Are you curious about your ancestry? Where were you born? Where were your children born? Have you moved from your birthplace? If so, have you returned? Have you visited your ancestral home? If not, would you like to? Have you considered your ancestry to be important?
Some of us like to trace our ancestry. We want to know where we came from. We are interested in when our ancestors immigrated, where they entered the country, and under what circumstances. We may even decide to trace them further back within the country of origin.
Joseph knew he was from the line of David. When the census was required, he and Mary traveled to Bethlehem. While there, Mary gave birth to Jesus. Due to the census, Bethlehem was overcrowded. There was nowhere for them to stay. Yet, they were allowed to stay in the lower room where the animals were brought in at night. Even though it was not ideal, Mary and Joseph made it work out of necessity.
For most of us, we could not imagine giving birth to a child in such a place. However, less than a hundred years ago, it was not unheard of for women to give birth in their homes. There are still instances today of births taking place outside of a hospital. This is not to minimize what Mary was going through but to point out that when there is an urgent matter, we figure out how to make it work with what we have.
Often, we are unprepared for an emergency. It’s not that we can have everything needed on hand for an emergency. However, we can prepare ourselves mentally by thinking about how we will react if an emergency happens. We can’t think of every emergency nor contingency. What we can do is rehearse in our minds the potential emergencies we can think of. It causes us to think, plan, and rehearse, which gets us used to new ways of thinking and prepares us for the unforeseen emergency. While thinking through those emergencies, we can also ask God to provide us with solutions, teaching us to continue to rely on him.
I pray we all think about how we will react during an emergency. I pray we trust that God will be with us throughout it. I pray each one of us prepare ourselves mentally for the unforeseen emergency. Spend a little time thinking about emergencies. Prepare yourself mentally. Trust God is always with you.
Luke 2:6-7 While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no place in the guest room.
Marty Pressey 