Ken Winter
Advent – We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

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Introduction to this post:

This is the fourth of this year’s weekly Advent posts. Those of you who have followed the blog for more than a year know that it is my annual practice to post a weekly story for the season of Advent about the incarnational birth of Jesus. My hope is that the stories have become a part of your Advent tradition as you remember and celebrate the Good News of the advent of our Lord and Savior.

This year’s posts are as follows:

Week #1 - November 27th: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

Week #2 - December 4th: Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

Week #3 – December 11th: Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

This week - December 18th: We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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My name is Balthazar and I am a lifelong student of the science of the stars….

Advent – We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)
Ken Winter
Advent – Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

Introduction to this post:

This is the third of this year’s weekly Advent posts. Those of you who have followed the blog for more than a year know that it is my annual practice to post a weekly story for the season of Advent about the incarnational birth of Jesus. My hope is that the stories have become a part of your Advent tradition as you remember and celebrate the Good News of the advent of our Lord and Savior.

This year’s posts are as follows:

Week #1 - November 27th: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

Week #2 - December 4th: Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

This week – December 11th: Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

December 18th: We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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I am a shepherd named Moshe.

Advent – Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)
Ken Winter
Advent – Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

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Introduction to this post:

This is the second of this year’s weekly Advent posts. Those of you who have followed the blog for more than a year know that it is my annual practice to post a weekly story for the season of Advent about the incarnational birth of Jesus. My hope is that the stories have become a part of your Advent tradition as you remember and celebrate the Good News of the advent of our Lord and Savior.

This year’s posts are as follows:

Last week - November 27th: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

This week - December 4th: Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

December 11th: Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

December 18th: We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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My name is Achim. My family and I live here in Bethlehem, the town of our ancestor David, the shepherd king….

Advent – Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)
Ken Winter
Advent - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s ...

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

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A preface to this post:

Dear family, friends and faithful readers of this blog,

This week is my 321st weekly blog post—not a huge number for many, but for me it has been a sharing of my heart with you. Those of you who have followed the blog for more than a year know that it is my annual practice to post a weekly stories for the season of Advent about the incarnational birth of Jesus. My hope is that the stories have become a part of your Advent tradition as you remember and celebrate the Good News of the advent of our Lord and Savior.

This year, i am repeating four of the weekly Advent posts from 2019 for two reasons. First, i have made changes to the posts, and have a higher quality audio recording of the posts in the event you would like to listen to them on audio—feel free to click the link above to do so.

The second reason is that i will be bringing my season of posting to an end as of the end of December. As many of you know, i have been diagnosed with metastatic (stage 4) lung cancer and am now being placed on home hospice care. Thus, it has become more difficult for me to produce these post. I hope and pray you receive these as my gift and expression of love to you.

The remaining five posts are as follows:

November 27th: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

December 4th: Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

December 11th: Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

December 18th: We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

December 25th: A Christmas Celebration (My Story)

Advent - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)
Ken Winter
His Dwelling Place

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

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What does it mean to live in the shelter of the Most High and to find rest in His shadow? This is how Psalm 91 begins—a psalm many attribute to Moses. i believe that attribution is fitting. Moses is the one who carried Jehovah God’s instructions to His people for constructing the Tabernacle in the wilderness. He witnessed the fabrication of each part and completed the last of the work.

The Tabernacle was completed exactly as the Lord specified and was erected on the first anniversary of Israel’s departure from Egypt. That day, the Lord’s glorious presence descended upon it, covering and filling it with His awesome glory. His presence, previously seen in the guiding pillar of cloud, now took residence within His dwelling place among the people. From that day on, as His Spirit led, the people moved forward; when His Spirit remained in the Tabernacle, the people encamped.

His Dwelling Place

Aaron

The Staff That Blossoms

The Staff That Blossoms

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

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There is a powerful example in the Book of Numbers that illustrates how we should live as followers of Christ. Ironically, this example arose from a dispute among God's chosen people. They were arguing over who should hold the highest position. In some ways, this mirrors the debate among Jesus’ disciples about who would be the greatest in the kingdom. In both cases, selfish ambition reared its head, just as it often does in our own lives.

God decided to put an end to the controversy about who should serve as a priest on behalf of the people. Despite the judgments of death God had already rendered earlier in the passage, He now used a life-giving sign to settle the issue once and for all.

You’re Not Alone

You’re Not Alone

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

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Have you ever felt completely alone on this journey of life? Have you ever been overwhelmed by the challenges surrounding you? If so, there’s a lesson we can learn from the Israelites’ journey through the wilderness.

The Israelites were, as you will recall, descendants of Jacob, the grandson of Abraham, whom God renamed Israel after they wrestled by the Jabbok brook. The Amalekites were the descendants of Amalek, the grandson of Esau, who was Israel’s brother and also a grandson of Abraham. It had been approximately 440 years since the families of Esau and Israel had last met.

Why Were We Chosen?

Why Were We Chosen?

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

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We live in a culture that believes life centers around us. It is about “my” dreams, “my” ambitions, and “my” goals. Our fulfillment most often comes from our needs being met, our dreams being achieved, and our achievements being recognized. We’re striving for the “trophy,” even though it has taken on different forms and shapes as we’ve gotten older. It’s the lie that our culture feeds – that “it’s all about me.”

In the Book of Exodus, we read that Aaron and his two eldest sons, Nadab and Abihu, together with seventy of the elders of Israel, climbed partway up Mount Sinai with Moses.(1) There they saw the God of Israel and shared a meal together in His presence under His feet. By the way – if you can imagine being a part of that group – it was pretty heady stuff. Imagine being invited to sit at God’s table! Then, having seen God, Aaron and his sons were given an opportunity to serve Him as doorkeepers in His House.

What If?

What If?

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

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By all appearances they were faithful men. They were two of Moses’ most trusted leaders. Aaron was his brother. Hur was his brother-in-law. These were the two who had lifted up Moses’ arms that day on the hill overlooking Rephidim – the day the Amalekites were defeated. These two were probably the closest of Moses’ inner circle. If anyone had seen the hand of God moving on behalf of His people throughout the exodus from Egypt and the journey through the wilderness, it was these men. Aaron had been designated by God Himself to be Moses’ spokesperson to the people. Both men had been near Moses’ side at every critical juncture in the journey thus far.

This was their opportunity to shine.

And Out Came This Calf

And Out Came This Calf

If you would prefer to listen to this post as a podcast, CLICK HERE.

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You may recall the account recorded in the Book of Exodus about the day the people of Israel came to Aaron demanding that he make them a god made of gold, while at that very moment Moses was up on Mount Sinai receiving the stone tablets from God Himself. The tablets contained the terms of the Covenant between God and His people etched by His own finger. On a day that their attitudes and actions should have conveyed their allegiance to the One True Living God, they were demanding a lifeless imitation of gold.(1)

Aaron not only bowed to the demands of the people and molded their gold into the shape of a calf, he also declared that they gather for a festival to declare their allegiance to the golden calf. But in the midst of their celebration and feasting, they experienced the severe consequences of their sin from the hand of the God they had blasphemed and disobeyed.

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