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

Nicodemus

An Honest Seeker

An Honest Seeker

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

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Since beginning my journey as an author a little over three years ago, i have had the opportunity to engage with a growing number of readers from around the world regarding the Good News of Jesus. In so doing, i have encountered an ever-increasing number who not only tell me they do not believe in Him; they also deny that Jesus is who He said He is. As a matter of fact, those opinions are often shared with me with a surprising amount of vitriol directed toward Him, toward what He taught, and toward those who follow Him.

It has caused me to have a greater understanding of the hatred that was unleashed against Jesus in the first century. Jesus was seen as a threat to many within the religious elite of the day. His teachings threatened not only their religious beliefs but also their power structure. Rather than choosing to honestly seek Jesus and receive His truth, many in the first century opted to harden their hearts and vilify Him….

Nicodemus - The Inquirer

Nicodemus - The Inquirer

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

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NOTE: Have you ever stood at the crossroads of a decision when the world around you was telling you to do one thing, but deep down inside you knew God was wanting you to do another? Did you ever wish you could sit down with Jesus and discuss it with Him? If so, you can relate to Nicodemus.

He knew that he was standing at the most important crossroads of his life. He knew that despite whatever success he had enjoyed in his life to that point, his life legacy would be determined by how he now responded to Jesus. The same is true of us. Our response to Jesus will determine our life legacy.

This week’s post is another one of my fictional eyewitness accounts. i pray Nicodemus’s story helps you know how to respond.

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My name is Nicodemus, and I grew up in Capernaum along the Sea of Galilee as the eldest son of a respected family in our village. My great-great-grandfather led the group of settlers sent by our Hasmonean King John Hyrcanus I to establish this fishing village. This was a part of the expansion led by the Hasmoneans to populate more of the wilderness lands north of Judea. My great-great-grandfather had been chosen to lead the effort because our village was to be named in honor of his father, Nahum….

A Conversation with a Pharisee

A Conversation with a Pharisee

Nicodemus was a Pharisee and a member of the Sanhedrin. Pharisees were zealous in their keeping of the Laws of Moses. They were all about “doing” the right things – in so far as they defined those “right things” to be. They were well known to strain the letter over the spirit of the Law.(1) For example, the Pharisees developed such detailed rules for the observance of the Sabbath that they missed the whole purpose for why God created it to begin with.(2)

Since the Pharisees and the Sanhedrin were charged with interpreting what the “right things” were, it placed them in a position of great authority. There was no higher position of political power for a Jew in the time of Christ. Nicodemus was also considered to be one of the wealthiest men in Jerusalem of his day. So, he had it all – position, power, and money. And he was checking off the boxes – he was doing all the “right things.”

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