is and I know many others who feel the same way. I also love knowing that information is readily available to anybody who truly wants to do a little digging.

May I offer a word of caution?

Be careful getting lost in studying  the details of a single tree that you miss the beauty of the entire forest.

The author of the blog on the historical significance of Christmas did just that and missed the point.

From David Jeremiah's book, Why the Nativity?  

Dec 22 : Why Do We Celebrate Christmas on December 25?

"It's as good a day as any. It's a 'together day' when we can feel all the world bowing as one before the King. But all the other days of the year are Christmas, too. That's the measure of his great gift to us."

Those are Dr. Jeremiah's thoughts after detailing several important truths from history and how the date came to be THE date. It was written in such a way that it encourages the reader to want to discover more and for me, it strengthens what I already know.

If you're curious, feel free to read the post written by the blogger I mentioned in the beginning. I must warn you, it's not written from a perspective of love. Regardless of the truth in the facts documented, like I said it was typed out in a form to mock those who truly may not know the actual "reason for the season".  Unfortunately, the writer assumed ignorance on the part of many.

That's never a good place to start.

But you can read it here.

Sit back, enjoy the view of the forest, sip a latte, and eat a cupcake. Remember the point that it doesn't matter the date Jesus was born. What matters is that He did enter this world and we must celebrate that very fact so others also don't miss the point.

Jesus IS the reason for the season, cupcakes.

.