Jesus had been teaching all day and the pulled off an incredible feat by multiplying what little bread and fish they had there to feed over 5000 people! Now it was getting dark. Storm clouds were rising over the northeastern sky. The fishermen among them knew that this Galilean bowl could produce some vicious storms at times. Better hunker down for the night.

But Jesus would not have it. In fact, he told the disciples they needed to get in a boat and head for Bethsaida! Seriously? It looked like the weather was shifting; what about all the people? The disciples figured they were there to act like bodyguards for the Lord so how could they protect Him if they took off on a boat? But He insisted. He made them get in the boat and go and He promised He would see them – probably hitch a ride on another boat or walk several miles to the village.

But Jesus needed time alone so he shlepped it up the mountainside to be with His Father. From His viewpoint, He could also see his boys fighting the wind and the waves. It was true. The Galilean storms were not to be taken lightly. The winds that ripped down through the surrounding mountains and channels whipped up the sea at times beyond belief. And that was what was beginning to happen to the boys in the boat.

For hours they fought against the wind. Even those who were not seasoned sailors did their part and pulled hard on the oars at Peter and Andrew’s commands.

“Together! Pull! Together! Pull!”

But it was to no avail. They had only managed to get themselves out into the middle of the lake, which was the worse place to be. They were buffeted by the waves, soaked to the bone, one of the worst storms they had seen for a long time.

About 3 am after watching for quite some time, Jesus started down the hill and hit the shoreline at a quick pace. He never stopped, just kept on walking as if the water was solid beneath His “feat” – which it was. Jesus wasn’t trying to balance himself precariously on each wave, or jumping from peak to peak. He was just striding through the chaos of the wind and waves.

In fact, he was moving so quickly, he was about to pass them by! That is what Mark says in his story. Jesus was about to pass them by when one of them screamed out “It’s a ghost!”

“It is I. Don’t be afraid,” Jesus said through the wind.

It is I. Same words used as “I am” found seven or eight times in John alone. The Great I am. He had dominion over the loaves and fish; He had dominion over the wind and waves; He had dominion over gravity. I am. To some those were amazing words of comfort. To others they were words of war (in the Garden, those words caused a whole legion of soldiers to fall over themselves).  Faith makes the difference.

Jesus is welcomed into the boat. The sea becomes calm. The boys get to land immediately. Incredible story of the majesty of the Maker and the faith walk of His little band.

Do you have storms raging about you? Is there chaos anywhere? Do you see Jesus coming close?

There are three kinds of storms, says Greg Laurie, pastor of one the largest churches in the US, Correcting Storms, Protecting Storms and Perfecting Storms. Greg has been through some storms, one tragic one two years ago where his 33 year old son died in a tragic car accident. He knows what he is talking about. He has some weight to throw around here – earned authority.

Correcting storms, he says, are like the ones in the book of Jonah where God hurled a storm down to correct Jonah’s path. God does have good reasons for the storms He ordains.

Protecting storms are ones He uses in our lives like He did with the disciples, protecting them from the crowds of people, sometimes protecting us from ourselves. Sometimes He allows a storm to hit so that we don’t go the way we were going. Sometimes He gives us a storm to drive us to the end of ourselves so we end up trusting Him.

Perfecting storms are very common and quite similar to the protecting ones. He is perfecting our faith – like He did in John 6, Mark 6 and Mat. 14.

“For this light and momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are temporal but the things that are unseen are eternal.” — 2 Cor. 4:17-18

I mean what really happens to a person when they are converted?

If you are unconverted to Christ, you are still dead. You are moving along throughout life but you are dead spiritually… there is nothing there. You are as cold to God as a corpse. When asked about going to heaven, you say things like “I hope so,” or “I know I’m better than Charles Manson… or Hitler…” or “I don’t know but if I go to the other place all my friends will be there.” And you give a nervous laugh.

You don’t really have a clue what you are talking about but in the meantime it does the trick and takes people off the topic. There is no conviction of sin, no sorrow for offending a holy God, – there’s only a numbness to any sense of responsibility or accountability. That’s why people can go for years doing the same thing over and over again and seemingly be unaffected. They are dead.

But then something flickers, something changes. Something happens. But really what happens?

You start to see some things, things like if God is real and heaven is real, then there is no chance in heaven that I will get there. You realize your own good works are motivated by selfish reasons when you really looked at them. And you start to despair inside because there is no way to change your heart. You are guilty, guilty, guilty.

“There is no use me even trying,” you say. “I’m no good. God couldn’t love me even if He did exist. I cannot be a member of a church – they wouldn’t have me, let alone God!”

But something has shifted; something has awakened in you, something deep inside that causes you to long for truth, to long for a touch of God, the real thing, to just experience him, really. Did you do something to make you come alive?

If your nature was against God, if you were at enmity with God (sworn enemy) what made your enmity decide to bless God or even consider God? Can the blind man perform surgery on his own eyes? Can the hard stone be a source of its own softness? Enmity against God cannot choose love for Him.

Who opened your spirit up? How did that happen? Why doesn’t it happen for everyone? Why not all at the same time?

Just when you are fully despaired, realizing that no one can save you and you cannot save yourself, that’s when the Holy Spirit – usually through the preaching of the Word of God – causes you to cast your eyes before a wooden cross where the Prince of Peace shed his blood for you. You get it. You bow your knee. You yield your life and you invite Christ to save you, to give you His gift of eternal life, knowing that He has paid the just price of your sin for you. And you enter in, a humble sinner, relying on the grace and mercy of a holy God.

Otto von Hasburg, whose full name was Franz Joseph Otto Robert Maria Anton Karl Max Heinrich Sixtus Xavier Felix Renatus Ludwig Gaetan Pius Ignatius von Habsburg, was born in 1912 in Reichenau, Austria.

He became crown prince when his father, Charles I, was crowned emperor in 1916, during World War I. After Austria and Germany lost World War I, the Austria-Hungarian Empire was dismantled, Charles I had to abdicate and Austria went on to become a republic.

In 1919, Charles and his family had to leave the country for what turned out to be permanent exile in several different countries, including Switzerland, Belgium, and France.

After his father’s death in 1922, the nine-year-old Otto officially took over as the head of the House of Habsburg. He tried to negotiate his return to Austria in 1935 and again in 1938 when he even sought to become chancellor to fight the expected invasion by Hitler’s troops, but could not gather enough support.

Instead, he found a channel through the U.S. embassy in Paris to contact President Franklin D. Roosevelt and later claimed to have prevented Allied bombings of a number of Austrian cities by pleading with the U.S. military.

He was also credited with having helped about 15,000 Austrians, including many Jews, escape the Nazis. From early in World War II in 1940 to after the Allied invasion of France in 1944, Habsburg lived in Washington DC, before returning to Europe to live in France, and then in Poecking, Germany after 1954.

Still, he was not allowed to return to Austria until 1966, five years after he officially renounced the crown. He later claimed to be baffled by the hostility and criticism he faced in his home country.

Despite his opposition to the Nazis, Habsburg was at times faulted at home for being too right wing. In 1961, Spanish dictator Francisco Franco offered to make him king of Spain after his own death.

Habsburg declined, but later praised the fascist leader for helping refugees, calling him a ‘dictator of the south American type … not totalitarian like Hitler or Stalin.’

More recently he was criticised for remarks in 2008 in which he insisted Austrians were the victims of Hitler – who was Austrian born – rather than accomplices.

Otto died last year. His funeral was held in July, 2011.

As their family tradition has it (for the last 600 years) his funeral procession included the following ceremony… the grand entourage arrives at the door of the monastery and a herald knocks at the gate.

From within comes the elderly voice of the Abbot asking “yes, who is it? Who knocks?”

“I am Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary.

“I don’t know you. Tell me again who you are.”

“I am Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary, Bohemia, Galicia, Dalmatia, Grand Duke of Transylvania, Margrave of Moravia, Duke of Styria and….and a myriad other titles and achievements..”
“We still don’t know you. Who are you?”

Whereupon the herald knocks once more, (and traditionally though not this year, kneels down) and said “I am Franz Joseph, a poor sinner humbly begging for God’s mercy.”

And the gates were flung open.

Man can do whatever he wants here on earth, garnering wealth and titles, prosperity and power, but until he humbly bows his life and declares himself a poor humble sinner in need of the mercy of God, he will not actually enter into the Kingdom of Heaven or its Glory.

Being a monarch or a king was not good enough to enter into the kingdom of heaven, only admitting your guilt as a sinner will get you in.

An old man sits in his chair,

His grandsons sit as his feet trying to get his attention

“Tell us a story Grampa, tell us, c’mon, won’t you share?”

The old man chuckled.. I’ve got so many stories boys, which one do you want to hear?

You know the one, Grandpa, you know the one; you tell us every year

Yes I do I know the one, I remember it like yesterday it’s true

He took a deep breath and said…

Thousands of us gathered that day by the Sea

Just to listen to the Nazarene speak

The Kingdom of God is within you, he said

As we followed him up the hill from the beach

I was only 10 or 11 at the time

But man, I can still see his smile

I remember his eyes pierced right through me

Surprised he even looked at me because I was what they called a Gentile

The day wore on and the people they got all hungry,

Wondering what they were going to do

But mom, your great grandmother, had packed me a lunch — five loaves, and a couple of fish too

The fish they were small the fish, nothing more than sardines

And the bread – just barley for the poor

It was hardly enough for a growing lad like me let alone some 5000 more

So I was about to eat them…

when a big man came by and said “son the master has need of your food.”

I gave it up freely but never understood & wondered really… would these do any good?

But I wanted to see what the Nazarene would do

So I pushed my way down through to the front

Well, He broke my bread and He blessed my fish

And then pulled off the most amazing spectacular stunt!

My loaves of bread and my two little fish

They multiplied again and again and again!

It’s a miracle they cried, astounding they said!

He just fed over 5000 men!

Jesus just roared, his head back in laughter “trust the Father!” he said.

“He knows you each by your very own name.”

Well boys, I’m not exactly sure what happened that day

But I know one thing… I’ll never be the same

They killed him you know, crucified him on a tree

But He ain’t dead that I know for sure!

He lives forever I tell you the truth

He’s our God, our Lord, our Savior

Then the Grandfather stopped and wiped a tear from his eye

Said I followed him every day since

And when I fall down or fear, or doubt, or a step of faith I might miss

I recall that day, I’ll never forget, of my five loaves and two little fish

That’s it boys, the story’s ’bout done

“But Grandpa what about the moral?”

Little is much.. when it’s all you’ve got boys

Especially in the hands of God’s Son

I know that people are trying to say ‘you can find the good in anything’ or ‘yeah there might be some stuff in there that’s bad but it’s mostly good so that’s fine.’

I never used to worry about it but lately, particularly as it pertains to the prophetic movement or just teaching in general, eating the chicken and spitting out the bones just doesn’t cut it anymore. Why? Because it’s the meat that’s tainted, pilgrim, not the bones! There’s nothing really wrong with the bones actually – it’s the meat. Oh you might choke on an occasional bone, but the meat is what you’re digesting into your system.

I think the cliché is a lazy man’s way of avoiding thinking altogether. You listen to a preacher go off on his favorite topic and you don’t even really think about what he is saying, or how he misquotes or misuses scripture (it was probably just that once anyway). Danger, danger, danger!

Think about what you are taking into your system. Think about who is speaking into your life. Think about whether you really trust them to lead you into all truth. Some teachers are teaching that you can live a conflict-free Christian life. That is hogwash Biblically yet millions are buying in. Guess what: We are meant to have conflict here; it shapes us and conforms us into his image. Jesus had conflict. Paul had conflict; Peter had conflict; John – well all the disciples really. David, Moses, Gideon, Abraham, conflicts and problems. In addition church history proves it out as well. Conflict, sufferings, struggles, harsh circumstances, pressures. Even Adam back in the Garden of Eden under PERFECT conditions had a struggle — with loneliness, an empty place inside, frustration that there was no one to meet his needs. And so God answers with Eve, right? No. Not right away anyway. God sees the need that it is not good for man to be alone, then he gets him to name the animals. That was not an afternoon job with a chai tea latte in your hand. This took time as God made Adam wait and intensified the problem at the same time. Conflict, struggle etc brings out the best in us, and the worse – that’s why we are to consider it all joy when we go through them. It produces something in us – hope via character, and perseverance.

Or take the prosperity Gospel for example where you are taught that if you follow God’s way (usually through the particular teacher’s way as well) wealth is sure to come your way. There’s only one problem with the prosperity Gospel – it’s called THE BIBLE! So why do you sit and listen to it all and think you are discerning enough to really ‘spit out the bones’ from your spirit that soaks it up like a sponge? Turn away from these false teachers; turn the tv off, turn off the CD – just do it.

“But,” you doth protest… “he tells some really good stories — really good jokes so I’m just going to eat the chicken and spit out the bones.”

What about the long term good of your soul? Be discerning.

I read a story about a father that was trying to persuade his teenage kids to turn away from some of the things they were indulging in. Their argument was always ‘it’s not that much, really.”

So he made muffins for them for breakfast, wonderful tasty muffins, except that he added an unusual ingredient… dog poo. But not that much really.

When he told the kids they were shocked and grossed out, and refused to touch them.

“But why not?” the Father said, “there’s really not much poo in them! Just a bit!”

They got the picture.

So, word of advice: stop eating the poisoned meat altogether. A little bit of yeast leavens the whole dough.

The surface of the water approached me faster than I anticipated and I cracked open a 5-foot-11 inch breach in the waves. I went down deep and started kicking my way as soon as I felt the impact. I pushed through for oxygen and found it with a gasp. Within seconds a rope hit my shoulder out of nowhere. The riverboat captain was smiling. He’d been here many times before. It was a big deal to me, but not to him. He knew the ropes. He knew how to save people. No problem. Before I knew it I was next to the raft as he hauled me in, and the one who went before me, hoisted me into safety. Then it was my turn to rescue, and I ended up pulling in five others looking for help.

Today we stand on the edge of 2012. Speculators are calling this the last year for planet earth. I don’t think so, but there are still many unknowns to come. Some of our best friends will go home in this season. Some of us will lose jobs, see places we have never seen before, go down trails we had never anticipated. We don’t know what we will encounter. New adventures. New chapters. New characters introduced into our story. New villains. New heroes.

How do we approach the year as believers? With joyful anticipation. We don’t turn around and walk away from the jump, from the unexpected rush that is coming. We don’t know what is to come. It is a big deal. However, the Captain is right there and knows how to save people.

Pray expectantly. Serve joyfully where God has placed you. Give generously (sacrificially) as this flows from the life of Christ. Give of your time, talent and treasure. Be a faithful presence for Jesus in our community, a living metaphor of the reality of Christ.

We have all heard the stories or seen them… of the greatest pageant ever where the Innkeeper – a bigger, slower boy… couldn’t bring himself to say there is no room at the inn, and so instead blurted, “You can have my room!” He totally blew his one and only line to ruin the Christmas pageant and at the same time make it the best one ever. Or maybe you have heard about the little girl who turned her M upside down into a W and by doing so, changed the words Christmas Love into Christ was Love. Pretty cool.

But every year they are there, little boys dressed up in shepherd costumes, watching over make believe sheep, while little angels…dressed in little angel costumes hover over yonder.

Little Larry is poking little Judy, and little Ralphie is trying to get little Peter into trouble again, and there’s the little girl pulling up her angel dress and the little boy trying to make bodily noises in the microphone… and then the director, bless her heart, taps the podium and calls the group to attention, sort of, and they begin to sing…

Away in a manger, no crib for a bed…

You know we sing these songs – away in a manger and yet live as far asway from the manger as possible. There really is a way in the manger, but we live more like it is Away with the manger if you know what I mean. The song says ‘no crying he makes” but come on, he was a baby! Not only did he cry, I’m sure he tooted too, and spit up and christened his mom and dad just like every other baby. He was really a baby, really a boy, really a man and he really died. Even Rembrandt in his painting called the Adoration of the Shepherds painted a ladder in the background, which placed a shadow over the Christ child in the manger, that looked like a cross. And, a rooster walked in the foreground, which was an old symbol for betrayal – the cock crowing. He was truly God and truly man. When the song suggests even that it was a silent night and a holy night,.. holy yes, silent no.

We also sing O Little Town of Bethlehem at this time of year. Ever wonder why? Why Bethlehem? Why not Jericho, or Sychar or Capernaum? Well, it was foretold in one prophecy over 700 years before that the Messiah would be born in Bethlehem – ‘and you little Bethlehem, though least among the tribes, out of you shall come One who is the ruler of all Israel. Little did Caesar Augustus know that he was being used like a pawn in God’s hand when he ordered a census to be taken at that time.

Life in Israel at that time was no cake walk. It was very difficult living under the oppression of Rome. Jospeh and May had to walk from about here to Williams lake just to get to the place of is birth, having no idea that all this was foretold.

Herod the Great was the King in power and he was cruel and oppressive, even killing all males two years and younger (including his own son), just to secure his place on the throne. Augustus reportedly said “I would rather be Herod’s pig than Herod’s son.”

And in the wake of Herod the Great, Alexander the Great and Augustus the Great, no one even noticed Jesus the Baby. And it still doesn’t. Isn’t it amazing how we can celebrate the birth of someone and ignore it totally at the same time.?

We also sing “ohohh Star of wonder, star of night…” Do you know there is estimated 70 sextillion stars out there (that’s a lot of stars) whom God created, flung into space and called each by name. That means that the same One who created all of that, is the same one you see on the Christmas Cards as the little baby. He was the God man. Fully God, fully man.

Angels we have heard on High, is another perennial favourite Christmas carol. The angels sang Fear Not! For behold we bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be for all the people. Fear not. Give God glory and you will have peace on this earth.

Finally we sing What Child is this?

Have you looked into the manger lately? Really looked? That’s God with us – Immanuel. He said he would be there till the end of the age. Fear not. When times of trouble assail you fear not.

I see God – in the street, on the corner, in the gas station, God in the market, in the hospital, God all over the place because He is now with us. That’s why we say Merry Christmas, celebrating his coming as a babe and that’s why we say Maranatha, celebrating that He’s coming again, not as a new born babe, but as reigning King of Kings and Lord of Lords!

I wrote a song a few days ago… called The Way in the Manger…

D                                                   G                  D

Away in the manger, Christ Jesus born that day

D                                 G               A

Away in the manger, among the straw He lay

D                             G                    D

Away in the manger to save us from our sin

D                                                  G      A            D

Away in the manger our very soul to win

G                 A                     D

He’s the truth who came for me and you

G          A                    D

He’s the life abundantly and true

G                   Em          D                  Bm

He’s the Way in the manger given for us all

G               A                        D

Away in the manger, to break our fall

Up from the manger, he grew into a man

A carpenter’s son with nails in his hand

Up from the manger, he died upon a tree

This Carpenter man from Galilee

As his hand reached the doorknob and he turned it to the left, he stopped and turned around looking somewhat puzzled and a bit dazzled all at the same time.

“Praise the Lord, I’ve been healed!”

It was strange thing indeed. I just stared up from the kitchen table where I was eating my cereal.

The reason his hand was on the doorknob was because he was heading to the city to tell his cardiologist that he would go through with the triple bypass. His condition had gotten to the point that he could not even take ten steps without having to pause and lean against a tree or building for support. Nitro glycerin pills were his new best friend.

“What?” His wife looked at him like he’d lost his mind.

“I’ve been healed. I.. just know it. I know. I have!”

But there was only one way to prove it; he would need to go down to the city and have the doctor confirm his health.

So he left as planned.

Two and a half hours later he arrived at the hospital, parked his van, looked at the seven flights of stairs and said “Well, here goes nothing.”

He took the stairs two at a time like in the old days. At the end of the stairs, he was breathing hard out of breath but there was no pain.

Barely being able to believe it, he continued to his appointment. Part of the procedure involved assistance with cleaning out everything within him – that meant an enema. Nice. He went through with it though, and visited the toilet a couple of times before it was time to see the doc.

“Ok Mr. Barker, it’s time for you,” the nurse smiled at him without really looking at him.

He moved off the bed and started toward the door when he said “just a second; I need to go back there.”

In the bathroom, another miracle occurred. The toilet literally was filled with what looked like rice. But it was apparently cholesterol like a big bowl of rice – this doesn’t even make sense to me physically – how it could get through him, but it did. I googled it and it is possible to pass cholesterol.

The doctor checked him over and over and then said “Well Mr. Barker, you don’t need an operation; the only reason you’ll need to come back to see me is if you’re gaining too much weight.”

What?! Could it be? Yes. No one had laid hands on him that day; no one prayed particularly for a miracle that morning. Jesus just spoke a word over him and it was done.

Don’t put God in a box this Christmas.

Christmas is upon us and the new year is nipping at its heels. For some it is a time of pressure, of family that grinds together, of pressure, of spending money they don’t have to buy gifts they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like, — pressure, of having people over, of cooking, of bills, and toys and parties and kids and PRESSURE!

For others it’s a deep time of sorrow because of lost loved one at this time of year, or a tragic circumstance, a divorce or relationship breakdown. It brings up bad memories and bad feelings. They attend services called “Blue Christmas” and it is a time of sadness and loneliness.

Still for others it is time of great reflection, a time to re-evaluate life, a time to reflect on the Incarnation, to embrace Christ again in His coming.

The trouble with this time of year is that it can be so busy with secondary things that we miss the central part — Jesus. Korean artist G. Rhee ‘drew’ a portrait of Christ using only the words of the New Testament – 185,000 words. He wrote out the NT making some words thicker and some smaller and curved etc to ‘draw’ the figure of Christ. Christ emerges right out from the words. Ask God to do that for you this Christmas. Ask Jesus to emerge from the words of scripture and from the busyness and secondary things – as central in it all.

Take time during the pressure, during the memories, good or bad, during the busyness to ask God what He wants you to do in the upcoming year, how He wants you to be. Purge yourself from any unfruitful activities or bad habits, and recommit to following Him no matter what.

Dr. Charles Stanley of In Touch Ministries says “That type of dedication is indicated in Jesus’ statement: “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me” (Luke 9:23). In the first century, the cross represented death. How do you think the disciples originally reacted to Jesus’ statement in Luke 9:23?” I recognize this is not an easy call, but scripture also says “whoever has the Son has life; he who has not the Son has not life.” I want LIFE.

This Christmas, be wise in the use of your brain space. Take time to adore the One who came as a baby, suffered on the cross, and rose from the dead. Draw near to Jesus and honestly acknowledge your doubts and shortcomings. Recommit to following Him as your first priority. Our merciful, powerful God is worthy to be exalted.

Prayer: Father, thank You for sending Your Son to earth. This Christmas, give me a renewed vision of the significance of Jesus’ birth. I pray that I would connect with Him in an intimate way during the church services I attend. Help me set aside time to worship and adore Him, just as those shepherds and wise men did so long ago. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.

The “City of the Great King” is at one moment amazing and awe-inspiring and in the next so filthy, & blemished from centuries of spilled blood and broken covenants.

I stood there taking in my surroundings. Jerusalem, the “apple of God’s eye,” overtook me. Just this week on Monday I walked in the streets of Jerusalem, both in the old city, the ancient city of David, and in the new modern city that offers everything this world can. It hit me, though while walking on the streets of the time of Jesus.

He came here. He walked the dirt of these streets. God did. Jesus was born to a young peasant girl, grew up in a dirty land among dirty people. His friends, Peter, once said, “get away from me, Lord; I am an unclean man.”

The incarnation we celebrate each Christmas speaks of God becoming flesh and dwelling among us, drawing near to show us the Father.  We are studying the book of John right now, and while John doesn’t write about angels and shepherds and wise men coming from afar, He writes about God coming from afar, God becoming flesh (1:14) and dwelling among us. He writes about Jesus being the light of men and coming to His own people and His own people rejecting Him.

As I stood there amidst the sights and sounds and smells of Jerusalem I thought of Jesus coming here to His own people  - and by extension to us – to be one of us, of living, without failing, the life we should have lived and dying the death we should have died. I was once again brought to the place of gratefulness for His love. When I say He lived the life I should have, I am talking about me being in the line of Adam, my first parent, and how Adam (representing us all) failed, lived in disobedience to God and fracturing the relationship with God as a result. That is in my DNA. By nature, and by choice, I too lived a life of disobedience and failure and needed a Saviour — still do, no question. But Jesus came and lived the life I SHOULD have lived, and died the death I SHOULD have died, that I might be with Him forever, saved and sanctified (set apart) by His wonderful grace to live a life now for His glory, and for evermore with Him in Glory.

The Apostle John writes of Jesus in chapter 13, knowing who He was and where He was going, taking off His cloak, wrapping a servant’s towel around himself, kneeling down and washing the dirt from the feet of his friends, the dirt of Jerusalem. But there is more to see there.

He took off His cloak; He took off His majesty, and became a man. He took the form of a servant, and He washed the dirt off his friends’ journey. That’s it.

He still washes off the dirt from our journey when we come to Him, and we trust Him to do that very thing. He provides the way for that to actually happen. Let Him cleanse you this Christmas. He invites you to come to Him, and to have Him cleanse you with His power and love. Peter told Him “No, you shouldn’t be washing my feet!” But Jesus said if you don’t let Him wash you, you can have no part of Him. Peter responded by saying “then not just my feet Lord, but wash all of me.” In other words He was saying “I’ll take a bath!!”

But Jesus said “only your feet need washing now.”

By that I think He means that as we walk through this world, we get dust and debris on us and our “walk” needs washing. If we have committed our lives to Him already, we don’t need a “bath” we just need to come to Him again to have our journey washed. How about you? You need a good foot washing?

In prayer, allow Jesus to come and wash your feet; ask forgiveness for your sins again and let the cleansing water refresh you once more.