She had\u00a0walked ninety miles over rough terrain.\u00a0 Sometimes Joseph would place her on their little donkey, but in her condition it wasn’t all that comfortable.\u00a0 Coming into Joseph’s ancestral home, Bethlehem, there was a bustle and hurry among the people, most here to pay their taxes to Caesar Augustus.\u00a0 She and Joseph were pushed and shoved in the crowded streets.\u00a0 She felt twinges of pain.\u00a0 Her baby was due at any time. Where was she going to birth him?<\/p>\n
From inn to inn they went looking for a bed for the night.\u00a0 “No room, no room,” they were told over and over.\u00a0 Then one inn keeper felt pity for the young couple and motioned them to follow him.\u00a0 He took them behind his inn where a sort of cave held his animals.\u00a0 At least it was out of the weather.\u00a0 There was clean\u00a0straw on the floor.\u00a0 A couple of cows stood in their stalls.\u00a0 Chickens\u00a0 clucked softly on their roosts.\u00a0 A few sheep baaed softly.\u00a0 Mary looked around at the surroundings and thought to herself that this was not a place for God’s son to be born, but there was no where else to go, so she settled down in the hay.<\/p>\n
The birth pangs became harder and harder.\u00a0 Joseph rubbed her back and said soothing words.\u00a0 Then the time came that she should be delivered.\u00a0 The boy they had been promised came into this world among animals who watched curiously at this event that was happening.\u00a0 Mary gazed at her baby’s face.\u00a0 She was looking into the very face of God.\u00a0 This tiny babe who would change everything.\u00a0 Time would be based on his birth, BC and Anno Domini.\u00a0 The world would not accept him.\u00a0 He would touch thousands of people during his short time on earth.\u00a0 Thankfully, Mary did not know what her baby boy would one day have to suffer to save this world of His.\u00a0 All she knew was\u00a0that she loved him more than anyone she had ever loved before.\u00a0 She kissed his sweet, baby face and smelled the sweetness of his baby smell.\u00a0 His downy hair stuck up.\u00a0 He gurgled and cooed.\u00a0 She held him to her breast.\u00a0 All was calm.\u00a0 All was\u00a0peaceful in the stable. \u00a0 Joseph found some rags and she carefully swaddled Jesus.\u00a0 They were now a family.\u00a0 Parents with a great responsibility for they were to raise God’s son.<\/p>\n
Out in the fields surrounding Bethlehem, shepherds were watching their sheep.\u00a0 Watching that no predators would come along and grab one to kill and eat.\u00a0 It was a chilly night.\u00a0 They pulled their garments close around them as they looked up at the starry sky.\u00a0 It was such a clear night, so quiet and peaceful.\u00a0 The sheep were grazing.\u00a0 Lambs following their mothers up and down the hills.\u00a0 Suddenly, right before their eyes in the dark nighttime sky, a light appeared.\u00a0 A figure of great beauty appeared before them.\u00a0 They began to shake with fear as the angel said to them, “Fear not: for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be\u00a0to ALL people. For unto you is born this day\u00a0in the city of David A Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.\u00a0 And this shall be a sign to you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”<\/p>\n
Suddenly the skies were filled with hosts of angels,\u00a0 a multitude of them, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, good will to men.”<\/p>\n
Suddenly it was a dark night again and the shepherds looked at one another.\u00a0 Did we really see that, they asked themselves.\u00a0 “We had better get down to Bethlehem and see this thing which the angels told us about.”\u00a0 So, they left their sheep grazing on the hills and hurried down to the busy streets of Bethlehem going from place to place until suddenly, there they found a little family in a stall for animals, their baby swaddled and laying in a manger where the cattle fed.\u00a0 Such a lowly sight and yet a glorious one.\u00a0 A soft glow shone over the family. The shepherds bowed down and looked at this tiny baby who would change the world.<\/p>\n
This year as you celebrate Christmas remember this.\u00a0 It is about the gift.\u00a0 The greatest gift of all.\u00a0 God’s gift to you.\u00a0 Just for you.\u00a0 Jesus.\u00a0 He came, not to condemn the world, but to save it because He loves us so much.\u00a0 That little baby grew to be the savior of the world.\u00a0 One day to die a horrible death on the cross taking your and my sins upon him.\u00a0 Every last person on earth meant that much to Him.<\/p>\n
Happy Birthday, Lord Jesus.\u00a0 You are infinite.\u00a0 Your birthdays will go on forever.\u00a0 Welcome into our hearts today.\u00a0 Merry Christmas, everyone and may you be blessed to know Jesus.\u00a0 Bye.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
She had\u00a0walked ninety miles over rough terrain.\u00a0 Sometimes Joseph would place her on their little donkey, but in her condition it wasn’t all that comfortable.\u00a0 Coming into Joseph’s ancestral home, Bethlehem, there was a bustle and hurry among the people, most here to pay their taxes to Caesar Augustus.\u00a0 She and Joseph were pushed and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith-and-religion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5274"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5276,"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5274\/revisions\/5276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/snicklefritz.net\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}