Just outside of Bethlehem, shepherds were on the watch over the sheep under their care. It was an ordinary night. They were likely cold and weary. They sat by a fire and made sure they kept their eyes open. This keeping work of theirs was constant. Long, hard, tedious hours...

It wasn’t much of an entrance, by the world’s standards anyway. But then God never needs much to work with. A small corner of a small room in a small town provided the setting for the arrival of the Son of God. Jesus was delivered by His mother, Mary, in...

“Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.” “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.” These sentences speak of the Lord and His care for us. The first one comes from 2 Kings 6....

Gabriel brought news from Heaven. It was this angel’s latest assignment, but it was unlike any he had been sent to do before. His destination:  Nazareth, a small highway town in the region of Galilee, north of Jerusalem and Judea. There, he would come to Mary, a virgin girl, a...

She was a woman on the run. Feeling unwelcome and mistreated as a maid in the home of Abraham and Sarah, Hagar made her escape. She was pregnant and all alone as she sat by a stream in the wilderness of Canaan. At least, she had found a place of...

The best defense is a good offense – or so I have heard it said by a number of sports coaches through the years. In fact, this is an ancient concept; really it’s one that’s as old as Creation. Follow this with me. Genesis opens by telling us that “the...

Jesus came small. Too small for some. His arrival to the earth was discovered to those whose hearts were open to something beyond themselves, to people who were paying attention to detail, to some who were just doing their jobs. It is interesting to me that in coming to earth,...