The Prized Treasures

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  “Will the prized treasures of today always be the cheap trifles of the day before? Will rows of our willow-pattern dinner-plates be ranged above the chimneypieces of the great in the years 2000 and odd? Will the white cups with the gold rim and the beautiful gold flower inside (species unknown), that our Sarah Janes now break in sheer light-heartedness of spirit, be carefully mended, and stood upon a bracket, and dusted only by the lady of the house? . . . .   The “sampler” that the eldest daughter did at school will be spoken of as “tapestry of the Victorian era,” and be almost priceless. The blue-and-white mugs of the present-day roadside inn will be hunted up, all cracked and chipped, and sold for their weight in gold, and rich people will use them for claret cups; and travellers from Japan will buy up all the “Presents from Ramsgate,” and “Souvenirs of Margate,” that may have escaped destruction, and take them back to Jedo as ancient English curios.” Jerome K. Jerome, “T...

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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