Unfortunately the In Season books that we were promised by Friday did not arrive. Our usually dependable printer had some issues with equipment breakdowns, so we’re not going to get them until Tuesday. My apologies to those of you who will have to wait just a bit longer. On the plus side Sara got all the pre-orders for A Man Like No Other out, so they are on their way.
But for those who are Kindle-enabled, In Season is now available at the Kindle store. We will also be posting it with Barnes and Noble as well as have downloads from our own site later next week. Everyone uses a different format, unfortunately, so it will take some time to get them up in all the right places.
But before I go, let me leave you with another spread, with text following from A Man Like No Other:
Who Would Have Imagined?
God very God. The King of the Universe. The Creator of all. He who was before anything ever was. He could have come into this world in any manner he chose. He could have come in all his glory with guns blazing, demanding submission, demonstrating his power, and commanding our
worship.
Instead he chose to come in the womb of a willing teenager. Though Mary was a descendant of the line of King David, Israel’s most celebrated king, she did not exactly come from one of the more noble branches of that family tree. She was a simple, young teenager, betrothed to a humble carpenter.
One day God sent the angel Gabriel to her. Even though she was still a virgin he told her she would become pregnant and give birth to a son. His name would be Jesus, and he would be called the Son of the Most High. He would be the promised Messiah.
“How can these things be?” Mary asked. The angel answered, “It will happen by the power of the Holy Spirit.” Mary knew what was at stake. This was an invitation to certain ostracism. Her reputation would be ruined. Would anyone believe her? The angel may have greeted her as the “Favored one,” but that was about to end in everyone else’s eyes. What would her parents think? What would Joseph, her fiancé, think?
Nevertheless, in spite of all her concerns and fears, she said, “Yes, I am your willing servant. Let it happen as you have said.” Thus the God of the Universe entered into his creation as a single cell. He who is Life itself spent nine months growing in a womb. He was part of the struggle and pain of childbirth, a baby gasping for his first breath. A cry pierced the night, and “God” was comforted by the love of a young couple. Tiny, helpless, and utterly dependent, he was cared for by two first time parents with little more to their name than what their donkey could carry. This was his grand entrance, a baby in a stable, in a small forgotten town on the backside of all that mattered.
If any of us were God, would we have done it that way? Wouldn’t it have been far more spectacular to rend the Heavens and come in full glory on top of the Temple Mount, perhaps with a legion of angels in our wake?
God chose something different. Even in the face of a world perishing in the corruption of sin God did not overwhelm the planet. While the salvation of the world hung in the balance, he was not in a hurry. Instead, he embraced all that is human with a steady, slow deliberation as if savoring each moment. In doing so he celebrated the ordinary—the miraculous among the mundane. He would not skip ahead to the good stuff. This was the good stuff and he was not about to miss the joy of growing up in his own creation.
Matthew 1-2, Luke 1-2,
A Man Like No Other
The Illustrated Life of Jesus
By Wayne Jacobsen, Brad Cummings, and Murry Whiteman
128 pages, Windblown Media, $24.99 • 128 pages • 8.5 x 11.5 • Hardback
Now available at Lifestream.org
This picture of Mary is just incredible.
Not “Mother Mary”, the blue-and-white-draped 30-year-old mom from Peoria, but a sweet, shy middle-eastern girl, looking back down the road, totally unaware of how her life was about to change.
She looks so real, I want to hug her. And thank her.
This picture of Mary is just incredible.
Not “Mother Mary”, the blue-and-white-draped 30-year-old mom from Peoria, but a sweet, shy middle-eastern girl, looking back down the road, totally unaware of how her life was about to change.
She looks so real, I want to hug her. And thank her.