Eyes on Salvation
We were blessed at our Christmas pageant this past December to have a live baby to play Jesus. Carly Jacobs played Mary and she held Lee Porter who was not quite 3 weeks old at the time. His mother, Morgan, was careful to bring him in just before the scene and whisked him away immediately afterward because he was too young to be in a crowd.
It was a very sweet scene. I’m sure everyone watching could see that Carly loves babies. It was either that or she’s just a great actress. Most people couldn’t see Morgan and Kody gazing at their son in the wings, or his grandparents Melody, who has been running our pageant for decades, and Pat seeing their first grandchild playing Jesus. That and 60-something kids created an explosion of love – BOOM! – to convey the joy of Christmas.
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Meeting God
Where might we encounter God? Anywhere, of course. Yet, we are also drawn to encounter him in specific places. We have very deep roots on that point.
From the Exodus forward, the people of Israel got used to God being with them in a particular spot, even if when God was moving with them. It began with a pillar of cloud and fire as they were leaving Egypt. It included the top of Mount Sinai wreathed in cloud with thunder and lightning, or in a cloud of fire. God then gave them very detailed instructions on building the Tabernacle, a tent for meeting God that could move with them as they wandered in the desert wilderness. Wherever they went, the people would know that God was right there.
Eventually, after the conquest of the Promise Land, after the time of the Judges, after King Saul and after King David, God gave Solomon very detailed instructions for the first Temple at Jerusalem. That Temple lasted over 400 years, until it was destroyed by the Babylonians in about 586 AD. Then, 70 years later, that’s 2-3 generations later, Cyrus of Persia overthrew Babylon and helped Israel rebuild it, and there it has stood all the way up to this moment.
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A Fail & Failure
Laura and I are fans of Science Fiction Movies. For me the best ones are those that have just enough real possibilities in them.
How many of you remember the 1998 movie, “Armageddon”? It had a cast of stars, including Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton and Ben Affleck. The movie was a commercial success, grossing $553.7 million. Big money back in 1998.
The movie begins with a scene showing a massive meteor shower destroying the orbiting Space Shuttle Atlantis, before entering the atmosphere and bombarding major cities. It is then discovered that a massive asteroid the size of Texas will impact Earth in 18 days, potentially wiping out all life on Earth. NASA devises a plan to have a deep hole drilled into the asteroid, into which they will insert and detonate a nuclear bomb to destroy the asteroid, saving life on earth.
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