On the fourth day, God created the sun, moon and stars. One of HIs stated purposes was let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and year. Join me in an adventure, learning about our Creator and HIs sacred days. Let's also look at those who walked with God before us..
Reposting an old blog
Tears and thoughts of u-turning my car into oncoming traffic filled my afternoons. I awoke each morning determined to not allow my pain to over take me again. By noon, I always failed. Months and months passed and the internal pain did not ease.
That year in many ways represents the point that separates my life into two major divisions.
Prior to this moment, I knew Christ as my savior and I knew right from wrong. But my life was more about me. What I wanted mattered. What God wanted not so much. My mantra was “God would want me happy” and it justified anything I wanted to do.
The pain I felt in this year had nothing to do with being punished by God. The overwhelming depression came as a result of natural consequences. The chickens came home to roost.
And at this moment, I realized I had ran…
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this may or may not have possible triggers for rape and assault victims.
I’m posting in the middle of a virtual thunderstorm; there’s death and tragedy all about. Another shooting. Another broken heart doing unspeakable horrors to an unsuspecting population – a population that didn’t have a clue what was going on or that any aid might be necessary. We’ve gotten strangely used to it. We live in a Columbine World where people murder to gain the attention they never received in life – or maybe it’s more complicated than that. I don’t know. I don’t understand. I’d like to pretend that I felt sorry for them or that I felt any empathetic twinge toward these psychopaths – these sociopaths. I don’t. I don’t know why they do what they do or feel they the way they feel.
And I’ve never given it much thought. I’ve never really concerned myself with…
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The pressure felt as if it would crush her. The force shifted and lifted her. Light, brilliant as what she saw coming from the stone, spiraled around her. It drew her deeper and deeper into a blue whirlwind.
Kaitlyn cried out, but her voice was silent. Other voices, however, swirled all around her. Words sang out in rhythm with the flurry of light. A few sounds she made out as English. Most were languages she did not understand.
Her body flew upwards to the wide opening above her. As quickly as the force had drawn her up, it flung her from the whirlwind. Words she understood started coming with a greater frequency.
A man spoke. “Benjamin take this money and got to the City. We must have our lamb for the Passover.”
“Yes, Father.” A younger voice answered.
“Take your time. With so many here for the Passover, there is much to see. But remember to buy the lamb; we must prepare it for the sacrifice.” The voice moved away.
The pressure vanished. Kaitlyn tumbled. Her body banged to the ground; her head struck something hard. Easing to her side, she rubbed the bump growing in the back of her head and pried her eyes open. A wall of stone spread out in either direction. She guessed this was the source of her headache.
“Where in the world am I?” Kaitlyn sat up.
“Bethpage.” The younger voice answered her. “Who are you? You don’t belong around here.”
She scrambled to her feet and faced a boy. His attire resembled what men in ancient pictures of the Middle East would wear.
“Who are you?” He repeated his question.
“Kaitlyn” She held out her hand to shake his.
The boy frowned at her extended hand. His glare traveled from her face to her toes as if he could not figure out what type of strange creature she was. “You’re a girl?” He stepped back. “Where is your father or your brothers?”
“Well I don’t have any brother and I guess my father must be in Rome by now.” What a strange question.
“So you are Roman?” He relaxed. “Girls there wear strange clothing and do the men like their women to have hair like a boy.”
“No, I’m not Roman, I’m American.” Kaitlyn touched the ends of her shoulder length hair. “And my hair’s not boy hair.”
“American? I’ve never heard of such.” The boy mad a slight bow. “I am Benjamin.”
“I know your name, but where is this place.” Kaitlyn spoke more to herself than to the strange boy standing in front of her.
“How could you know my name?” He backed away frightened of her.
She stood and turned slowly looking for any clues about where she was. “I heard you and your father talking. He called you Benjamin. No great magic in that.”
“My father.” Benjamin grabbed the hem of his cloak and tucked it into the leather belt around his waist. “My mother will know what to do with you. I must go to the city to purchase the lamb.”
Benjamin walked away expecting her to follow. She hesitated resistant to blindly following some odd boy she did not know. Glancing around, Kaitlyn realized there did not seem to be any better solution to her problem. Maybe his mother would make more sense.
Stepping through an opening in the wall, Benjamin called to two women sitting on mats in the center of the dry dusty ground of the courtyard. The women worked together, one pouring a grain of some type as the other ground it between a large stone and a smaller one.
“Mother, I found Kaitlyn standing outside our home. She has no one to watch over and seems very confused.”
Kaitlyn cringed at the emphasis he sued on the word confused. She caught the coded meaning. He intended to let his mother know he thought the girl was nutty.
The older woman glanced up from her work. “Where is this girl now?”
Now Benjamin looked confused. “She’s standing right here, at my side.”
Benjamin’s mother settled the bowl of grain on her mat and walked towards her son. “Are you ill?” She laid a gentle hand on his forehead. “There is no fever.”
“I’m not sick. I just want you to take care of the girl. I know she doesn’t look much like a girl. But she assures me she is one.”
“Benjamin there is one except you, your sister and me in this yard. You must have been dreaming. Wake up and go get us that lamb.” His mother returned to her work, but concerned eyes stayed focused on her only son as he made a strange motion and left the yard.
Kaitlyn stared at the women who denied her existence until Benjamin signaled her to leave. Back on the street, Benjamin reached out and touched her hand.
“I see you; I hear you; and I feel your skin.” He sighed. “So why didn’t my mother or sister see you.”
“I think I’m the one dreaming.” Kaitlyn said.
“No.” His voice dropped a level. “You must be my dream just as my mother said. But I don’t have time to figure this out; I need to get to the City.”
“What City do you keep talking about?” She asked.
“ The Holy City, Jerusalem.” He walked off kicking at pebbles on the road paying no attention to whether she followed or not.
Kaitlyn raced to catch up with him. “Then this is Israel?”
“Of course it’s Israel, where did you think you were?” He walked head down and lost in thought.
She fell into step beside him. Kaitlyn glanced around her. For some reason she thought Israel was a much more modern country not a land of crude houses constructed of rocks and mud; dirt roads and livestock living in and around people’s homes.
Hee Haw, Hee Haw. A braying sound caught Kaitlyn’s attention. She broke from Benjamin’s side and wandered towards a momma donkey and a colt at her side. Reaching her hand out the colt tickled her palm with his velvety nose.
“Hey, little one” She bent down and rubbed the young animal’s ears. “What are you yelling about?”
“Leave that animal alone. “ Benjamin yelled at her. “Zechariah owns those donkey’s and he gets awful touchy when people mess with them.”
Kaitlyn shrugged and stepped away. “Fine, he just a cute fellow.”
Benjamin threw up his hands and whirled around with the intention of leaving her far behind. “You are a strange one.”
She rubbed the colt’s nose one last time and rushed to catch up.
“Stop!” A man shouted. Benjamin and Kaitlyn froze in place. “Leave my animals alone!”
Kait turned to explain she was leaving. A giant man ran towards the donkeys. She guessed this was Zechariah. The giant of a man closing in on the two men standing near the colt made Kaitlyn glad the owner had not seen her petting his animals.
The two men stood still by the animals. One of the men untied the mother and colt. He looked at the furious Zechariah. “The Lord said to tell you he needs them.”
Anger evaporated from Zechariah’s face. “The master is here. Of course, take them. Here I will lead them.” He took the ropes and waited for the two men to lead the way.
“What was that all about?” Kaitlyn whispered to Benjamin.
He grabbed her arm and dragged her after him. “Come on, it must be the Rabbi. Everyone is talking about him. He’s coming at the Passover.”
“Who?” She jerked back and held her ground.
“My father says this Rabbi might be the one promised by the prophets. The one who will free Israel and make us a might kingdom again.” He let go of her arm. “The old men always say he will come at Passover.”
“You mean the Messiah?” Zayde’s words about the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple echoed in her head. “It was the belief in rebels calling themselves the Messiah which caused the unrest in Israel and the destruction of the city. Should she warn Benjamin not to make the same mistake his ancestors did?
He raced off. Kaitlyn jogged to keep up. High wispy grass tumbled beneath her feet.
“Wait” She cried, but the boy raced ahead. She lost sight of him. The slope of the land changed enough for her to see him dropping down onto a winding mountain road.
She reached the edge and dropped down beside him. “What are you doing?” She screamed over the excited voices below.
Benjamin glanced back. “ I want to see the Rabbi.”
“ We all want to see him.” A giant of a man pushed Benjamin aside.
No one would see this Rabbi. Even the donkeys led by Zechariah and the two men disappeared into the center of the crowd. The people shoved and jostled one another. Kaitlyn feared for the colt.
She looked back up the road. A flood of people swarmed towards them. Songs and praises hung in the air. Kaitlyn could not imagine where this crowd was coming from. Why did they rush towards this rabbi?
Kaitlyn stood still. Something was happening in the ball of people below. The crowd parted to allow someone to move through them. Benjamin bounced out of the crowd and signaled Kaitlyn to follow him.
The boy bubbled. “He’s riding into Jerusalem on the colt of a donkey.” He twisted and pointed towards the Rabbi moving at an easy pace down the road. “It’s like what is written in the prophecies. He’s coming to free us. Look, the people are pouring out of the City to greet him. I can’t believe it. He’s come.”
Kaitlyn wondered how he could have said so much without ever taking a breath. Benjamin rushed to force his way to the front of the line of people surrounding the road.
Men climbed the trees to pull limbs down and handed them to who were waving the branches as if welcoming an old king or triumphant warrior. People kept shouting. “Praise the Lord, Praise the king coming in the name of the Lord.” One man after another tossed branches on to the road. Many pulled their cloaks off and laid them in the road for the donkey to walk on.
This madness, Kaitlyn shook her head. “Who do you think this Rabbi is going to free you from?”
“The Romans” Benjamin frowned. “Who else?”
A thought rushed through her mind. This was not just a dream about Israel. Her mind had traveled through time to when the Romans ruled most of the world. Those in the Holy Land dreamed of freedom.
She rushed towards her new friend. Words of warning formed in her mind. How could she convince him that the Messiah they were waiting for would cause destruction?
A break in the crowd formed around some distinguished men. Kaitlyn slipped towards it. She wanted to see the man who was causing such a commotion.
She moved in beside the men without anyone seeming to notice. Kaitlyn assumed she was as invisible to these men as she had been to Benjamin’s mother.
“They’ve gone mad,” A man in a robe of a bright red color said. “Don’t they know this will bring down the wrath of the Romans?” Turning from his compatriots, he yelled. “Rabbi! Tell them to be quite.”
The phony messiah must be passing close to the men she thought. She figured if she were invisible she could move in front of everyone.
Benjamin hollered for her to come back.
She shouted back. “I am invisible to them.”
The man on the colt stopped in front of the men. He glanced at Kaitlyn and smiled. He saw her. How could he see her?
Kaitlyn studied the man this crowd saw as their king and savior. What made them think he was a hero? Wavy black hair framed an ordinary face. He sat on the donkey making him higher than those standing on the road, but it was obvious he was average height and build. She expected him to be tall, broad shouldered and remarkably handsome. He seemed ordinary.
“Rabbi warn them to stop all of this yelling and singing before they bring us trouble.” The man in the red cloak demanded.
“They cannot stop.” The rabbi’s rich voice filled the air. “If I told them to be quite, if they were quite, the rocks on the ground would cry out praises.”
The people hearing these words cried out again. “Thank you Lord, thank your for the one who comes in your name.”
The man Kaitlyn believed was a local leader huffed and stormed away. Those with him walked away murmuring. “It looks like the whole world is going after him.”
She held her place as cheering people rushed to fill up the space the rich men left. Benjamin eased in with them. The donkey took a few steps and stopped again.
The crowd grew silent. A heavy anticipation hung over everyone. The Rabbi stared across the valley. On the other hill stood Zayde’s city. The temple glistened in the sun. Kaitlyn caught her breath. The old man with all his intricate work on details missed the pure glory of the structure. Nothing Kaitlyn saw in all her travels compared with its beauty.
“Oh, Jerusalem.” The Rabbi’s whispered words drew Kaitlyn’s attention back to the man. “I wish that even today you would find the way of peace. Now it is to late, and peace is hidden from you. Before long, your enemies will build ramparts against your walls, encircle you, and close in on you. They will crush you to the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you have rejected the opportunity God offered you.”
The words stunned Kaitlyn. She struggled out of the crowd.
Benjamin rushed out beside her. “What did he mean by those words? If he’s the promised one why would he talk about defeat?”
Kaitlyn shook her head. The Rabbi’s words predicted exactly what would happen how could he know?
“Wake up, it’s a school day.” A voice jerked her back into the blue light.
Luke 19: 28-31 And it came about that when He approached Bethphage and Bethany, near the mount that is called Olivet, He sent two of the disciples saying,
“Go into the village opposite you, in which as you enter you will find a colt tied, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it, and bring it here. And if anyone asks you, why are you untying it? thus shall you speak, ‘The Lord has need of it'”
Question: If someone came to you today and started to take your possession, and when you confronted them, they said the Lord has need of it, what would your answer be?
I am not sure what my answer would be. I suspect I would be suspicious. If I let the colt go, I would have insisted on taking him. What trust this unnamed servant had. Imagine what God could do with people who were this obedient to his requests.
I have been reading an old autobiography. Marie Monsen wrote The Awakening. She discusses how through studying revivals she discovered two constants. Rivals followed people becoming aware of how they sin against God. People recognize how they fail to live the way God desires and then they return to Him. No real revival occurs without repentance.
The second thing she identified. Long intense prayer preceded these revivals. Prayer said by those desiring to see revival. Not from busy hands or lots of fire and brim stone sermons. Revival resulted from prayer– intense and specific prayer said by those who sought revival. Not always immediate results, but amazing, God given results.
I think when Jesus talks about leaving our first Love He is talking about how we forget what God has done for us. We produce no fruit because there is no life in us. The first Love springs from that connection we make with Christ when we realize how much he loves us.
I remember the greatest revival of my life. That was so many years ago now. I became a Christian at 11 or 12. But in my late twenties and early thirties, I drifted away from an intense relationship with Him. I left my first love. I became more and more focused on this world until I felt separate from God. I fell deeper and deeper in to a depression. I cried. I swore I would fix myself. Then I fell right back into a deep sadness.
One day I decided I just had to talk to God about it. I was out of town for a week. I spent every spare moment talking to God about how sorry I was. I begged His forgiveness. And at the end of that week the depression and despair I felt for months was gone. I knew what real revival meant. Over the next years, I experienced a walk with God I had never experienced before. A time of seeing Him work and knowing He was there.
First love does not typically die in a sudden flash, but dies a slow and easy death of neglect. We forget how much he loved us. We become busy and move the Lord to a lower priority. Our thoughts of gratitude shift to thoughts of entitlement. We forget the lostness He rescued us from and assure ourselves these sins of ours are not so great.
But Jesus says those who are forgiven the most love the most. I still have periods where I wonder away from God. But real life is always in Him. Confessing our sins and asking for His forgiveness needs to be sincere and constant, it keeps our sight on Him who loves us with the greatest love.
I pray I never forget from where Jesus has lifted me. Please forgive me for business and wrong priorities. Please remove the planks from my eyes. Please bring revival in my life and allow me to be a spark among others. Please bring revival to the Body of Christ. Please return us to our first love.
Let’s look at 1 Corinthians 13
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
A conviction hangs heavy on my heart. The negative aspects of this statement regarding Agape love hits dead on.
It keeps no record of wrongs? Love does not delight in evil.
In thinking about love, it becomes clear to me that before I can love others with Agape love I must learn to forgive.
Not superficial forgiveness–not just me saying it’s okay when you say you are sorry. But the type of forgiveness that does not keep score. The kind of forgiveness that does not plot subtle revenge. And this forgiveness is not just for the big things that happen, but the resentments I have collected over time. The ones where the perpetrator doesn’t even realize I am holding a grudge.
I must forgive people not just for harming me, but for hurting the ones I love. That is a lot harder. I must forgive them when they spread gossip and tell lies. And when they do not stop others who are gossiping and lying. I must forgive them when they verbally attack my friend. I must forgive them when they act mean and cruel. I must forgive them when they choose to turn a blind eye to what is wrong because they personally benefit. I must forgive them when I feel like they only friend me when they want something.
My thoughts about how to get even are wrong. When I believe I am fighting evil, but do not wish good for the person involved; then I am wrong. Their evil does not make it okay for me to wish them harm. I should not meet evil with evil. But even more than that, everything on my list above could be said about me at some point. My lack of forgiveness acts as a fertilizer to my unjust anger and the absence of love in my heart.
Look up forgiveness and an interesting lesson appears. Jesus discusses forgiveness in Matthew 6 in the mist of his teachings on not making a show of your righteous acts. Here is what he says:
Matthew 6
14 For if you forgive people their trespasses [their]reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
15 But if you do not forgive others their trespasses [their reckless and willful sins, leaving them, letting them go, and giving up resentment], neither will your Father forgive you your trespasses.
God forgives us as we forgive others. Can you imagine reaching heaven and having God point out every time you failed Him? What if each time I fail HIm, the Lord said, “There you go again! I knew your weren’t really sorry or you wouldn’t keep doing it.” Or what if God, angry with me, plotted against me and not for me?
I want my sins to be forgiven and forgotten. I want them to be as far as the East is from the West. I don’t want them listed in the book of life. I want them erased and forgotten.
So how do you forgive? There seems to be two types of things here.
The small thoughtless slights. The pain that comes from being forgotten or betrayed. These I need to take to the Lord. I need to follow Christ’s example and ask God to forgive those who hurt me. I am more and more convinced you cannot wish harm for someone if you are asking God to intervene and to help. So in these situations, I think you have to say to God “Forgive them they know not what they do” Ask God to take the pain from you or to allow you to grow from the pain. I don’t think this can be a general thing. I think it has to be a very specific thing. God I am feeling resentment against Joe and I ask you to forgive Joe for this sin and I ask you to forgive me for these feelings. Please take them from me.
The second type of harm is more deliberate and harmful. People making up lies. People gossiping. People attacking someone who cannot defend themselves. People stealing. People breaking vows. People plotting to harm another.
Galatians 6
6 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.
When we see a fellow Christian hurting others, we must take steps to restore them. But it should only occur after prayer. And before dealing with another person, be sure you have looked at your own life and dealt with similar sin.
Then you can approach the person who causing harm. As you go to them, your first concern is for the people involved. The person who is at fault and the person being harmed.
Today I am specifically asking God to forgive me for my unforgiveness. I am praying for each resentment I hold and for each person I resent. I am asking God to prune my tendency to hold grudges so I may learn to love in the spirit.
In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul tells us that without Agape love our Christian walk is like loud clanging bang. I take his words to mean that if we do not have this level of love everything else we do as Christians is worthless. We are called to love.
1 Corinthians 13
New International Version (NIV)
13 If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.
We are told in Galatians 5 that Agape love is a fruit of the Spirit.
Life by the Spirit
13 You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
16 So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery;20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
So how does a person live by the Spirit? This is what Jesus said in John 15.
John 15
New International Version (NIV)
The Vine and the Branches
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. 10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. 11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.14 You are my friends if you do what I command.15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit —fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you. 17 This is my command: Love each other.
Tomorrow, I start my February Challenge. To walk in the Spirit. To allow Christ to love others through me. To be aware of those around me and to ask Jesus to create fruit from my branches even if it means God, the father, has to do some pruning.
Pray for me and if you are up for it, join me, as I ask God to create the fruit of Agape love in me (1 Corinthians 13) as described by Paul.
The wind whipped, blowing the snow into deep drifts. Wenceslas, wrapped in his warm furs, stared off into the distance. The shadow of a man moved across the edge of the woods. The figure moved into the light from the moon and then faded into the dark of the trees. The man was unfamiliar to him, which caused him to be alert.
“Page” he called to the young man who worked for him. “Do you know who that is moving about?” He worried an enemy might be scouting the defenses looking for a weak spot.
“Yes, sire” The page pointed in a direction far past the woods. “He lives a great distance away.” The boy of no more than sixteen looked down and continued. “He has so little, he came this far just looking for wood to burn.”
Wenceslas watched as the man disappeared from sight. The Duke’s mind jumping from thought to thought. Today, the church celebrated the Feast of Stephen. Stephen, the man whom the apostles trusted to care for those in need, died a martyr’s death. And today was his day.
Wenceslas sighed; this man lived on his lands and under his care. What would God say if he let this man go hungry or cold? No, not on his watch!
“Lets gather meat and wine and anything else you think they will need. Hurry”
They rushed about gathering everything they thought the family could use. With a bundle tied to each of their backs and their hands full, the two men ventured out into the cold.
The man’s home stood two or three miles away and the snow rather than slowing seemed to be falling harder. Wenceslas blinked and pushed ahead in the direction his page had pointed. The page said he lived near the edge of the mountain. The Duke used the glimpses of Mountain he could see as a point of reference everything else seemed hidden beneath a blanket of white. Holding to the edge of the woods he focused on his destination and prayed for God to protect them as they walked.
The wind tore at their skin and the cold bit deep. Then, the full light of the moon slipped behind the grey clouds leaving a dark wall ahead of them. The little they had been able to see disappeared from sight.
The page cried out “Duke Wenceslas, please Sire, I cannot bare this cold. Maybe we should turn back”
Wenceslas heard the tremble in the young man’s voice.
“Just look down”
The Page thought the response strange? “Sire?”
“Move close and step in my steps. Stay near me and only step where I have stepped and you will be warmer”
The page, which had fallen behind, hurried to catch up and then did as commanded. He watched his master’s feet stepping where he stepped. He felt warmer almost immediately. They trudged forward until Wenceslas saw the home.
The Duke banged on the door.
The father cried out. “Coming”. A minute later, he slid open the door a crack to see who was out in this weather. He flung it open wide and bowed at the sight of the Duke.
Wenceslas dropped the burden in his hands onto the father’s open arms. “May we come in? We have brought dinner and hoped to celebrate with you.”
The man’s family at first shyly and then with full laughter took the food and wine to set the table for a grand feast. The mother’s heart filled with gratitude as she saw enough food to last until the snows faded away.
Happy Saint Stephen’s Day
King Wenceslas died a martyr’s death. His brother feared the Christian Duke would spend all the inheritance helping others. His brother had him killed. He received the title of King after his death in honor of the Christian Love he showed for others.
Fourth Day Adventures 