Where Did Cain Get His Wife?

The short answer is: He got her from the same pool of prospective marital candidates from which we get our wives and husbands—from the children of Adam and Eve. The Bible is clear. Adam was the progenitor of the human race (Rom. 5:12-14), and Eve was “the mother of all living” (Gen. 3:20) No human being has been produced who was not a son of Adam or daughter of Eve.

But 6,000 years later, this may confuse us. Haven’t we been rightly taught that incest is repulsive? After all, who in his right mind would think of marrying his sister! For we know the danger of marrying close relatives. Close relatives are more likely to carry the same genetic flaws as we. Marriage thereby increases the odds of passing those weaknesses onto our children as birth defects and other genetic disorders. Most of us are aware of the joint and skin problems of designer dogs inbred too closely. But similar problems arise in human families. One well-known genetic disease that circulated among European royalty in the 19^th century, through marriages between first cousins, was hemophilia.

Cain, of course, had no need to be concerned about these issues. For one thing, the gene pool hadn’t had time to decay as it has since then. Nor was there was a specific commandment from God forbidding marriage between close relatives. In fact, most of the patriarchs married close relatives. Abram married his half-sister Sarai. Isaac and Jacob married their cousins. It wasn’t until God gave the Law to Israel that taboos against incest were enacted, to safeguard his people against birth defects (the gene pool having rapidly degraded by this time) and protect from adopting the immoral practices of their pagan neighbors.

So Cain married his sister. Genesis 5:4 says in addition to Cain and later Seth, Adam and Eve had many other children. Jewish tradition says Eve bore Adam 23 children. Of course, she had longer to do so than mothers today. If Adam lived 930 years, Eve likely lived a long life as well, giving her hundreds of years to raise children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and…you get the point.

The Bible proceeds to trace  seven generations of Cain’s family (Gen. 4:16-24), many of whom were very successful in their careers. Jabal became a wealthy businessman making tents and raising livestock. Jubal was the father of all who compose music and craft musical instruments. Tubal-Cain made everyone’s life more comfortable by developing the technology of forging bronze and iron. But it was not a happy family. Moses, author of Genesis, picks two representatives of the lines of Cain and Seth to exemplify the quality of their family life. Enoch, the seventh from Adam through Seth, walked with God and was taken to heaven without dying because his life pleased God (Gen. 5:24; Heb. 11:5). But of Cain’s family, nothing is said about their love for God, for they had none. Instead, we’re told that Lamech, the seventh from Adam through Cain, took two wives (the first polygamist), murdered a young man for wounding him, and boasted that if Cain is avenged seven times, then “Lamech is avenged 77 times.”

Quite a little family! Wouldn’t you say? Maybe it would have been better for everyone if Cain had not been able to find a woman willing to marry him.

Whatever Happened to Eden?

I mean the one where Adam and Eve lived. Joni Mitchell wrote a song called “Woodstock” in which she said the solution to our problems is “we’ve got to get ourselves back to the Garden.” I’m for that, but how do we do it? When we hear of environmental extremists keeping gas pipelines from being built or politicians promising healthcare for every citizen, it’s the same song with this assurance added: “This is how we get back to the Garden!” Nothing wrong with the desire, of course. C.S. Lewis wrote: “If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” You were made for Eden. That’s why you long for it. Trouble is, if we try to find it in this world, we’ll miss it both here and in the world to come.

Genesis 2:10 gives us the coordinates for Eden. It was located at the headwaters of four rivers—the Pishon, the Gihon, the Tigris, and the Euphrates. Only those last two rivers exist today. What happened to the Pishon and Gihon? They were swept away in a catastrophic event. It all began when Adam and Eve broke God’s law and were exiled from the Garden. The Garden did not cease to exist at that point. They were simply barred from entering it, cherubim serving as guards at its gates). But they themselves never ventured far from it, for we’re told it was Cain, not his parents, who was forced to wander east of Eden in the land of Nod.  Adam and Eve continued to live just down the street from Eden in a world that was still wonderful enough that they lived to the ripe old age of 900!

So what happened to Eden? One of two things. Reading on in Genesis, we find that the world was filled with violence and the thoughts of men’s heart were only evil continually. So God destroyed the first earth in a flood of water.  2 Peter 3:6 affirms this: “The world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.” By the way, Peter warns that this present world will also be destroyed for similar reasons very soon – not by water this time, but by fire. Let the reader beware! So it is possible that the Garden of Eden was swept away in the Great Flood.

However, I think it is more likely that God transplanted the Garden of Eden to heaven where it has been safely cultivated ever since. For the final pages of the Bible describe an Edenic paradise whose gates never close. In the middle of this Garden will be the river of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and on either side of the river will be the tree of life bearing twelve varieties of fruit, its leaves bringing healing to the nations. (Rev. 22:1-2), and surrounding this central park will be the holy city, New Jerusalem which will come down to earth out of heaven from God. At this point heaven and earth will again be one, God’s will being done on earth just as it is in heaven. For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will be the light and temple of this city.

Any chance for us to go there? The choice is yours. For this is the place Jesus went to prepare for us. He said, “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in Me. In My Father’s House are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” (John 14:1-2) He also gave very precise directions for getting there. Thomas doubted, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus assured him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by Me.”

So quit worrying about how to get it all and reach your full potential in this life! No one ever does. Nor will life turn out the way you hope. But it can turn out better than expected if you live for the next world instead of this one - praying for and doing all you can to take others with you there and cultivating a character that is suitable for heaven’s culture. Lewis wrote: “If you read history, you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next… It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth ‘thrown in.’ Aim at earth and you will get neither.”

In the first half of this study, we learned that Jesus is the bread of heaven who gives everlasting life to everyone who believes in Him. But believing in Him involves more than knowing where He came from. It also means responding positively to the second vital question posed by the gospel of John -

2) Why Did Jesus Come? John gives two life-giving answers to this question. The first is found in the verse that changed my life. I was sitting in confirmation class at age 14, preparing to the join my church. But a more pressing question kept haunting me. How can I be sure I’ll go to heaven when I die?  Thankfully, the minister had the answer for us. He quoted John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life.” So I had my answer. The reason Jesus came was to save sinners by dying for our sins, and all I need do to receive His pardon and the life He promises is to believe in Him. Some rebel at this idea. ”Rely on someone else for my salvation? No! That contradicts everything I believe in. I’ve always prided myself in the fact that I’m a self-made man!” But a drowning person has no such qualms. He simply wants to live and is willing to accept help from anyone who can rescue him. Nor does John leave us wondering why Jesus can save us. The reason He can do so is because Jesus is the Lord!

To help us believe this, John offers us two proofs. First, the miracles of Christ. Compared to the other gospels, John contains very few miracles – 8 to be exact! But that doesn’t make them unimportant. On the contrary, each one is given for a specific purpose. John 2:11 is a good example. Here Jesus performs His first public miracle by turning water into wine. What is this intended to prove? Jesus is the Creator with all the elements of nature under His control. Or what about the healing of the man born blind in John 9:12? What does this picture about Jesus? Jesus is the Light of the World and whoever follows Him will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life. And one more example – John 11:44 where Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. What does this prove?  Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life and that whoever believes in Him shall live even if he dies. So it is throughout this gospel. The miracles are meant to lead us to one undeniable conclusion. John 20:31 is the key verse: “Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”

The second way John helps us believe is by the titles he gives Jesus. Some  argue that Jesus never claimed to be God, but that’s refuted by the “I AM” statements He makes in this book – “I am the Bread of Life,” “I am the Light of the World,”  ”I am the Good Shepherd,” “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” Each of these statements proves that He was more than a prophet, for each statement is a title God gave to Himself in the Old Testament and which Jesus now applies to Himself. The clearest example is John 8:58 where Jesus claims to have known Abraham. The religious rulers counter, “You are not yet 50 years old, and have you seen Abraham?” Jesus boldly answers, “Truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM,” the name God told Moses to use when explaining who sent him. Nor were the religious rulers confused as to what Jesus meant, for John says they picked up stones at this point to kill Him because He, being a mere man, made Himself equal with God. Consequently, how important is it for you to believe this about Jesus?” It is all important! For, as Jesus warned the religious rulers in John 8:24, “Unless you believe that I AM, you will die in your sins.”

Finally, question 3) Where Did Jesus Go? 15 times in John’s gospel, Jesus warned that He was going away, and that bothers people. It bothered the Jews because they couldn’t figure out where He was going. It bothered the disciples because they knew they couldn’t get along without Him. And it bothered me because I wondered, “If there’s a God who loves me, then why doesn’t He reveal Himself to me?” But Jesus comforts us with these words of assurance in John  14:1-3, “Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” So we needn’t be confused. Jesus is where He was in the beginning – with His Father in Heaven, ruling His creation, preparing a place for us, and about to return and receive us to Himself. What a great note on which to end this study! Our hope is not in what we can achieve one day or anything this world offers. Our blessed hope is “the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” who may return before this day is over. Even so, come quickly, Lord!

Children write letters to Santa Claus at Christmastime. But one little girl knew that wasn’t right. “After all, Christmas is about Jesus, not Santa Claus!” So she wrote a letter to Baby Jesus and dropped it in the mailbox. Two weeks later, it came back stamped, “Return to Sender. Address Unknown.” I hope someone explained to her that though the USPS was unable to deliver her letter, we know right where Jesus is and have no need of the post office, email, or text messaging to reach Him. We can talk to Him at the speed of thought through prayer.

Of the four gospel writers, John is the most helpful in answering these questions. Several weeks ago, prior to my wife’s cancer surgery and initial recovery, I took us through an overview of the first three gospels – Matthew, Mark, and Luke. In this study, I focus on 3 critical questions answered by the gospel of John.

1) Where Did Jesus Come From? Jesus answers this question Himself in John chapter 6. After feeding 20,000 men, women, and children with two fish and five biscuits (Luke 9:14 says they only counted the men when numbering the crowd at 5,000, which means He fed to 4 to 5 times that many), He uses this great miracle to teach us a vital truth about Himself. Verse 41: “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” In fact, this truth is so vital He repeats it 7 times in this chapter – “For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven…I am the bread of life…I have come down from heaven not to do My will but to do the will of Him who sent me…I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever.” (John 6:33, 35, 38, 51)

Why is this truth so vital? First, it clarifies His identity. Jesus is no mere man for unlike the rest of us, His life didn’t begin at conception and birth. That’s why there’s no genealogy in this gospel as there is in Luke and Matthew. Luke traces His ancestry back to Adam picturing Jesus as the perfect man whereas Matthew traces his lineage back to Abraham and David proving that Jesus is King of the Jews. But there is no genealogy in John because John wants us to understand that He had no beginning. Jesus was one with the Father from eternity past. John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…All things were made by Him and without Him was not anything made that was made.” Then, to make sure we understand who the Word is, He adds in verse 14: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

I remind you at this point that there is a vast difference between being created and being begotten. When I create something, I make it out of a substance that is different from my own. I take a picture using my digital camera. I sculpt a statue out of clay. But when my wife and I begot our two daughters, we produced them and gave them life out of our own flesh and blood. That’s why it doesn’t work to explain Jesus’ pre-existence by claiming that He was the first angel or a demi-god created by God for the Bible is clear: Jesus is the only begotten Son of the Father who shares His eternal essence, not only making Him one with and equal to the Father, but also making it right and necessary for us to worship Him as we do the Father. This is why Jesus answered Philip’s request the way He did in John 14:9, “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” It’s also the reason why Peter, James, John, Thomas, and the rest of the disciples fell down at His feet in worship when they saw Him in His glory. They were recognizing that this is “My Lord and My God!” (John 20:28)

The second reason this truth is vital is because of what it reveals about His priority. Jesus likens Himself to the manna in the wilderness to emphasize our need of Him. Just as the nation of Israel relied upon bread from heaven for their daily lives, we need Jesus for the eternal life He offers us. Following the feeding of the 20,000, John 6:15 says the crowd wanted to make Jesus king by force. But He wouldn’t have it, for He knew there was a greater need than filling their bellies. There is a God-shaped vacuum in our hearts that only He can fill. ”I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is My Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” (John 6:32-33)

Let me insert a comma at this point and ask you a vital question before I go on: Have you recognized who Jesus is and how badly you need Him? If you’ve lost the joy of living or you feel anxious about the future, chances are you’ve been trying to life life without fully depending on Him or surrendering to His will for you. In my next post, I’ll finish this study with two more questions answered by John’s gospel: Why did Jesus come and where did Jesus go? But do not let this day end without telling Him how much you need Him. You need Him more than you need bread for your belly, for He said, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me will never go hungry, and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty…For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:35-40) Look to the Son this very moment, then, for fullness of life today and joy forever!

It was at this time last year that Cheryl began to feel tired and suffer pain in her body. That was why we did not pursue the churches that were interviewing us as their potential pastor and wife. A few months later we learned the reason for her symptoms. Cancer – a word that sparks fear in us who hear it. But David was right! “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”

In August chemotherapy and radiation began – 25 external radiation treatments followed by 4 weeks of internal radiation in which metal plates and a radioactive element were introduced through her birth canal. These treatments were painful and physically debilitating causing infection and lymphedema in her right leg and forcing us to check back into UW Medical Center 3 times. And yet, as hard as these treatments were on Cheryl’s body, they were effective. They destroyed the tumor and kept the cancer from spreading to the rest of her body. Following the treatments, she was allowed to rest for 6 weeks to rebuild her strength.

Then came the operation on December 19, the day after our first grandchild was born – something that gave Cheryl one more reason to press on despite the pain and live! The surgery was long and complicated. In addition to a hysterectomy, the surgical team had to remove her appendix which was infected and repair the tissues scarred by the radiation. But surgeons’ verdict was that the operation was successful and that we ought to have the highest level of optimism possible.

Yesterday, 5 weeks after surgery, was Cheryl’s post-op exam. The news couldn’t have been better. Dr. Tamimi, UW’s chief gynecological oncologist and surgeon, said she was healing better than most and that based on his experience, there is a 95% to 99% chance that the cancer will not return. Her follow-up exams will be once every 3 months the first year and once every 4 months the second year. He said that it may take a few months for her to get her strength back, but that there is no reason not to expect a full and successful recovery. (Let me add that it may also take this caregiver a few months to regain his strength.)

Thank you to all of you who have prayed so faithfully, encouraged us with get-well cards, provided meals, transportation, cleaning, and handyman help, and have given so generously to assist with our medical bills. We love you for it. Most important of all, we thank the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who has carried us safely through this trial giving us comfort and strength each step of the way. To Him be the glory both now and forevermore. Amen!

Superheroes are in vogue. Captain America, Iron Man, Wonder Woman, Storm, and the other X-Men and members of the Justice League have made the leap from comic books and video games onto the silver screen and into the hearts of our young people. The reason is clear. Politicians, celebrities, and other should-be role models have let them down. So they turn to fantasy, which provides a pleasant diversion, but the problem is that none of it is real, and what our planet needs now like never before is a genuine Savior who is able to deliver us from destruction. My first hero was Superman. With towel cape I would leap from the sofa pretending I could fly like him. Only later did I learn that George Reeves, who played my hero on television, committed suicide. But, then, that’s the  fatal flaw of all our would-be heroes. They’re broken people just like we are!

Luke’s Portrait of Jesus: Savior (pt 2)

So where do we turn for salvation? The Greeks looked to their gods who gave them heroes like Ulysses, Jason, and Achilles. But neither they nor the gods were real, and they too had their flaws. Achilles was fatally wounded in his heel, the one part of his personality his mother failed to protect when she dipped him in the River Styx as an infant. Luke, to whom we looked for answers in our last study, now takes all our dashed hopes and shows how they are perfectly fulfilled in Jesus our Savior. In part 1, He explained how and why Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth. In this study, He gives us two more reasons for His Incarnation -

2) To Provide An Example. Luke’s audience, the Greeks, cared about logic, order, and perfection. We see this in the precision of the Parthenon, the glory of the Olympics, and philosophers like Plato and Aristotle. But their efforts did not lead to the salvation they longed for. So Luke the evangelist introduces us to a Savior who is perfect in every way. At His birth, the angel assured Mary of His holiness, “The power of the Most High will overshadow you and for that reason the holy Child shall be called the Son of God.” (Luke 1:35) At age 12, He visited the Temple and proved His brilliance by amazing the scholars with his insight and humility. (Luke 2:47) At His execution, Pilate His judge admitted, “I find no fault in this Man!” The point is: If you’re looking for Someone perfect in body, mind, and spirit and able to impart the same virtues to you, Luke says, “Turn to Jesus, for He is a Perfect Example and the Savior  you’ve been longing for!”

But the reason I love Him is His compassion. Luke portrays Christ’s humanity, including people who are found nowhere else in the New Testament: Zechariah and Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s parents; the shepherds of Bethlehem; Simeon and Anna who rejoiced to see the newborn Savior in the Temple; Zaccheus the  tax collector who held  a dinner for Him; and the thief on the cross who asked Jesus to remember him when He came into His kingdom. Why include so many common people? To illustrate how much the King cares for us regardless of our social position! We also learn of the high value Jesus placed on  the women who followed Him like Joanna, Susanna, and Mary, his financial supporters (Luke 8:3); His friends Martha and Mary (Luke 10:38); and the widow who gave her mite at the Temple (Luke 21:1). This is all meant to emphasize the fact that Jesus is a Great Savior, not of the rich and powerful, but anyone who calls on Him for salvation, which is the third and most important reason Jesus came to earth.

3) To Purchase Our Salvation. The key word used 17 times in Luke’s gospel is “save” or “salvation.” One example is Luke 9:56 where James and John, “the sons of thunder,” want to call down fire from heaven because the Samaritans do not welcome Jesus to their town. Jesus rebukes them saying, “The Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” Luke also includes 19 parables that are found in no other gospel, several of them focusing on His work of salvation like the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the lost (prodigal) son. Consequently, if you’re ever tempted to think that you’re too bad to be saved, think again! For this is why He came.  Luke 19:10 is the key verse of this book where Jesus gives us His personal assurance:  ”The Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.” And though  salvation is free to us, we must not forget that it cost His life to pay for our sins.

Furthermore, His salvation is complete. It forgives our sins, heals our diseases, provides wisdom for our journey, and defeats the evil of this world. How does He achieve these superhuman feats? By the same power with which He walked on water, cast out devils, and rose from the dead: His Spirit who lives in us! Luke is the gospel of the Holy Spirit, Jesus modeling  from start to finish how to live life by His power. Luke 4:1 - ”Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil.” It was also His parting word to His disciples: “Behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” What a crucial  reminder as we face the uncertainty of a new year! We can face it with confidence because our Savior is empowering us, leading us, and protecting us from evil of every kind. May His name be praised!

(Click here for the full audio version of this message)

2011 was a bad year for many of us! We lost jobs, suffered illness, felt betrayed by friends, struggled through financial crisis, were disappointed by leaders, and are hoping that 2012 will be kinder to us. Is that likely? Here are my New Year predictions. The first is brutal reality: The world won’t get better in 2012. As Christ’s return approaches, “evil men and impostors will proceed  from bad to worse deceiving and being deceived.” (2 Tim. 3:13) So don’t count on the nightly news being your formula for sound sleep. I don’t put much stock in it, but the Mayan calendar actually predicts the end of the world in 2012. So we may be in for another rough ride! But I also have great hope as we face the future, for I’ve put my faith in a Great Savior who says, “In the world you will have tribulation but take heart, I have overcome the world,” “My grace is sufficient for you,” for “as your days, so shall your strength be.” (John 16:33;  2 Cor. 12:9; Deut. 33:25)

Luke’s Portrait of Jesus: Savior (pt 1)

In my last few posts, I’ve described the portraits painted of Jesus by the gospel writers: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Matthew wrote to persuade the Jews that Jesus is their long-awaited King. Mark wrote to the Romans picturing Jesus as the Servant of God endowed with all power from on high. But Luke, whose book is the focus of this post, approaches his subject from a different angle. He was an evangelist to the Greeks offering them a fully human Savior who suffered like we suffer, but also has the power and compassion to save us from the evil of this world. To do that, he gives us 3 reasons why Jesus came to earth:

1) To Partake of Humanity. Ancient Greek history is based on myth. Read Homer’s Iliad or Odyssey and you’ll find gods like Zeus and Apollo empowering heroes like Achilles and Ajax to perform superhuman feats. The problem with his writings is that it’s impossible to tell fact from fiction. Luke doesn’t want us to make that mistake about Jesus. From the opening of his gospel, he assures us of its historical accuracy and the humanity of Jesus. “Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. Therefore, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, it seemed good also to me to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus (meaning ‘lover of God’), so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” (Luke 1:1-4) In other words, his gospel is no myth. It’s a record we can trust written by one of the first true historians who carefully investigated everything he wrote.

The facts Luke includes also leave no doubt about Jesus’ humanity. He  is no god come down from Mt. Olympus pretending to be one of us. Though His Father is God and His mother was a virgin, He is fully human. Luke spells out the details of His birth from the angel’s announcement to Mary and the shepherds to His manger cradle and circumcision in the Temple.  (Luke 2:1-24) Luke’s genealogy is also important. Matthew traces His lineage back to Abraham the first Hebrew, but Luke stresses His humanness by tracing his family tree back to Adam the first human. (Luke 3:23-38) Nor does he picture Him as a superhero impervious to pain. Now that He’s risen and ascended to heaven, He’s invincible, but not in His days on earth. He was as vulnerable to suffering as you. This is the hallmark of Luke’s gospel – the weakness of Christ. He hungered, He grew tired, and at one point wasn’t strong enough to carry His cross. (Luke 4:2; 8:23; 23:26). But He was weak for our sake. He became a man in order to live a perfect life in our place, give us His righteousness as a gift, and die on a cross for our sins.

“Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death… he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” (Heb. 2:14-18)

Let this be your encouragement whatever trials you face in the year ahead. Jesus became a real human being to sympathize with your suffering, to take away your fear in the midst of it, to help you overcome it, and to forgive you when you give up in unbelief. As Charles Spurgeon put it, “You can look and study and weigh the evidence, but Jesus is a greater Savior than you think Him to be when your thoughts are at their greatest. My Lord is more ready to pardon than you are to sin, more able to forgive than you are to transgress. My Master is more willing to supply your needs than you are to confess them. Never tolerate low thoughts of my Lord Jesus.” For Jesus is an incomparably great Savior!

Click here to listen to Michael Card’s song, “The Nazarene.” You’ll like it!

(In my next post,  I’ll focus on two more reasons Luke gives us for Jesus becoming human – to provide an example and to purchase our salvation.)

While Cheryl recovers from cancer surgery and I stay with her at UW Medical Center, two of our  good friends take my place sharing what God has put on their hearts. Remembering what was said about Jesus at His birth – “they shall call his name Immanuel” which translated means, ‘God with us.’” – Doug Wisdom shares how he experiences this truth every workday.

“Jesus Meets Us at Roosters” by Doug Wisdom

Roosters is a little restaurant in Shelton that also sells gasoline in front of their store, a modern day version of the little crossroads restaurant with the single gas pump out front where your grandparents and great grandparents met to have a friendly meal with their neighbors. I spend an hour or two there most weekdays between school bus runs. Tuesdays are especially nice for me because Nancy meets me there before she starts her activities with her Youth for Christ group.

Yesterday, Bruce Colebank came by to have breakfast and share good stories about his wife Linda who battles COPD. Then Maudi Newman (local missionary for Youth for Christ) arrived and she shared her need for some men to step up to help with mentoring her teenagers at YFC. Bruce is intrigued with the idea to help out. Andi Uffelman from CareNet, who had a cancelled meeting joined us to share her vision for CareNet, that it will be as well known as Planned Parenthood and offer a more Godly way of handling the unexpected pregnancy.

Other days I have seen Sharon Fitchitt and Sharon Milner nestled in the back room working on Christmas cards and Christmas crafts. Randy Churchill meets  with the Salvation Army group. You’ll always see Randy around Safeway this time of year greeting shoppers as they pass his little red pot trying to help make Christmas a little more joyful for others in need.

And, yes, Jesus is there with his friends, sharing his love, encouraging each of us, laughing, crying, just providing whatever is needed for the occasion. Our day is just so much better, because he met us at Roosters.

Thank you, Doug, for reminding me that Jesus is my Emmanuel, always with me, not only at Christmastime, but every day in every place throughout the year!