Isaiah 40:21" Do you not know? Have you not heard? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
Isaiah 40:28: "Do you not know ?Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth"
The date 12/12/12 comes only once in a lifetime. There will never be another date ever as the earth rotates itself to another new day forward.
On this awesome morning, I could never imagine I could see a planet with the human naked eye! It was about 6:15am in the morning when I was captivated by this bright light above the crescent moon. With my I-phone, I managed to capture this and a short video.
I thought I saw a bright "star" - that reminded me of Matt 2 - where Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. The one they seen in the east. But alas, the one I saw in the east in the morning was not a star - but a planet! I SAW A PLANET instead! The debate in the evening to my discovery later with some friends was whether it was Venus or Jupiter? It was such an awesome discovery of the universe that at different times of the seasons, we can sight different planets! Yes it is possible!
This is Christmas time. A time of reflection of a year that is closing. The Mayans predicted that 21/12/2012 is the end of the world. But as I am journaling this today - the date is 22/12/12. The END was not here for the earthlings. Ho Ho Ho! Still another HoLyDay!
So it was Planet Venus I saw. Venus . Love. God.
What is Christmas?God is love. It was because of this great love for us mankind that Jesus was born for a time like this 2000+ years ago. King Herod was disturbed by the birth of the Christ - the one who will become a ruler and the shepherd of the people Israel.
When you behold the stars in the sky in the dark night? What do you feel? Do you feel emotionless like the recent Gallup poll which surveyed & found that Singaporeans ranked pretty high up in the emotionless quotient? Do you feel happy when you see the heavenly hosts above? Well, the Magi in Matt 10:10 saw the star, they were overjoyed. In Luke 2:13 "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests'"
That was the feeling of those people anticipating on the night when Jesus was born. JOYful. Peaceful. Love. So that was the same feeling that I had when I saw Venus and the starry hosts that wee morning. To have that - only on whom his favour rests. That means one needs to know Him first. Do you know this King - the Saviour born to us? He is Christ the Lord. This is the true meaning of Christmas.
What are Christmas Gifts?
Matt 2:11 the Magi or wise men bowed down and worshipped him. Then they opened the treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh"
Today as we celebrate Christmas, the gifts exchange are merely between men to men. We present to each other with gifts not of pure gold because they are expensive. But we give to each other lots of incense and myrrh from Bodyshop / Crabtree / Marks & Spencer etc Ha ha. Sometimes the gifts comes with a cap limit of S$xx amount too.
But what did the Magi did in the past? The gifts they brought were for Jesus. Only Jesus. Not among themselves . Ha Ha Ha. Our gift to Him is worship and adoration for who He is and what He has done. Not about us but all about Him. We seek the Giver , not the gifts. We live in the present and not the past. Is 40:29 He does not grow tired or weary (We do!) His understanding no one can fathom (We are still learning each day!). He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak! What a source of great power and mighty strength! To whom will we compare God? He can bring princes to naught and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing. This is my God - Jesus Christ - the greatest gift of all.
Reflections
As I reflected on the year 2012, I realised that life is really a journey. I have never encountered flight cancellations. 2012 was my first time experiencing it in June while in Darwin. There is a chinese saying that if there is once, there will be twice or thrice. Indeed. Came Oct, Kota Kinabalu trip was delayed for departure from Senai as the KK Airport had technical glitches. Then came Nov where my father in law had to undergo his major heart bypass at his 83 years of age leading to another cancellation of a trip to Melbourne to celebrate a cousin's wedding.
So life is like that. We may never know what will happen the next moment.
We seem to be in a rat race forgetting to slow down to smell the roses and look up to the heavenly hosts above. Jesus came down to us. He had gone back and He will come back again for us. When? No one knows. But for now, here is the video of the Venus and some flights in action and some beautiful lit up night scenes in S'pore - to remind us that there is a Light in the World . We will never be alone. He is with us.
Go and look up to the skies now and enjoy. What do you see? How do you feel? May be you might see Saturn? The one with the ring around and not Satan -the one with the horns. Have a blessed Christmas 2012!
http://youtu.be/f5tp-lgPzmI
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