Eternity is a Long Time

Things that make you go hmmm... In 2008 I was deployed to Kuwait. While there, I walked past two guys who were sitting at a table outside the barracks where I lived. The Holy Spirit made it extremely clear that I was supposed to go over and talk with those guys - I didn't go. I've always wondered what would have happened if I had obeyed God instead of me. Today, I was reminded of how I used to climb through the window of the chapel of Norwich University at night just to sit there and ponder life. I wasn't a born again Christian in those days - that came 20 years later - but I was certainly open. Was someone supposed to come and talk with me during that time and, like I did years later, ignored the direction of the Holy Spirit? If so, what would have been different - for me and others - if I had given my life to Jesus in 1982 rather than 2002? In the end, it is what it is. God's ultimate plan will happen despite his children not obeying Him all the time. That being said,...

  Manger of Jesus (right) below the Church of the Nativity In late 2013, I had the opportunity to visit Israel while I was stationed with the Army in Jordan. During our swift, 60-hour tour of numerous sites in the Holy Land, we visited the Church of the Nativity. This church, like so many in the area, was built on top of an historic site in order to protect the site. In this case, it is the manger where Jesus was born. At least, that is what is believed. The site is in Bethlehem, it is a manger, Jesus was born in Bethlehem in a manger, so it is close enough for me! The entrance for the manger is behind the alter in the church and there was quite a line the day we went. I was at the back of our group and, for a few minutes, we were the last folks in line. Then, a group of nuns came in. It was obvious they were nuns from the habits they wore, but theirs was a very different color — almost a lavender. There were about 25 or so and they were in four neat rows that would make a drill se...

  As we enter this Advent season we naturally focus on the birth of Jesus. However, Luke’s story of the birth does not start in chapter 2 but in chapter 1 of his Gospel and it highlights one of the most vivid contrasts of “heart attitude” among the faithful.   This is represented in the responses of Zecharias and Mary to the angel Gabriel. A quick read of what each of these people said to Gabriel seems similar. But when you look at the way it is worded, and what God expects from His people, you see why the Gabriel deals differently with them.   Zecharias was an older man who had been a priest in the Temple for many years. His knowledge of Scripture was immense – easily dwarfing our own. Mary was a teenager who, likely, had no formal training in the Scripture . Knowledge, as we will see, does not equal faith.   When Zecharias went into the Holy of Holies to exercise his priestly duty, Gabriel appeared to him with an appearance that must have almost stopped Zecharias’...