Issue link: http://denverseminary.uberflip.com/i/1314061
28 REFUGEE AND ROCK OF OUR SALVATION Luke 2:4-7 Time, that mysterious essence of our lives, flows on steadily, doesn't it? With all our amazing technology we can't control it any more than we can control the forces of nature as the devastation of the Indian Ocean tsunami and then hurricanes Katrina and Rita so powerfully demonstrated. In time's relentless ongoing, we creatures of flesh and blood leave youth behind (far behind when we reach 91 as Ann and I have). Both of us are still moderately active and living in comfort that only the smallest fraction of the human family enjoys. We celebrate the amazing fact that the everlasting God became a time- bound human, the almighty became Mary's manger-cradled baby. That miracle of condescending grace changed everything, even though our Savior's kingdom of peace and justice hasn't triumphed yet. But it will! Yes, it will! I was deeply moved by what journalist Chris Hedges wrote about the Christmas he was in a Honduran refugee camp: "These were Salvadoran refugees and it was the Epiphany. They were decorating the whole camp for a big fiesta that night. And I said, 'Why is it such a big day?' One refugee turned to me and said, 'Because this is the day Jesus became a refugee.' Now I'd read that story. I knew it by heart. But I didn't understand what it meant until I stood in a refugee camp with refugees who read the story and did understand what it meant." The King of Kings did become a refugee, but He is sovereignly destined to be the Ruler of all creation. And that certainty sustains us through tsunamis, tornados, earthquakes, terrorist attacks, and all the bloodshed and darkness of senseless war. That Refugee will eventually reign. His Kingdom will come. His will is going to be done on earth as it is in heaven. Convinced Protestant that I am, how better can I encourage you than by asking that you and I pray with that great theologian, Thomas Aquinas? "Bestow on us also, O Lord, understanding to know you, diligence to seek you, wisdom to find you, and a faithfulness that may finally embrace you; through Jesus Christ our Lord." -VCG, 2005 DECEMBER 21