More than a Star and some Wise Men

DISCLAIMER: I saw this was still in draft status - so I thought I would go ahead and publish it. It may have incomplete thoughts or may not have a suitable ending.

What a great lesson the Lord delivered to us through Susie on Sunday! We studied Matthew 2:1-12 which talks about the Magi coming to visit Jesus after his birth. Already in the first verse, you can see the sinful nature of man. The Magi (we sing about them as the wise men) were preists that knew the Word of God like the back of thier hand. When King Herod gathered all the preists, and asked them where Jesus was to be born, they knew that Jesus was to be born in Bethlehem (from Micah 5:2) So why did they go to Jeruselem to look for Him? Well, there may be several reasons. They knew that this child was to be the King of the Jews, so why wouldn't he be born in the Palace - in the capital of Judea? All kings should be born there right? Maybe they were still waiting around in Jeruselem for the rest of the Priests to show up? They knew that this new King of the Jews would be ruler over the people of Isreal - but wait, that will take the Magi's power away! Maybe they didnt like change or refused to let go of their strongholds - they didnt want to give up their power and profits! It took King Herod telling them to go to Bethlehem to make them leave.

Let's look at something else for a moment - other than the wise men, another noted symbol of Christmas is the Star. I mean, apparently no one missed it. It must have been pretty spectacular. (Although, Herod had to ask when it appeared - guess he was busy doing something else.)

Stars are interesting creations of nature. (Warning, you might learn something scientific if you read on!!)

Did you know that "Once stars begin to shine, they assume a position on the main sequence and tend to stay there, shining steadily. Stars like the sun would brighten somewhat in their first couple of billion years. (SOURCE: Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences)

To realize just how magnificent, awesome, powerful, and detailed God is, I have included a little more about the life of stars below. It is amazing the planning that God did for just one event. Imagine the planning that he does for EVERY EVENT in your life!!

The Birth of Stars: Stars are born in cold interstellar clouds like the Orion Nebula and the Eagle Nebula. In these stellar nurseries, dense regions undergo gravitational collapse to form a rotating gas globule. As the globule collapses, the temperature and pressure increase and it spins faster. This causes the globule to have a central core and a surrounding flattened disk of dust. The central core becomes a star, while the disk may coalesce into planets and asteroids. The process of collapse takes between 10,000 and 1,000,000 years. (SOURCE: Cornell University, Astronomy Department)

The Brightness of Stars: There are two things which affect how bright a star appear from Earth. One is how close it is, and the other is how intrinsically bright it appears. Alpha centauri is not intrinsically a very bright star. It has an absolute magnitude of 4.4 only, which means it's slightly brighter than that Sun (which has an absolute magnitude of 4.8 - bigger is dimmer with magnitudes). The brightest star known is Sirius though, which is about twice as far away as Alpha Cen, but has an absolute magnitude of 1.4 (which means it is instrinsically almost 40 times brighter). See the Stars and Constellations website for further explanation of magnitudes. (SOURCE: Cornell University, Astronomy Department)

Unfavorite Breakdown

Those of you that know me know that I am not a person with a lot of favorites. Sure I like stuff, some I even love... but I am not partial to favoritism (though I am sure, regrettably, you could catch me in some form of favoritism with people). However, there is one thing in which I show no favoritism... and I am sure a lot of the world, or at least Americans, would agree with me in. What is it? The Process. I don't know if it just my being a generation XY (or Boomerang generation) American or human nature, but I do not like any process. Sure, when it is all said and done and I look back, it's not that bad, but it stinks when you are in it.

What process you ask? Any process. Losing weight, getting out of debt, job hunting, sanctification, life. It doesn't matter - everything has a process. Even the microwave has a process, it is just a lot shorter and more acceptable than other processes. Even God said there would be a process in Jeremiah 29:11 and Philippians 1:6. Why is the process so hard to accept and why does it have to hurt so much? I know, because it produces perseverance, which produces character, which produces hope. So where is the painful part? The perseverance? I choose perseverance because you look back and see the character that was produces and hope looks forward - so that leaves me with perseverance as the process.

If perseverance is the process, which is uncomfortable, then if I feel discouraged, tired, and weary, I must be persevering right? I sure don't feel like it! I feel like I am stuck in the mud, going no where, producing nothing. Ah-ha! I just looked up perseverance in the dictionary. It says that perseverance is the steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., esp. in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement. Therefore (BSFer's will love that I used therefore!), I think I am suffering, and if I am persevering is yet to be determined. My conclusion comes from Romans 5:3 where we learn that it is suffering that produces perseverance. For what am I suffering? I don't know, I guess I can tell you that when I get to the character part of this process. But I do know that one reason is because I am co-heir with Christ to the inheritance of God! And that I share in His sufferings so that I might also share in His glory. I hope the glory comes soon - or even just a glimmer. Although, as I complain (I am sure that is what I am doing in the dissection) I know that my current suffering (or past and future sufferings) are not worth comparing to the glory that will be revealed in us. In the meantime, I return to the process.