A Whole Street of Houses, Stirred With A Spoon

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“ And by this time they were come up to the great iron gates in front of the house; and Tom stared through them at the rhododendrons and azaleas, which were all in flower; and then at the house itself, and wondered how many chimneys there were in it, and how long ago it was built, and what was the man’s name that built it, and whether he got much money for his job? These last were very difficult questions to answer. For Harthover had been built at ninety different times, and in nineteen different styles, and looked as if somebody had built a whole street of houses of every imaginable shape, and then stirred them together with a spoon.” —The Water-Babies, by Charles Kingsley. Ch.1 (1863)

Go For The Ride of Your Life this Christmas!

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There is this great chapter in John Steinbeck’s “East of Eden,” wherein he describes this darling country mother (Olivia Hamilton, by name) who disbelieves a war is taking place (World War 1) until a neighbor boy is killed in Germany. This death snaps her to her senses so strongly she declares her own personal war against the Kaiser himself and sells so many war bonds that the Army rewards her efforts with a plane ride. The only problem is that she does not believe in airplanes. What happens next is golden—but you read that for yourself.

Truthfully (and on a very human level) the Christmas story is hard to believe; yet, with all the historical evidences alone, the event is undisputed and we can embrace and rejoice with the news of the Savior! We can, to some degree, begin to grasp the conflicting emotion experienced by Mary and Joseph who both received angelic announcements concerning what was going to happen. The news is unbelievable; however, they trusted God.
And what about the shepherds? The news is unbelievable, but they trusted God.

And the wise men? Not only were they able to divine the news, but trekked quite a ways over a long period of time because they believed God.
The Christmas story must be believed!

But that’s if we jump over Luke 1 and go straight to Luke 2.
Luke 1 tells another story, before Mary receives her announcement. Luke 1 is the story of unbelievable news—and a man who did not believe . . . at first.

This is no accident that Luke 1 comes before Luke 2. When he arranged his account, Luke begins with the record of a man who did not believe God. And why not? This sets the tone for the rest of the book: God is to be believed and the news is world-changing. When you climb on board and believe God by faith, you will get the ride of your life.

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