Matthew 1-2 "Yes, it's a big deal"

FYI: I had a marvelous Christmas. I really enjoyed getting to spend time with many of my family members. I really enjoyed getting a chance to do a very traditional Christmas morning with my family.

This year, people constantly seemed to point out that this could be the last "Normal" year for my family. Both of my brothers and I are in college now--this is a time of transition and none of us know what the next years will look like.

Fortunately, we had this year...and it was a blessing.

Due to the need for variety in my life, I am going to alternate between blogging books of the Old Testament and the New Testament.

Since yesterday ended Joshua, today starts my first New Testament rotation.

Hello Matthew!

Fitting for the day, I got to read Matthew's version of Christ's birth.

What caught my attention differently tonight was the story of the Magi (Wise men)

Ok...so just to sum up...

This group of astrologers (we don't know how many it could have been 7, 2 or maybe 3)

see a star...a very special star that, for some reason, convinces them that a king is being born. They were convinced that a major player in the story of humanity was about to enter the scene!

So, they do the obvious thing...and set out to meet him.

Problem...the Star seems to have worked a lot like my family's GPS--it gives you a direction to start off with, but the details sometimes need a minute to pull up.

SO, the wise MEN asked for directions...from the wrong person.

Since nature itself was telling them that a king was being born, they assumed that the country's leaders would know as well. So, they talked to king Herod...who used scripture to discover that Jesus would be born in Bethlehem.

Herod then asks the Magi to tell him exactly where Jesus is living..."So that he could worship him too"

Secretly, he wanted to get rid of this newborn threat.

Magi continue on...Star GPS kicks in....they find Jesus

Commence with worship and gifts...thus starting several traditions

1) Gifts on Christmas

2) Men instinctively knowing that asking for directions is a bad idea.

What I really love about the Magi is the fact that they prove that Jesus' birth was something that shook the very foundations of the earth.

His birth mattered so much, that non-Jewish stargazers knew that he was something special.

They were so sure that his birth was important that they assumed it to be commonly known and celebrated....but they were wrong.

Instead of finding fellow worshipers, they found people who had ignored the signs, and tried to eliminate the savior of the world.

The wise men remind me to keep my eyes open for the movement of God.

If a group of stargazers recognized the move of God, God's sons and daughters should ABSOLUTELY be able to see them!