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

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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

Moses

His Dwelling Place

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.

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.

When Strength Becomes a Stumbling Block

When Strength Becomes a Stumbling Block

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

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During my years as an associate pastor, i was blessed to serve alongside many gifted servants of God. i witnessed how the Lord uniquely prepared each individual for their respective assignments and called them to their positions of service at just the right time. i saw the remarkable way their complementary strengths and gifts came together under God’s leadership.

However, there is a potential weakness among even the most outstanding members that must be safeguarded against. An exceptionally talented group may be tempted to rely on their own strengths and abilities, attempting to do God’s work in their own way. This group might confidently advance based on human wisdom while neglecting to seek the Lord.

You’re Not Alone

You’re Not Alone

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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.

No Matter Where We Are

No Matter Where We Are

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

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Two Israelite men, Eldad and Medad, were part of a group of seventy elders that God had directed Moses to assemble.(1) We don’t know from which tribe these men originated. There is no further information about them other than this one reference in Scripture. For some unknown reason these two men, who were probably brothers, had not gone to the Tabernacle with the rest of the elders; they were still in the camp. However, when the Holy Spirit came upon the elders, He came upon all of the elders, including these two who weren’t in the tabernacle. Oh, and isn’t it interesting that theirs are the only names we know out of that group of seventy? Perhaps the Lord has a lesson for us to learn from these two men.

Put to the Test

Put to the Test

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Every student knows that once you have been given instruction, you will be given an opportunity to apply that instruction or demonstrate how well you have retained it by putting it to the test. Those tests come in a variety of forms.

  • There are pop quizzes—a few short questions placed before you unexpectedly to test your grasp of an idea, principle, or fact soon after it has been presented to you.

  • There are tests—periodic exams given at the conclusion of a defined period of teaching, i.e. weekly, end-of-chapter, etc.

  • And, there are exams, including the mother of all exams—the final exam—through which you are tested on instruction you have received over an extended period, i.e. a semester or academic year.

The teachers i always appreciated the most were the ones that forewarned…

Sign Me Up For One of Those Staffs

Sign Me Up For One of Those Staffs

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i don’t know about you, but if i’m getting ready to head out into the wilderness, i want one of those shepherd’s staffs like Moses had when he was leading the Israelites. From the very first day at the burning bush, God had demonstrated His power through that staff. He had turned it into a snake. He had turned the water of the Nile River into blood with it. God had Moses outstretch it to part the waters of the Red Sea, and He had him strike a rock with it to bring forth water. Then God used it to ensure a victory in the battle with the Amalekites. Sign me up for one of those staffs!

Wouldn’t you like to have a staff that you could use to turn the tide of every trial you encounter? Every time you encounter an obstacle, you could pull out the staff. It’s better than any laser weapon ever devised by those science fiction writers. Every obstacle and every enemy would cower at its mere presence. It’s not much to look at, but it packs a powerful punch. As a matter of fact, if you’re going to get one, why not get two and you can pack double the punch. But why stop there, order a truckload. And do you know what you’ve got when you’ve got a truckload of staffs? Yes, that’s right, you’ve got a whole lot of . . . wood!

A “Shur” Way

A “Shur” Way

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

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My wife and i are currently reading through the Bible in a year together with a group of friends in our faith community. We started midway through September and are now in the Book of Deuteronomy. Since we have spent the last several weeks reading about and discussing the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt and their journey through the wilderness, we decided to all get together and watch the movie The Prince of Egypt.

You may recall the movie was produced by Dream Works back in the late 90’s and is an animated portrayal of the first fourteen chapters of the Book of Exodus—following the life of Moses from his birth to his God-appointed task of leading the Israelites out of Egypt. The movie concludes right after the dramatic crossing of the Israelites through the parted Red Sea, as they flee the approaching Egyptian army. Though fictional license is used in the telling of the story, the scene when the people make their journey across the dry sea bed in the path God has provided for their escape inspires thoughts of what the actual experience must have been like for them.

We Can Be Sure

We Can Be Sure

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The wilderness is that place – or more accurately those places – in our lives, where we are outside of our comfort zone. The wilderness is a place that is unfamiliar and, most often, uncomfortable. It is rarely, if ever, our final destination; rather, it is that place through which we must pass in order to get to the other side.

Sometimes we venture out into the wilderness willingly, because we know that the pathway to our desired destination leads through it. It could be the circumstances surrounding a move from one place to another, or the unknowns of moving from one position to another. Though we entered into the wilderness expectantly, and more than likely excitedly, we still encounter the unexpected twists and turns of the wilderness along the way. But more often, we enter into a wilderness involuntarily – either through the onslaught of a severe health issue, the loss of someone near and dear, the unexpected loss of a job, or the like. We didn’t volunteer for this journey, and we don’t like it one bit!

He Still Wanted More

He Still Wanted More

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James, the half-brother of Jesus, wrote, “Come close to God, and God will come close to you.” He wrote that statement knowing our propensity to drift away from God, instead of drawing closer to Him. He warned us that our loyalty is divided between God and the world. i fear that all too often we desire the blessings of God in our lives over the presence of God in our lives.

Moses, on the other hand, made it very clear that he did not want to experience the blessing of God if it came without the presence of God. He had already experienced an intimacy with the Lord God Jehovah that exceeded that which most others, even to this day, have ever experienced on this side of heaven. God had called him His friend - a designation which to that point had only been shared with Abraham. Moses had found favor with God. His actions had demonstrated a heart that desired to seek and serve his Lord. He spoke to God with a confidence and a boldness that also conveyed reverence and awe.

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