INTRO TO THE ROADS TO BETHLEHEM

Main Highway between Jerusalem and Bethlehem


Each year with the approach of the Christmas season, each of us takes a special journey back to the stable in an ancient town called Bethlehem. For most, it is not a trip called for by a star in the sky, nor an angel's visitation or announcement, nor even a census called-for by a Roman ruler named Caesar Augustus.

Sadly, it is a journey that is prompted by the commercial enterprises of our modern age, seeking to capitalize on the gift-giving spirit which inhabits this time of year. The road they take is lined with brightly-lit malls and stores, each full of the latest offerings to be purchased, packaged in bright paper and bows, and placed under a tree in someone's home, awaiting excited hands that will tear-off the wrapping and possess what's inside.

The closest that many will come to the stable will be a small replica of the cene depicted in the Gospel of Luke, a carved wood or plastic model that sits on a mantel or under the tree amid the presents. Many will not even hear the story of that first Christmas read, nor understand the true meaning of the season's celebration. For them, it is just another "road-side" attraction to break the monotony of a journey that has no particular destination.

Not so, the first Bethlehem journey and the roads that the individual participants took to get there. Their roads had a destination, and it was for them a life-changing one.

Your road to Bethlehem this year can be a life-changing one, as well. Follow my blogs in the next few days and examine the roads that the ORIGINAL PEOPLE followed as they made their way through that stable manger to their purposed destiny.

Be encouraged this Christmas, won't you?