[Discoveries] 12-27-08 Quietness -- Luke 2:6-7

[Inspiration in Your Inbox]

/*For those struggling financially ...*/
/*We all wish for quick fixes. But I remember something Rick Warren 
wrote in one of his books: "When God makes a mushroom, He takes a day. 
When He makes an oak, He takes a hundred years." There aren't any 
shortcuts. While, yes, there are legitimate ways to make $20,000 or more 
in a day, sometimes those doors are closed to us for one reason or 
another. Sometimes, we just need to slug it out. Let me encourage you 
not to resent the journey. If a pile of money could accomplish God's 
purposes in you, there's nothing stopping God from dropping a pile of 
money on your head. (And He may do it!) But God is also interested in 
the things money can't buy, and He wants you to have that abundance as 
well.*/

/*While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, and she 
gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed 
him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. -- Luke 
2:6-7*/

In the 2002 movie, /The Count of Monte Cristo,/ the count makes a 
spectacular appearance to the elite social circle of his day. He arrives 
in a hot air balloon, complete with fireworks, dancers, dozens of 
servants -- all the fanfare you could imagine.

By contrast, the first appearance of Jesus seems like an entry of 
stealth. Tucked away in a Judean village, in a cave or a stable, a 
traveling Jewish woman stops to give birth to a baby. It seems out of 
place.

But Jesus' birth became a metaphor for His whole life. Years later, 
Pilate couldn't understand why Jesus didn't vigorously defend Himself. 
It didn't occur to Jesus to bother. He knew that He had no lasting place 
in this world, until He returns to take possession of everything that is 
rightfully His.

Today Jesus is being born into the lives of people all over the world. 
Again, His entry is mostly unpublished, unrecognized, quiet. Quiet. Sort 
of like the Joshua's first six trips around Jericho.

Someday the trumpet will sound!

Be encouraged!
Dwight

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