Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins."Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus. Matthew 1.18-25

I think that many of us have this predisposition towards creating a little mental pedestal, upon which we place our Bible characters. We tend to think that the folks portrayed are somehow different from us. The truth of the matter though is starkly different. Mary and Joseph were probably pretty ordinary individuals who happened, through God's plan and purpose, to be caught up in something extraordinary.

To put things into contemporary perspective, Joseph and Mary were about to be married. I'm sure Joseph had everything all planned out. For their honeymoon, a trip to the Holy Lands was out, since that's where they lived, so Joseph probably had scrimped and saved, and had a nice trip to Hawaii booked through one of the travel websites. Eight days and nights in a nice beachfront hotel. Eight days and nights in the sand and surf seemed to be idyllic. Luaus, tropical fruits, maybe go through the touristy type things too. And think of Mary. She was likely a sensible young lady of modest parentage. Maybe she had gotten her wedding dress on sale over at David's Bridal, but it is equally likely that her dress was relatively inexpensive, perhaps even second hand. After all, neither parent was well to do. All in all, their wedding plans were all set and ready to go. But it was not to be.

Then the miraculous came about. Mary was made pregnant solely by the power of God. Joseph was told about it in a vision so powerful that it could only have come from God. Yet that for me is not the big story. For me, the big story is that they BOTH had faith strong enough to believe the impossible. Intensely uncomfortable, I'm certain that very few people believed their story, assigning a social stigma to them for their supposed behavior. Yet they still believed and trusted God! Combine this with all the miracles that Jesus performed during His earthly ministry, and how could anyone NOT believe in His deity?

How is it then, that we so easily and so often divorce ourselves from the miraculous that occurs around us every day? Have we so quickly forgotten the miracle performed in our own selves when we exchanged death for life by accepting Christ as our Lord and Savior? THAT was a miracle! Or how about the many times that people, after receiving much prayer, are healed of some dreaded disease, and the doctors have no clue as to why it happened. Our God is real, therefore our faith must be as well. Our faith must be strong.

Just as Mary and Joseph were pretty ordinary, yet faced extraordinary circumstances, we too can have that kind of faith. We don't have to be faced with the same kind of situation, but if we think about our lives, we can easily identify moments when only God could have created a solution. Not fate. Not karma. God. My challenge for all of us today is that we remember the things that God has done for us, in us, and through us. Let us re-energize our prayers to Him, and seek to strengthen our daily reliance on Him. After all, that's what faith is all about, isn't it? Happy Advent!

Weekly Memory Verse: O taste and see that the Lord is good; how blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him. Psalm 34.8