His birth was shrouded around scandal his mother pregnant before being with her husband. He was going to walk away quietly but was given a dream telling him it would be ok for him to marry her. He was born in a stable of all places where the air was pungent with the smell of manure and the animals were probably munching and smacking on left over grain and hay from their evening meal oblivious to the fact that the God of the universe had just been laid in one of their mangers. The only visitors that night were not grandparents and aunts and uncles but shepherds and the animals housed in the stable.
As a toddler a death warrant was put on his life by a insecure, jealous King ignorant of his own spirituality. He became aliens in the land of Egypt a foreign country to him and when he did return home it was to a small town covering about 60 acres and a population of approximately 500. An obscure village of farmers and artisans on the crossroads of the highway between Egypt and Mesopotamia called Nazareth, a town in Galilee. It was later asked if anything good can come from this town. He did.
At the age of 33 he was surrounded himself with fisherman, tax collectors, and what the religious leaders called “sinners”. Some were impulsive, hot headed, a thief, a betrayer, and a doubter. He was misunderstood, his own town folk that wanted to kill him and his own people did not accept him. The reminder of the scandal of his birth was always present as he was referred to as, “Mary’s son.” We all have a story.
Do I believe I can be better?
What is my dream?
Have I given up on my body?
Have I given up on relationships?
Let God remind me whose I am so I can be who I am.
Let go of the road blocks.
This was inspired by a group of sermons I have heard lately and what I have been struggling with in my own life right now. I have to admit there is a part of me that just wants to give it up and sit here and waste away. Not very glorifying to the Father that created me in His image or to the life I have led up to this point. So I am trying to take up the challenge given to me at CCDA to dream again and let my Father show me the good things he has for me.
