Baby Jesus II

There is some awesome art depicting the life of Jesus.

A quote from Saturday:


"Even if you don't care to believe the gospel accounts of the birth and life of Jesus, just the fact alone that there is such an incredibly unique episode in world history make it a reason to celebrate.

In my mind, the most unusual aspect of the birth of Jesus has to do with the prophetic foretelling of his birth. In all of history there is no other person who has a record like his."


It's another Monday morning, kids are off to school and the wife is off to work. I'm working here, or at least trying to get started. Funny, this morning, on the way to school and work, I was telling my wife that I had the strangest dream last night. I dreamed that I was going to Hawaii. It was wierd. I've never been to
Hawaii and never wanted to go, except for the time, years ago, when I was in the military. I have no desire to see Hawaii. As a soldier, I thought it might be interesting to spend a tour, you know, maybe three years in Hawaii, just to see what it's like -- try surfing and see if the fishing's any good. Really, I don't ask much out of life. Having a decent place to surf and fish would have been a great time for me. All the stuff that seems to consume other people's lives doesn't have much appeal to me. I know, it's just me. For instance, yesterday, I made my first attempt at Tuscona soup. It's an Italian seasoned potato soup, with a sausage base, I guess you could call it. It was decent. To me, it's alot more fun to try and cook my own good tasting meals, than to have something made at a restaurant. I enjoy the cooking and the eating. I really don't care for most restaurants, even the better ones. I haven't had a really good pizza since I made one. My wife, however, leans toward the other extreme. So we disagree about most things, making marriage an ordeal. Yes, that too.


At this point in life, I have not been and have no desire whatever to see Hawaii. OK, maybe you can't see the humor. It's that since I've been married, I've had to live places I never really wanted to be, and do things that I never really wanted to do, and the whole experience has had a cloud over it. There has been little enjoyment over the years. Wouldn't it be ironic that I had to, for some reason, go to Hawaii, of all places, and find myself in the middle of the greatest funk I've known since the day I got married. It's the irony of being in perhaps the most pleasant climate on the globe and not being able to enjoy it -- that's my marriage.


Wish I could say it wasn't so, but that would be lying. I know. Sometimes it's better to lie. Everyone else does. Nah. That would only make me feel worse. So it
appears the best way to handle the marriage thing is to simply accept that it is
what it is, knowing G-d has a purpose in suffering and I'm in this mess for a reason.
There is some small comfort in knowing I'm not alone.


Yes. This is my life. I don't have it together in any way, shape or form. And honestly, I find it hard to imagine that anyone does. So, what does all that have to do with Jesus? The way I see it, the dissatisfaction that we experience in life is because we long for the perfection that we were originally created to know. In other words, if we were not created in the image of G-d, we would have no sense of the imperfection of the world around us. For instance, we would not be concerned at all about things like war. It would seem the normal and happy state of man. But it doesn't seem that way. Even atheists say that they are against
war. Talk about irony. And looking around, it's easy to see all the other things that folks are unhappy about. The list is long.


Here's an example from about two thousand years ago:


Act 6:1 Now in those days, when the number of
the disciples was increasing, protests were made
by the Greek Jews against the Hebrews, because
their widows were not taken care of in the
distribution of food every day.


I suggest it's because we are created in the image of G-d and we sense that there is something better. Here's the big problem - Where to find that 'something better'?
Just keep looking.


There's the baby Jesus, who became the Jesus on the cross, who became the resurrected Jesus meeting Saul on the road to Damascus:


Act 9:1 But Saul, still burning with desire to
put to death the disciples of the Lord, went to
the high priest,


2 And made a request for letters from him to the
Synagogues of Damascus, so that if there were
any of the Way there, men or women, he might
take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.


3 And while he was journeying, he came near
Damascus; and suddenly he saw a light from
heaven shining round him;


4 And he went down on the earth, and a voice
said to him, Saul, Saul, why are you attacking
me so cruelly?


5 And he said, Who are you, Lord? And he said, I
am Jesus, whom you are attacking:


I suggest that the 'something better' is right before your eyes, just as the Lord intended it to be each year at this season. No matter how much the cynics in our society try to erase the image of G-d from public view, they will fail, because it is planted deeply in the conscience. It appears as that urge for something better.
Oh, it can be distorted by defilement, like the treatment that's given by the
entertainment industry to consumerism and violence and sex and marriage these days. And the urge can be numbed by the use of drugs, both prescription and recreational (pass the crack pipe). But, when you feel that urge to do something to improve the conditions that surround you, remember the image of the baby Jesus in the manger. Remember what G-d has done for us by creating us in his image, with a deeply programmed sense of significance and then offering us a plan of redemption so that we
are able to discover a sense of peace rather than hostility toward that image. The
baby in the manger represents all that and more.


The Jesus Bus will continue down this trail tomorrow, Lord willing.