It is clear from Daniel two, verses 12 and 13, that Daniel and his friends (Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego), were considered part of this caste of men known as the Wise Men of Babylon who were to be advisors to the King on a great breadth of subjects, including religion, science, philosophy and politics.  They […]

I used to wonder why the angels did not appear to the “professional” religious folk in the Temple… why shepherds? That was the thought and question I circled my mental wagons around as I considered this aspect of the Incarnation. After wrestling with this, I have concluded that the shepherds were the PERFECT candidates for […]

Essay #2 on Christmas – Mary and Joseph. I focus on the humanity of Mary’s journey. What humanity, you might ask? Picture the scene. Mary is in her home in Nazareth when an angel—no ordinary angel, but Gabriel himself—appears. By the customs of the time, Mary was likely only fourteen to sixteen years old. Now, […]

Respect the Long Game In the midst of the Christmas devotionals this year, I have been asking myself repeatedly…  Apart from all of the interesting human and cultural details of the narratives surrounding Mary, the shepherds, and the Magi, what does this Christmas mean to me? I think perhaps the one sentence that comes to […]

The Magi weren’t simply three really smart guys (aka “Wise Men”) on camels. There is much more to the story. Here is the video link: The Magi The audio-only links to Spotify and iTunes are to the right. Here is the transcript today’s podcast was derived from: The Magi How incredible would it be to […]

The fact that God chose THESE shepherds as witnesses to the Incarnation is NOT an afterthought or a mistake. Here is the video version of this podcast: The Christmas Chronicles Part 3… The Shepherds The audio links to this podcast (iTunes and Spotify) are to the right. Here is the transcript used for this podcast: […]

“Thinking with my mouth open” I muse about the humanity of the story of Mary and Joseph. Here is the video link: Christmas Chronicles Part 2 – Mary As usual, the audio links for Spotify and iTunes is to the right. Here is the transcript used for today’s podcast: The Story The Annunciation (Luke 1:26-38) […]

There are two parts to a chess match – the “Long Game” and the “End Game”. The Long Game is the majority of the match, and its purpose is to set up the player’s End Game. God’s Long Game is the entirety of the Old Testament. His End Game is found in the Gospels. The […]