Little Did We Know

Advent – We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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 – Silent Night (Moshe’s Story)

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 – Away in a Manger (Achim’s Story)

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 - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

Advent - O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Joseph’s Story)

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)

An Advent Story (Part 4) – Annas the scribe

An Advent Story (Part 4) – Annas the scribe

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

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NOTE: This is the last of four stories i have posted for this Advent season about the incarnational birth of Jesus. Each one, as you already know if you have been following along, is a fictional first-person account of the events that surrounded our Savior’s birth. Though some of the characters and details contained in each story are fictional, you will find the truth they convey to be very REAL!

Part 1 as told by Jacob the elder (November 30th)

Part 2 as told by Clopas the uncle (December 7th)

Part 3 as told by Eliezer the cousin (December 14th)

Part 4 as told by Annas the scribe (This week - December 21st)

This week you will hear from a scribe named Annas. His name should sound familiar to you. He would eventually become a high priest in Jerusalem, and he, together with his son-in-law Caiaphas, would be instrumental in the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus. At the time of Jesus’s birth, however, he would have been a young man. So, let’s consider the possibility that his first knowledge of the existence of the King of kings was at the time of Christ’s birth. Let’s listen to this young, ambitious scribe as he shares his eyewitness account of this portion of the Advent story.

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My name is Annas and I am a young scribe serving in the court of King Herod the Great….

An Advent Story (Part 3) – Eliezer the cousin

An Advent Story (Part 3) – Eliezer the cousin

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

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NOTE: This is the third of four stories i am posting for this Advent season about the incarnational birth of Jesus. These are fictional first-person accounts of the events that surrounded His birth. Though some of the characters and details contained in these stories are fictional, you will find the truth they convey to be very REAL!

Part 1 as told by Jacob the elder (November 30th)

Part 2 as told by Clopas the uncle (December 7th)

Part 3 as told by Eliezer the cousin (This week - December 14th)

Part 4 as told by Annas the scribe (December 21st)

This week you will hear from a fictional character by the name of Eliezer. He is the son of Joseph’s fictional cousin, Achim. Achim, his wife Miriam, and all their family reside in Bethlehem. You heard about some of what Mary and Joseph encountered last week from Clopas. So let’s continue with the advent story through his eyewitness account.

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I am Achim and Miriam’s youngest son, Eliezer….

An Advent Story (Part 2) – Clopas the uncle

An Advent Story (Part 2) – Clopas the uncle

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

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NOTE: Starting last week and continuing for the next two weeks, i am posting a total of four stories about the incarnational birth of Jesus. They are fictional first-person accounts of the events that surrounded the advent of Jesus. Some of the characters and details contained in each story are fictional, but you will find the truth they convey to be very REAL!

My prayer is that through the stories you are reminded of the Good News of the Advent this Christmas season. To that end, let’s look at each part of this story through the eyes of four very different eyewitnesses:

Part 1 as told by Jacob the elder (November 30th)

Part 2 as told by Clopas the uncle (This week – December 7th)

Part 3 as told by Eliezer the cousin (December 14th)

Part 4 as told by Annas the scribe (December 21st)

This week you will hear from Clopas the uncle. Some historians and scholars believe that Clopas was the younger brother of Joseph, and as such, he would have had a unique perspective on the events that were unfolding. So let’s continue with the advent story through his eyewitness account.

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My name is Clopas. I am the son of Jacob the carpenter, and the younger brother of Joseph. I was born in Cana of Galilee and lived there for much of my life….

An Advent Story (Part 1) – Jacob the elder

An Advent Story (Part 1) – Jacob the elder

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

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NOTE: As has become my annual practice, beginning today and for the next three weeks, i will be posting a total of four stories about the incarnational birth of Jesus. They are fictional first-person accounts of the events that surrounded the advent of Jesus. Some of the characters and details contained in each story are fictional, but you will find the truth they convey to be very REAL!

My prayer is that through the stories you are reminded of the Good News of the Advent this Christmas season. To that end, let’s look at each part of this story through the eyes of four very different eyewitnesses:

Part 1 as told by Jacob the elder (This week – November 30th)

Part 2 as told by Clopas the uncle (December 7th)

Part 3 as told by Eliezer the cousin (December 14th)

Part 4 as told by Annas the scribe (December 21st)

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I am Jacob, the leading elder and rabbi in Nazareth….

An Advent Story - Anna

An Advent Story - Anna

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

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NOTE: This is the last of four short stories i am posting this Advent season about the incarnational birth of Jesus. They are fictional first-person accounts of the prophecies and events surrounding the advent of Jesus. Some of the characters and details contained therein are fictional, but you will find the truth they convey to be very REAL! My prayer is that through the stories you are reminded of the Good News of Advent this Christmas season.

The stories include:

Gabriel – the angel (December 1)

Zechariah – the priest (December 8)

Elizabeth – the cousin (December 15)

Anna – the prophetess (This week - December 22)

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I am Anna, considered by some to be a prophetess….

An Advent Story - Elizabeth

An Advent Story - Elizabeth

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

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NOTE: This is the third of four short stories i am posting this Advent season about the incarnational birth of Jesus. They are fictional first-person accounts of the prophecies and events surrounding the advent of Jesus. Some of the characters and details contained therein are fictional, but you will find the truth they convey to be very REAL! My prayer is that through the stories you are reminded of the Good News of Advent this Christmas season.

The stories include:

Gabriel – the angel (December 1)

Zechariah – the priest (December 8)

Elizabeth – the cousin (This week - December 15)

Anna – the prophetess (December 22)

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I am Elizabeth, the wife of Zechariah, and I am a blessed woman….