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After three days, his parents found him in the temple.  His mother said to him, ‘Son, how could you treat us this way?  Your father and I have been anxiously looking for you.’  And He said to them, ‘Why is it that you were looking for Me?  Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?’  Luke 2:46,48

Every parent knows what it’s like to momentarily lose sight of your child in public. Your stomach drops like lead when you realize that they are not where they are supposed to me. The word ‘kidnap’ assaults your mind immediately.

Mary and Joseph brought twelve-year-old Jesus to the temple. While on their way home, they realized that Jesus was not with them. They searched frantically for three entire days.  Re-tracing their steps, they ended up back at the temple and were shocked to find him there. He was listening in to the many spiritual conversations that took place in God’s house. Still distraught, Joseph and Mary asked Him how he could have done such a thing. His answer? “Did you not know that I had to be in my Father’s house?” He seemed shocked that they would have looked elsewhere.

In all the times I’ve read this story over the years, it never occurred to me that Jesus would feel something far different than anyone else when in the presence of God. Jesus left His Father to come to earth and hadn’t seen Him for twelve years. There had to be homesickness in his soul for His Father’s company. The memory of being near God was in his spiritual DNA. To visit the temple and to approach the holy of holies, the place where God’s Spirit called ‘home’, re-awakened the feelings of being home in glory. He was near His Father again – yet on earth. Did His heart break at the thought of leaving Him? His attachment to Mary and Joseph had to pale in comparison.

I don’t know if you believe in near-death experiences. While a few seem exaggerated, I believe many have been real. There is a common theme in the stories where people experienced time in the presence of God; they didn’t want to return to earth. Yes, they loved the people they left. Yes, they even knew their death would be grieved. Yet, the magnetism of God’s presence drew them. The memory of it changed their lives forever. For their remaining days, they dream of the day they will again be eternally in the presence of their Heavenly Father.

Are my times with You as life-changing?  You are drawing me with an everlasting love so how could I ever want to be anywhere else!   Amen

In 2026, I’m going to be writing from the Psalms because they give language to what many of us sense but can’t always express, such as desire, grief, longing, or wonder. For us who live deep and love hard, the Psalms are a sanctuary. They are a place to pour out our hearts without performing, to let God meet us in the hidden places, and to come out more grounded than we went in.

These songs keep us honest in prayer. Empathy and concern can turn into intercession. Overwhelm can turn into honesty. And inner turbulence can culminate in worship.

Daily, we will each be invited to rest yet again in the faithfulness of the One who shelters us.

The best part is that we will be together for another year. I’m grateful for your company.

When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him; and assembling all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Christ was to be born. They told him, “In Bethlehem of Judea, for so it is written by the prophet: “ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” Matthew 2:2-6

Herod knew who to ask about a new baby King, the one he feared would threaten his throne.  He went straight to the Jewish priests and scribes who knew the scriptures.  When asked, they immediately quoted this passage from Micah about the Messiah being born in Bethlehem.  These men didn’t need to consult with each other for an answer.  It was on their tongue.  They knew the scriptures.

So where were they at the birth of Jesus?  We don’t read that any religious leaders came to bow down and worship.  Jerusalem was only seven miles away from them.  (The Magi traveled a thousand miles!)  The gate is wide for those who reject the Messiah and narrow for anyone who seeks Him out.  Never was this more clearly seen than in the scarcity of worshippers at Jesus’ birth.

Knowledge and passion can be mutually exclusive.  I can know my Bible as well as a Pharisee and easily become as callous as they were.  They lived around the corner from Mary and Joseph, and they were also the ones who weren’t spiritually alive enough to see if Jesus was the One they had been longing for throughout their entire Jewish history. 

Jesus, You are the end of my quest.  Whatever it takes to journey to You is worth any effort and any sacrifice.  Amen

Why would God send His Son on a death mission?  Because you and I were under a curse.  As macabre as Walt Disney’s plots are for children, as high as the suspense is after the hero drinks poison, is cursed and sent to a dark land, our plight was much worse. We had no possible way out of our predicament after the Fall.  There were no loopholes, no one making us a promise that if we did this or that, we could leave the land of banishment.  Paradise was lost.  The once lush, evergreen landscape of our beginnings became as gloomy and as ravaged as an abandoned house falling in around itself.  If not for Jesus, we would live and die there.

So, I consider Jesus. He saw His Father’s tears when the curse was explained to Adam and Eve.  He foresaw the implications of the curse and all that it would bring about, things that Adam and Eve could never know.  He saw the great chasm between His Father and the whole of creation under His wrath. There was only one way to save them.  The wrath that fell on them must be lifted off and borne by someone else.  The person would have to sacrifice himself, but that person had to be perfect to do so.  That disqualified every single candidate except one.  Jesus.

Jesus didn’t hesitate.  Within the omniscience of the Trinity, this had been foreseen.  Jesus had weighed this decision way before the earth ever felt the breath of the Spirit upon its cheek.  He knew He would be the Lamb as His Father whispered it across the empty spaces of time.

Every time I am overwhelmed by my past, I consider my High Priest who signed up to remove God’s wrath and offer me brand new mercy. I enjoy the wonder of a clean slate every single morning I awake.  When I am pierced by the sins of others, I consider Jesus, the One who was pierced for my own sins.  There is nothing too dark, too tragic, too hopeless, too confining, too defeating, that can define my life or my future.  Paradise has been restored.  The curse has been lifted.  My inner landscape, once eaten up by the twisted vines of a darkened forest, is now a stunning landscape. 

All things flourish, and the song of Paradise is the song I sing.

Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole. … When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing.  Galatians 3:13

Jesus wasn’t born to be just a teacher, or to just tell stories about the kingdom, or just to perform miracles, or even to be king of Israel.  He was born to reverse the curse pronounced in the Garden of Eden. 

The curse came upon Adam and Eve when they failed to believe God about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  When they fell for the serpent’s deception and sealed it with an act of disobedience, they ushered in immense consequences for them and every one of us who descend from them.  Is it any wonder that Jesus grew up to say, “Whoever believes in me, though He dies, yet shall He live.”  Unbelief brought the curse upon us.  Belief in Jesus would free us from it. 

The sin of unbelief was carried out in a garden.  Thirty-three years after little Jesus was born, He would enter another garden to deal with the weight of our curse.  He knew what it would mean to die in our place.

Everyone who embraces this Savior and believes in Him, with their life, is no longer cursed ~ but blessed.  The theme of our life is not ‘paradise lost’ but ‘paradise restored.’  Barren landscapes, once brown and decayed by sin, are now lush and green.  In kingdom places, we dare walk barefoot in tender grass without fear of cutting our feet.  We dare drink water from any pond or water source without fear of contamination.  Wherever God is ~ is paradise, and this little Savior, who slept in the hay, shook our world to lead us there.  Condemnation was instantly banished with His words, “It is finished.” 

I still believe You and choose to live by faith every day of my life. Amen

After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. Luke 2:46-47

Was it difficult for Joseph and Mary to give Jesus a normal upbringing? Was he a normal villager’s kid? In this one account from Luke, Jesus goes to the temple when He is twelve, asks a few questions, offers some insights in response, and the scholars are amazed.

How do you hide the Light of the world in a dark and oppressive Roman society? In Nazareth, there very well could have been stories among the villagers about Jesus. Though His first public miracle was at the wedding at Cana, did things happen earlier that could only have been explained by the word ‘miracle’? We’re not told but I find it interesting that Mary turned to Jesus at the wedding and casually asked if He would do something about the wine that had run out.

I wonder if the presence of God, resident in Christ, caused cataclysmic reactions at various points in His childhood. Surely something extraordinary happened in the temple when Jesus was twelve. His divinity was on display that day.

Thirty years of age is a long time for Jesus to wait to be released into public ministry. In God’s wisdom, there were thirty years of preparation for three years of ministry.

You and I may be aware of spiritual gifts that lie in waiting. We strain to exercise them and second-guess God’s wisdom of how long it will be until the door of our calling is opened. Could there be a lifetime of preparation for a few short years of ministry? Yes. John the Baptist was a flash of Light for a very short time, but never, according to Jesus, did anyone burn brighter.

I submit to Your wisdom and timetable. Amen

Wise men came from the east to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is He who was born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” Matthew 2:1-2

Scholars disagree on the length of the wise men’s journey to Bethlehem. The shortest calculation is forty days. The longest, and the one most everyone agrees upon, is approximately two years. Whether a 40-day journey or a 2-year voyage, it took considerable planning.  

Had they always been looking for the star that appeared in the night sky? How did they know its significance?  How could they be sure it wasn’t something of lesser significance? But they knew.  And as they traveled, they would have recalibrated continually to ensure they were still on track. Eyes fixed, they were led safely to their destination.  

Symbolically, each of us embarks on a similar journey. We see the glory of God revealed, not in the skies, but in the face of Christ. That event means more than what we can convey in a dinner conversation. It holds such significance that we are willing to stop everything, count the cost, and embark on a journey that takes a lifetime. Ultimately, we won’t arrive in Bethlehem to see a baby but in heaven to see a risen, glorified Jesus. Along the way, we need to keep our eyes fixed. We need to recalibrate. If our gaze remains on Jesus, the north star, we follow a direct path home. 

Jesus understands the sojourn. He made it Himself. Eyes fixed on His Father, He was led safely to glory. 

Jesus, I’m looking at the horizon and not at my feet. Amen