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

God is trustworthy

He’s Never Gonna Let Us Down

He’s Never Gonna Let Us Down

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

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We live in stormy times. Our world can be a very distressing place. We can easily become overwhelmed or defeated. Our news feeds are filled with reports of the ravages of disease, the havoc of disasters, and the inhumanity and incivility of man. Within a matter of moments, our lives can be upended into a cascading turmoil by sudden loss, distressing news, or tragic circumstances.

Where are we to turn? Our God has promised to never leave us nor forsake us . . . no matter what we face. He will never abandon us. He will never fail to keep His promises. He’s never gonna let us down!

We read in the book of Joshua, “Not a single one of all the good promises the LORD had given to the family of Israel was left unfulfilled; everything He had spoken came true.”

What Is That Up Ahead?

What Is That Up Ahead?

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

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As we stand on the brink of a new year, it prompts the question: what lies ahead? What will 2023 bring? Just like every other year that has preceded it, it will contain its own set of “unforeseens” and “unexpecteds.” So how do we approach that which awaits us up ahead? There have always been lessons learned in the past that help guide us into the future. Perhaps a good place for us to look is the journey of the Israelites.

Confidently Abandoned

Confidently Abandoned

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

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“Abandoned” is one of those English words that has multiple meanings. It can mean “having been deserted or cast off,” or to be “unrestrained, or uninhibited,” or it can mean “having totally relinquished.” None of us would ever want to be accused of having abandoned another person, or abandoned an animal or thing placed in our custodial care. We would never want to abandon any responsibility with which we have been entrusted. Rather, we all want to be known for our dedication and commitment to stay the course no matter what we encounter. We will never abandon our post, or anyone in need of or entrusted into our care.

However, we are called to be abandoned to God. Oswald Chambers writes, “In our abandonment we give ourselves over to God just as He gave Himself for us.” Jesus Himself called us to lay down our lives. Paul reminds us that it is not us, but Christ who lives in us. The writer of the proverb tells us that as we abandon ourselves and our ways to Him, He will make our paths straight.

And in our abandonment, we can be confident in the One to whom we are abandoned.

The Lesson of the Quail

The Lesson of the Quail

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

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It’s the beginning of a new year. Just like every year that has preceded it, the year stretches out before us like a great big unblemished canvas. This time next year, we’ll all be experts about what 2022 held in store for us … but right now, we really don’t have a clue, even though we may think we do. All of us have made plans of some sort for 2022. Those plans include the moments we look forward to – an upcoming marriage, the upcoming birth of a new family member, a graduation, the start of a new job, a planned vacation, a retirement, or the like. The list goes on and on. The possibilities are endless.

We’re also very aware of the problems we carry forward with us from the prior year – issues that we are facing personally, nationally or globally. We have made our plans for 2022 with the appropriate contingencies for those known problems as best we can. We’ve made our plans. We’ve set our course. But the reality is we really don’t know what will unfold. It could be amazing! It could be exceedingly above anything we could ask or think. Or … it could be devastating….

A Faith That Is Sure

A Faith That Is Sure

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

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Are you at a crossroad in your journey? Are you needing wisdom to know which road to take? Are you considering which of the roads in front of you is the best one for you? The probability is that all of your options look pretty good. Let’s face it – if one of your options looks like it will lead to complete disaster, you’re probably not wasting much time considering it. So your quandary is probably over which of the “good” options in front of you is the best. If that’s the case, you would do well to follow the example of a woman by the name of Rahab….

No Turning Back

No Turning Back

Regardless of our age, many of us have found ourselves, at some point, harkening back to the “good ole days.” Those days may not even have been that long ago. Most of us find ourselves harkening back to the days before COVID.

Whatever those days are for you, you probably remember them fondly. Our memories tend to wash away most, if not all, of the challenges, complications and difficulties those days actually contained. In truth, as we look back, we recall that time as more idyllic, less complicated and more fulfilling than it really was. And – if during our stroll down memory lane – we happen to recall any of our sinful behavior during those days, we tend to gloss over the sin, and instead, long for the temporary pleasure it provided.

That impulse to harken back to yesterday is often triggered by the overwhelming challenges of our current reality….

Never Lost

Never Lost

[A personal note: i actually wrote this blog post several weeks ago – before the events of January 6th. But once those events occurred, i paused its publication because i did not want anyone to mistakenly connect what i was saying with that event. This is a post about the confidence we can have in God in every circumstance we may encounter or experience in our lives. It is not about armed rebellion. It’s about a trustworthy God!]

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We see a sharp contrast between two groups of people when we read the account of the Israelites marching around the walls of Jericho.(1) On one side of the wall stood the people of Israel. They were confident and assured that, though they were facing an imposing enemy, their God would grant them victory. They weren’t trusting in any person, or any group of people; nor was their confidence in their own power or ability. Their confidence was in their God!

On the other side of the wall stood the citizens of Jericho, as they cowered in fear. It wasn’t a reverent fear of God; rather, it was a paralyzing fear.(2) They knew the God of the Israelites had already given their land to His people.(3)

The posture of both of those groups of people was completely determined by their view of God. Thirty-five hundred years later in 2021, that is still the case. Our posture is also completely determined by our view of God. We face many unknowns, just like they did. The enemies we face may look different, but the God we follow is not….

God Has Never Been Unfaithful

God Has Never Been Unfaithful

Even the best of us, no matter how well-intentioned, have come up short. We have failed to follow through on a promise we made to a friend or a loved one – albeit unintentional. We have missed a deadline at work or school – due to circumstances beyond our control. Three days into a new year we have broken that new year’s resolution that we made so earnestly. Or the one that hurts the most of all – we have done something or said something – or failed to do something or say something – that brought pain to someone we hold dear. We didn’t mean to hurt them or break our promise. We didn’t mean to not deliver on our commitment. We didn’t mean to be unfaithful … but we were!

As a result, we have broken a trust. At best, we have planted a seed in the minds – and hearts – of others that we are unreliable, undependable – or worse, untrustworthy. At worst, we have shattered a relationship due to our failure or neglect. A reputation of faithfulness and trustworthiness is built over a lifetime … but it can be destroyed in a solitary moment.

The One Who Goes Before Us

The One Who Goes Before Us

Throughout our lives, we will encounter enemies that are assembling to attack us. In some instances it may be other people, but more often it will be enemies like disease, unplanned job loss, financial setback, and the like. When we come upon them, we would do well to remember that God is our “Banner” and He goes before us!

After God had led the Israelites across the Red Sea, they saw the warriors of Amalek assembling for a fight there in the valley of Rephidim.(1) The last army that had assembled against the Israelites had perished at the bottom of the sea. The Israelites had not been called upon to go into battle to defeat them. No Israelite blood had been spilled. The casualty count at that battle had been: Egyptians – ALL; Israelites – NONE. God had gone before the Israelites, making a way for their escape, and He had gone behind them, making a way for their enemy’s defeat….

But God ...

But God ...

The flood waters prevailed, but God remembered and brought him to dry land.(1)

His enemy intended it to harm him, but God intended it for good.(2)

The battle is not yours, but God’s.(3)

Your flesh may fail, but God is your strength.(4)

We were dead in sin, but God saved us.(5)

i have come to believe that those two words – “but God” – are actually a powerful promise to those of us who are His children – particularly when we are facing the impossible….

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