A Wild Ride at Disney World

A Series on Advent
The candle of hope – Joseph
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Matthew 1:18-25

[Advent is the period of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Tradition includes lighting four candles: hope, love, joy and peace. To celebrate Advent, we will be looking at four people plus one who were intimately involved in the Christmas story, and then relating their part of the story to one of the Advent candles.]

  

Recently, my wife and I went to Disney World with our daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren, ages 12, 8 and 4. It was Magical! Where else could you do any of these?

 

Eat in a restaurant where Minnie Mouse, Goofy, Grumpy or Snow White might stop by your table for a photo op.

Go to “Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party” where we dressed up as the Seven Dwarfs. (After all, there was seven of us.)

Go on the roller coaster ride Expedition Everest, where during part of the ride you’re in total darkness going backwards! It's wild!

 

I would imagine that Joseph might have felt like he was on a roller coaster ride with all the ups and downs; flying around turns; abruptly changing directions with no control over where he went; riding in total darkness, not knowing where he was going. It was unchartered territory.

 

After all, Joseph was your “average Joe” – nobody special. He was just living life. He had started his carpentry business and was engaged to be married, when suddenly the roller coaster went off the rails. His fiancé was pregnant… but not by him.

 

An angel appeared to him in a dream, telling him an unbelievable story. That Mary is pregnant by the Holy Spirit; that he should still take her as his wife; that she will have a son and they should name him Jesus. Why that name?

 

²¹ And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”    NLT

 

You could imagine when Joseph woke up the following morning the thoughts that were running through his mind. “What just happened? Did I have bad pizza last night? Was the dream even real? The angel couldn’t have said all those things. Surely, I misunderstood.” But he didn’t.

 

²⁴ When Joseph woke up, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded and took Mary as his wife. ²⁵ But he did not have sexual relations with her until her son was born. And Joseph named him Jesus.             NLT

 

Like Joseph, sometimes life can feel like a roller coaster… out of control, even hopeless. But, there is a plan; there is hope. For Joseph, that plan included the extraordinary fulfillment of prophecy from Isaiah.

 

²² All of this occurred to fulfill the Lord’s message through his prophet:

²³ “Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel, which means ‘God is with us.’”            NLT

 

As you contemplate and celebrate the birth of Jesus, keep in mind that God has a plan and that he is sovereign. And, because of this, there is hope. And, because of that hope, we can live faithfully like Joseph.

 

Copyright 2022 Joseph B Williams

 

 

 

Two Men and a Truck

A Series on Living in the Wilderness: Part 2
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Matthew 1:18-25 

[This is Part 2 in a series of looking at people who lived in the wilderness. Not necessarily the wilderness of nature, but the wilderness of life. In fact, there are times when we all feel like we are living in the wilderness. During those times, it’s important to remember that the Lord is faithful. That He loves you and is always with you.] 

 

“Two Men and a Truck” is the name of a national moving company. It makes moving sound so simple. Like all you need is… two men and a truck. But moving is anything but simple. Moving… is stressful!

 

After eleven years of marriage, my wife, daughter and I moved to Columbus, Ohio from Lansing, Michigan. We only knew a few people through my job. Basically, we were starting all over.

 

So, we had to find a place to live, a new church, make new friends, find new doctors, and learn how to get around the city and where to shop. The move impacted every aspect of our lives. It was very stressful!

 

Joseph, the husband of Mary, knew what it was like to live through the stress of moving. Caesar Augustus decreed a census which required, what Joseph thought, would be a temporary visit.

 

The timing couldn’t have been worse as his pregnant fiancé was due at any moment. The 90-mile trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem probably took four days for them to walk… his first move.

 

Then, following a visit from astrologers from the east, he was warned that King Herod was going to try and have his infant son killed. So, Joseph took his young family and escaped to Egypt… his second move.

 

Finally, he was told that Herod had died and that it was safe to return to Israel. However, King Herod’s son was in power, so Joseph had to be very careful as he moved his family back to Nazareth… his third move.

 

For the first few years of his family’s life together, the stress of the unknown must have been palpable. Joseph had to deal not only with all the logistics and changes of moving, but also with the fear of losing his son. He was living in the wilderness but not without faith; not without affirmation; not without a sign.

 

When he first learned that Mary was pregnant, even though he knew it was from the Holy Spirit, he was still going to divorce her quietly so as not to disgrace her publicly. But an angel appeared to him.

 

²⁰ “Joseph, son of David,” the angel said, “do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife. For the child within her was conceived by the Holy Spirit. ²¹ And she will have a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”            NLT

 

Then the angel quoted from the prophet Isaiah about a sign.

 

²³ “Look! The virgin will conceive a child!
    She will give birth to a son,
and they will call him Immanuel,
    which means ‘God is with us.’” NLT

 

How could he protect his young wife from the spitefulness and pain of gossip? How could he protect his son from a powerful, ruthless ruler who wanted him killed? How could Joseph provide for his family when his carpentry business was continually disrupted?

 

Joseph faced living in the wilderness by faith in the Lord; faith in the Living God who was with him. And… who is with us today.

 

Copyright 2022 Joseph B Williams

 

 

 

 

Pablum: It's Special

A Series on Living in the Wilderness
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Genesis 37:1-11

 [In this series, we will be looking at people in the Bible who lived in the wilderness. Not necessarily a wilderness of natural creation, but the metaphorical wilderness of life. In fact, there are times when we all feel like we are living in the wilderness. During those times, it’s important to remember that the Lord is still with you.]

 

Oftentimes, the baby of the family gets spoiled rotten. I know this from personal experience because I… am the baby of my family. Not only was I spoiled, but in many ways, I was the favorite; or at least my Mom favored me. Whatever I asked for, I got.

 

My siblings observed this special treatment firsthand. To this day, every time we get together, they will bring up how Mom prepared Pablum for me until I was about eight years old. They’re just jealous of course. Not because they wanted Pablum, but because I got special treatment.

 

In Genesis, we read that Joseph was favored by his Father, Jacob. Like me, Joseph got special treatment such as, the “coat of many colors”. This robe was a constant reminder to his brothers of just how much their Father loved Joseph more than them.

 

In addition, Joseph didn’t do himself any favors to endear himself to his brothers. First, he would bring bad reports to his Father regarding them. Secondly, he told his brothers about a dream that he had. In that dream, Joseph’s brothers bowed down to him. Needless to say, they resented him even more.

 

Finally, Jacob sent Joseph to find his brothers and report on their behavior while they were tending the sheep. When he did find them, they hatched a plot to kill him. Instead, they decided to sell him to the Midianites, who then took Joseph to Egypt where he was sold as a slave to Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh.

 

In some ways, Joseph lived in two different wildernesses. One was growing up in a family where his brothers resented him to the point of wanting to kill him. The second was living in Egypt, away from his family and home.

 

But the Lord was at work through all of it; He had a plan. That plan was revealed when Joseph spoke these words to his brothers when they came to him during a famine, bowing down, and asking for food.

 

²⁰ You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.    Genesis 50:20 NIV

 

Thankfully, my siblings never treated me like Joseph’s did. Regardless, I have lived in my share of wildernesses; some of my own making and some not. Looking back, I can see how the Lord has been at work in my life through all of them

 

Regardless of how your wildernesses have come about, take comfort in the fact that the Lord has a plan; that He loves you; and that He is always with you.

 

Copyright 2021 Joseph B Williams

 

 

A Christmas Tradition is Born

(This is the 2^nd of a 4 part series on “Memories of Christmas”.)

Luke 2:1-7

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%202%3A1-7&version=NIV;NLT

 

Christmas traditions are generally carried over from generation to generation; but some just happen.

 

About ten years ago we went to the Christmas Eve service at our church. Afterwards, we thought it would be fun to drive around and look at some lights. Eventually we started getting hungry.

 

Have you ever tried to find a restaurant open on Christmas Eve, e.g. The Christmas Story? The only one we found was Lee Garden – a Chinese restaurant. The food was great. However, Chinese karaoke on Christmas Eve was a little strange. But that night a new Christmas tradition was born for our family.

 

There are a multitude of Christmas traditions that families observe. Some are fantasy, like Santa Claus. While others are based in fact, like the Nativity scene. Even then, the Nativity scene of today is a stark contrast to the reality.

 

It must have been a crazy time in the young lives of Mary and Joseph. An angel had visited Mary and told her that she would become pregnant through the Holy Spirit. If that wasn’t hard enough to believe, he also informed her that her son would reign over Jacob’s descendants (Israel) forever; that his kingdom would never end.

 

How could she explain this to Joseph since she was a virgin; to her parents who had raised her to be a righteous Jew; to people in the village who might even choose to stone her for her apparent sin? But her relative Elizabeth understood.

When Mary went to visit her, Elizabeth’s baby leapt in her womb.

 

And now, when she was almost due, she and Joseph had to make a three day trip to Bethlehem for a census. Of course, when they arrived the city was bursting at the seams. As a result, there was no room in the inn, so Mary gave birth to the baby in a stable where he was laid in a feeding trough.

 

My family will never forget about that first visit to the Lee Garden Restaurant and how our Christmas tradition was born. In the same way, we will never forget that our celebration of Christmas was born in Bethlehem with the gift of God’s only son as an expression of His pure, unconditional love for us.

 

⁹ God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. ¹⁰ This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.           1 John 4:9-10 NLT

 

 

if you click on this link, you can listen to a beautiful song about God's love seen through the gift of his only son. It is called “How Many Kings”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WTYe9sWYKdo

  

(If God has spoken to you through this blog, please feel free to share the link with others on social media.)

http://lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

Promises of a 24 Year Old

Genesis 50:15-26

  

“Debbie, with these friends and with God as our witness, I make these promises to you: That I will love you as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. That I will take the responsibility of making decisions concerning us and that these decisions will be in the best interest of our relationship with God. I will not impose my will over yours, but God’s will over both of ours. To Him we will both submit that through our relationship others might see Christ’s love. That I will love you, and be concerned for you all of our lives together. I will never leave you, for as God commanded “Whoever I have joined together let no man put asunder.”

 

These were the promises that I made to my wife over 41 years ago. I’m pretty sure I haven’t kept them all. But Joseph lived his life based on a promise. It was a promise that he never saw fulfilled, but he knew that it would be fulfilled someday because he knew that God was faithful. Let’s see what today’s passage has to say about this.

 

First we read that Joseph’s brothers asked for his forgiveness. And what is Joseph’s response? ^20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives”.

 

Later Joseph makes reference to God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. ^24 “Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob”.

 

Joseph was 17 when his brothers sold him into slavery. This passage took place shortly before his death at the age of 110. Joseph did not live an easy life, but for 93 years he knew that God was faithful; he knew that God would fulfill His promises.

 

Jesus made promises to his bride, the church. He promised that he would return for her. He promised that he would leave his Spirit to strengthen and comfort her. He promised that he would make her holy without blemish. He promised that nothing could separate her from his love. These promises still hold true for us.

 

“Debbie, I love and need you, but we must both first love Jesus. All these things I can promise you not through my own strength, but through the strength of God’s Spirit, by whom all things are possible.”

 

This is the final paragraph of my vows. Pretty idealistic for a 24 year old, but I did get one thing right. God is faithful, and it is through His strength that we remain faithful, not only to our spouse, but also to Him.

 

 

 

 

Survivor

Genesis 47:13-26

 

Survivor is a popular TV reality show in which contestants try to “outwit, outplay and outlast” the other competitors in order to win the grand prize of $1 million. Participants have been willing to go to almost any lengths to win including lying, stealing, manipulating and back-stabbing.

 

The people in Egypt and Canaan found themselves in a survival situation, only it wasn’t a game. The famine became so bad that the people were starving. At first, they spent all their money for grain. When that ran out, they traded all of their livestock. Finally, they traded not only their property, but their very bodies. They became slaves to their desires, and as a result to Pharaoh.

 

But, let’s examine Joseph and Pharaoh for a minute. As a result of the famine, they accumulated tremendous wealth at the expense of the people. Because of Joseph’s interpretation of Pharaoh’s dream, they were like inside traders who knew what the stock would do. Instead of telling the masses the future so that they could get ready, they planned and prepared so that when the time arrived, they could prosper at the expense of others.

 

At times, we all fall into one of the above groups: victim or victimizer. What are we willing to do to survive? Would we throw our principles out the window to get what we want? It is human nature after all. What if you are in power? Would you do what is best for you or for others? Would it come down to “it’s him or me”? Whichever side of the coin you find yourself, there is a message for you from Survivor.

 

The title of Survivor this season is Second Chance because each person on the show has played in a previous season and lost. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a God of

second chances. God gave Joseph a second chance to provide for his father and brothers, thus taking another step towards fulfilling His covenant to make a great nation out of Abraham.

 

And now, through Jesus Christ, we have a second chance to be a part of that same covenant. Not a second chance to just survive, but a second chance to live our lives for Him; to follow Him; to love Him with all our heart, mind and soul. God has given us a second chance so that we might share THE Second Chance

with others.

 

“And I will make you a great nation, And I will bless you [abundantly], And make your name great (exalted, distinguished); And you shall be a blessing [a source of great good to others];”            Genesis 12:2 AMP

 

 

 

 

 

A Pretty Wild Ride

Genesis 41:46-57

 

 

Up to this point, Joseph’s life has been like a rollercoaster.

 

He started out as a confident, but arrogant teenager. As a result, his brothers sold him into slavery. He was then taken to Egypt where he was bought by Potiphar who realized how God was blessing him, so he put him in charge of his household. Unfortunately, Potiphar’s wife accused Joseph of trying to rape her, resulting in him being thrown into prison.

 

The warden, like Potiphar, also recognized Joseph’s leadership abilities, and appointed him the head of the prison. This led to Joseph being in a position to interpret Pharaoh’s dreams who then made him second in command in all of Egypt. All in all, a pretty wild ride.

 

It would have been easy for Joseph to wallow in self-pity, anger and resentment while

blaming his brothers or Potiphar’s wife for all the pain and suffering he had endured. But he didn’t. Even when life was at its worst, he continued to believe and have faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, his father.

 

The passage today is mostly about how Joseph administers his plan to deal with the years of abundance followed by the famine. But, in the middle of this story is a paragraph that almost seems out of place.

 

^50 “During this time before the arrival of the first of the famine years, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of the sun god Re of Heliopolis. ⁵¹ Joseph named his oldest son Manasseh (meaning “Made to Forget”—what he meant was that God had made up to him for all the anguish of his youth, and for the loss of his father’s home). ⁵² The second boy was named Ephraim (meaning “Fruitful”—“For God has made me fruitful in this land of my slavery,” he said).” 

 

The names that Joseph gave to his sons are significant because they reflected his relationship with God. The meaning of those names applies to our faith as well.

 

As Paul wrote to the Philippians,  ^“Of course, my friends, I really do not think that I have already won it (the prize); the one thing I do, however, is to forget what is behind me and do my best to reach what is ahead.” And to the Romans Paul wrote, God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well.” 

 

Joseph is a good example for us to follow. If we forget the past and keep our eyes focused on the prize; if we allow God to use our gifts for His purpose; then God just might take us on a pretty wild ride too.

 

 

 

Why God?

Genesis 39:13-23

 

In this story, Joseph finds himself between a rock and a hard place. If he gives in to the aggressive advances of his bosses’ wife, he betrays the trust of Potiphar and sins

against God. On the other hand, if he resists Potiphar’s wife, he runs the risk of finding the truth of the saying, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”.

 

From the text we read that he did indeed resist her, but with apparently disastrous consequences as Potiphar’s wife makes up a boldface lie. Here’s how the Living Bible states it.

 

¹² …she came and grabbed him by the sleeve demanding, “Sleep with me.” He tore himself away, but as he did, his jacket slipped off and she was left holding it as he fled from the house. ¹³ When she saw that she had his jacket, and that he had fled, ^14-15 she began screaming; and when the other men around the place came running in to see what had happened, she was crying hysterically. “My husband had to bring in this Hebrew slave to insult us!” she sobbed. “He tried to rape me, but when I screamed, he ran, and forgot to take his jacket.”

 

 

Joseph was in a situation where he could have easily cried out, “Why God? Why did you

let me be thrown into prison even though I was being faithful to you? Why did you let my brothers sell me into slavery bringing me to this god-forsaken place? Why have you turned your back on me? Why God?”

 

You may have cried out like this yourself at some time.


“Why God did you let our child die? Why did I lose my job when I have a family to provide for? Why did you let my marriage fall apart? Why did our house burn to the ground? Why did my spouse contract cancer? Why do I struggle with this addiction? Why God?”

 

And yet, being thrown into prison was not the end of the story for Joseph. Although he could have responded by turning away from God or dwelling on his desperate

circumstance, he didn’t. Instead he remained faithful to God, and was eventually placed in charge of the whole prison. God didn’t forget him. God didn’t leave him. God had a plan even in the midst of hopeless circumstances.

 

Therefore, the next time you find yourself in a situation where you are crying out “Why God”; remember this. God is in control and He is always at work in your life drawing you towards Him. He is always with you. He loves you unconditionally and nothing can separate you from His love.

 

 

He has a plan for your life and is faithful.