Ken Winter
They Raised A Generation Who Did Not Know Him

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In these days of my life i find myself reflecting on the fact that God has blessed me with a godly heritage.

The question before us is, what are we modeling for the generation that we are raising up? Is our relationship with our LORD one that we desire for our children and grandchildren to mirror? Are we passionately pursuing our LORD with all of our heart, soul, and mind, and actively walking with Him in His mission? Or are we merely going through the motions?

They Raised A Generation Who Did Not Know Him
Ken Winter
I Look To the Mountains

It has been several weeks since i posted. Many of you know that i have been walking through health challenges. By God’s grace, and in His strength, i am now able to share with you that He has carried me through these most recent developments. He has used this time to remind me just how faithful He is, and just how dependent i am upon Him.

I Look To the Mountains
Ken Winter
Advent – We Three Kings (Balthazar’s Story)

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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.

* * * * *

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)

Expect the Unexpected

Expect the Unexpected

It was Wednesday, January 19, 1977 and it was snowing. Now that doesn’t seem very unexpected unless you are in West Palm Beach or Miami, Florida or Nassau, in the Bahamas! It had never snowed in that part of the world before then, as best anyone knows, and it hasn’t snowed there since. My wife and i remember the day well. Traffic virtually came to a standstill, and people stopped wherever they were in order to turn their heads toward the sky. What was this foreign substance falling to earth? I remember trying to catch a few snowflakes on my tongue. Bear in mind, i don’t think any snowflakes actually made it to the ground! The snowbirds who had come to Florida to escape the snow indeed felt cheated, but the natives were simply amazed. 

A story is told that early in 1976 while the political campaigns for the U.S. presidency were underway, Jimmy Carter was considered by many to be a long shot for the Democratic nomination. As the story goes, a radio talk show pundit, Neal Boortz, was conducting an on-air interview and asked his guest about Mr. Carter’s chances of being elected. The guest replied that it was highly unlikely, and to add emphasis said, “It will snow in Nassau before Jimmy Carter is sworn in as President of the United States!” By the way, President Carter was sworn in as our 39thPresident on Thursday, January 20, 1977. Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?!?

But, as i think of that day, i am reminded that our God is the Master of the unexpected – not only with snowflakes in South Florida – but in much greater and much more significant ways….

No Longer Slaves

No Longer Slaves

Every one of us at some point in our lives have found ourselves caught “between a rock and a hard place”. We didn’t expect to be caught there. We were just walking along on our “merry way”, doing what we thought we were supposed to be doing… and wham – we were diagnosed with a fatal or debilitating illness – or unexpectedly we just lost our job – or we’ve just experienced the loss of a loved one – or some other traumatic or tragic event has taken place in our lives. And in addition to the severe loss we have experienced, we have no idea where or how we are supposed to go forward from here. Then, sometime after the grief and the pain have settled in, fear begins to take over….

Last Words for a New Year

Last Words for a New Year

Typically, at the start of a new year, we talk about new beginnings, new resolutions and new goals. But this week, i want us to look at some important “last words”. Last words are those definitive pronouncements that one makes as he/she is coming to the end of a journey. Most often, it is the journey of life, and death is approaching. But in other instances, it can occur at the end of one’s tenure of leadership or mission, just prior to one’s departure – or – when one is preparing to depart for an extended journey or mission of uncertain outcome. Most often, they are words to inspire us or encourage us, as we continue on in our respective journey. They can be words that summarize the truths they have learned, the experiences they have had, or the feelings they have. They can be words of wisdom, blessing, love or appreciation. Regrettably, they can sometimes be words that tear down or curse. But regardless of their intent, they are often the most remembered words that the person has ever spoken to us. 

 

i often think back to the last conversation that i had with my dad before he passed away – a very real conversation about life and death. He taught me – and modeled – many things over the years – but i am often reminded of his authenticity and transparency – and the moment we shared – in those last words. i am also mindful of the last words of challenge i received from one of my mentors, just prior to his retirement. Those words have often encouraged me to persevere in the midst of tough times….

An Abiding Truth

An Abiding Truth

Several years ago, a few friends and i were making a trek through a city in China. Some of our group were from the US, and some lived in that city. Our Chinese friends were giving the rest of us a guided tour of some of their favorite sites. Along the way, we stopped at an art shop that had beautiful, colorful sketches hanging on the walls. And most of the sketches included a word of wisdom that was also penned on the canvas. We came upon one that was a beautiful drawing of a grapevine with clusters of grapes. i asked one of our friends to translate the words that were inscribed beside the drawing. She read, “I am the Vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, bears much fruit, but without Me you can do nothing.” She was speaking the exact same words that Jesus had spoken to His disciples in a vineyard one night. She was reading an important truth that Jesus taught His disciples just minutes before His arrest. He wanted them to remember who He was, who they were and what their purpose was….

Christmas From The Beginning

Christmas From The Beginning

The Christmas journey with the Master in some respects is a journey that has no beginning, because in the beginning He was. He was with God. He was God. He was the Creator of all things and in Him and for Him were all things created. He was Life and from Him life was given. He was Light and from Him light was given to the world. He was Light and through Him darkness was extinguished. He always was, and He forever will be. 

Though He has no beginning, through Him was the beginning and in Him is the beginning. Through Him the world was created. Through Him the world was redeemed. Through Him the world was given the right to become children of God. He always was, and He forever will be.

Jesus was the Word of God. Jesus was the Truth of God. Jesus was the glory of God. Jesus was the love of God. Jesus was the faithfulness of God. He always was, and He forever will be.

However, the Christmas journey with the Master in other respects is a journey that does have a beginning - not a beginning for Him, but a beginning for us….

Run, Don't Walk - A Christmas Story

Run, Don't Walk - A Christmas Story

Over the years, there have been a number of movies and songs entitled “Walk, Don’t Run”. But my most vivid recollections of that expression are from my childhood. i remember hearing it from teachers and my parents as they cautioned me to slow down and pay attention to where i was going, so i didn’t trip and fall. But today, i am mindful that two thousand years ago, there was a group of shepherds who were told to do just the opposite.

God will never lead us on a journey that does not bring glory to His Name. He has purposed to draw all men, all tongues, all tribes and all peoples to Himself that we might glorify Him. He sent Jesus to pay the price and make the way. And He has sent us, that we might join Him in His global mission. Jesus began His own incarnational journey by stepping from heaven to earth. And if we desire to walk with Him, we must in turn step from where we are to journey with Him. 

The first men to take that step after Jesus came to earth were the shepherds (Luke 2)….

Come to the "Alter"

Come to the "Alter"

Last weekend, i received an email inviting people to come to the “alter” to pray on Sunday. My first reaction was – don’t you just love the way that “spell check” often changes a word to something we did not intend? Sometimes that change can be somewhat embarrassing, and sometimes it can change the whole meaning of what we intended to say. In this case, it was a “malapropism” – a word that sounds the same, but has a very different meaning. But as i thought about this one for a moment, i began to become convicted that maybe the words “altar” and “alter” actually have a great similarity in their meaning….

Failure Is An Event, Not A Person

Failure Is An Event, Not A Person

How many of us have failed at something this past week? i know i did! We were blessed to have all of our family home with us for the Thanksgiving holiday. Four households and four generations converging for a special time together. Four households and four generations with different perspectives and different ways of doing things. Viva la difference, right? Well, after a while, i somehow lost all that holiday spirit, got turned sideways by those quirky differences, and my impatience began to grow until it boiled over. Now remember, i’m the proud patriarch of this “quirky” clan, so that’s not supposed to happen to me.  i’m supposed to act like the godly leader of this tribe. After all, i’m the chief “quirk”! So, at that moment, i was faced with three choices:

  1. i could try to justify my “impatience” as righteous indignation and attempt to bully everyone else into submitting to my way, or

  2. i could allow my reaction to define me and resign myself to be a failure as a godly leader and father, and sulk in my condition, or

  3. i could acknowledge that my reaction was wrong, learn from it and make an adjustment in my attitude and actions going forward.

Then on Sunday….

Thanksgiving or Gratitude?

Thanksgiving or Gratitude?

It has only been since Virginia became our adopted home that we have learned that the first English Thanksgiving celebration in America occurred on December 4, 1619 at Berkeley Hundred along the James River here in Virginia. The men had just completed a two and a half months’ voyage across the Atlantic from Bristol, England. It was a diverse group of sailors, soldiers, craftsmen – even a priest – that had come together for a single purpose. Clifford Dowdey wrote in his book “The Great Plantation”: “The men placed their personal luggage on the hard ground, gazed at the woods enclosing them and listened in complete silence. Then at a command from Captain John Woodlief, the men kneeled and said a prayer of Thanksgiving to Almighty God for their safe voyage.”Captain Woodlief’s descendant, Graham Woodlief writes: “They did this in accordance with the proclamation they received from the Berkeley Company in England, instructing them, upon arrival, to give thanks and to do so annually and perpetually. The first English Thanksgiving in America had just occurred.” In recent years, my family and i have on several occasions attended and participated in that annual reenactment and remembrance of thanksgiving that continues to this day.

As we come upon this annual time on our calendars to give thanks, i am mindful of another thanksgiving account that occurred 1600 years prior to that remembrance along the James River….

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