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

Forgiveness

God's Not Done With You

God's Not Done With You

When was the last time you messed up? For most of us, we don’t have to think back very far. It was within the last ten minutes, or earlier today, or yesterday. i know it most certainly has been for me. If your answer is more than a week ago, i want to challenge you to rethink your answer, and reconsider all of your thoughts, attitudes and actions over the past week. I think you’ll find that it was more recent than you think.

As I said, for most of us, the answer will come more immediately to mind. We know we messed up. But some of us haven’t done anything about it. We’ve just continued to feel bad about it ever since.

David, the shepherd king and psalmist, knew exactly how we feel when he wrote….

Heal Our Land

Heal Our Land

Like most of you, i watched in horror yesterday as a group of people attempted to lay siege to the U. S. Capitol. I’m not sure which image horrified me more – the images of the unruly mob attempting to breach the house and senate chambers – OR – the image of a flag bearing the name of Jesus being waved in their midst. As an American, i was witnessing the very foundation of our nation being threatened. And as a follower of Jesus, i was witnessing His name being defamed.

In the midst of my horror, i found myself asking how do i respond to this? What do i do in light of what i am seeing? The Spirit of God spoke to my heart and reminded me that He is very capable of protecting His own name. He will not be mocked and one day every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.(1) He reminded me that my job is not to rail against those who carried a flag bearing His name in the midst of that chaos. Then He went on to remind me that His words to His chosen people three thousand years ago have application to us – just as they always have….

Come As You Are

Come As You Are

There was a man who had two sons. The younger son came to his father and demanded, “Father, give me the share of your property that belongs to me.” So the father divided his property between his two sons. Not long after, the younger son went away and squandered everything he possessed on reckless living. By the time he was done, he had nothing left. His possessions were exhausted. His friends had abandoned him. Even his self-respect was gone.

To make matters worse, a severe famine fell across the land. The son had nowhere to turn – or so he thought. The only work he could find was doing the most abased thing he could imagine – slopping the pigs.As he labored in the sty, he convinced himself he was of less value than even those pigs. At least they had someone to care for them. He was not even worthy of the pods he was feeding them. He had nothing with which to commend himself to anyone. He was a broken man….

Easter - Simon Peter's Story

Easter - Simon Peter's Story

The 4-week short-story series of “first-person accounts” for the Easter season concludes this week with Simon Peter’s story.

Please remember that this short story is a fictional first person account just like the others. It includes historical and fictional characters, as well as fictional details that have been added. i have, however, endeavored to keep the story factual as to the details conveyed through the Gospels.

My prayer is that, through the telling, we are reminded of the hope and assurance that is ours through Jesus. To that end, let’s look at this week’s account through the eyes of Simon Peter.

Lazarus's Story (March 25)

Miriam’s Story (April 1)

Simon the Cyrene’s Story (April 8)

Simon Peter’s Story (This week - April 15)

All four of these Easter stories will be included in the book The One Who Stood Before Us

Watch for its release FEBRUARY 2021

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My name is Simon … or at least it was until Jesus changed it. I grew up in Bethsaida on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. I was a fisherman who later became a fisher of men. My father, Jonah, was teaching me how to swim and fish before I learned to walk. I once would have told you that my father taught me everything I needed to know about being a good fisherman. That is, until I met Jesus! But I’m getting ahead of myself….

Unbreakable Love

Unbreakable Love

We have all missed the mark! Each and every one of us has stumbled and made wrong turns. Sometimes we feel like we’re the only one who has failed. Sometimes we have the false notion that everyone else has their act together. But the reality is that nothing could be further from the truth. The apostle Paul reminds us that “all have sinned and fallen short” (Romans 3:23).

The question is not “if” we have stumbled, but rather, what we do when we have stumbled. How do we view ourselves in that moment, as well as in the moments that follow – and more importantly, how do we view God? Are we too ashamed to turn to Him? Have we allowed our guilt and shame to distort our view of Him? Are we allowing our shame to keep us from experiencing His unbreakable grace, mercy and love? 

There is a somewhat obscure reference in the resurrection account of Jesus in the Gospels. If i was to ask you to whom Jesus appeared on the day of His resurrection from the tomb, you would probably respond with a familiar list….

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