Positive Pregnancy Test
Joe Killian • December 15, 2016
I remember my reaction to seeing Maria's positive pregnancy test. It was a unique and indescribable experience. In the case of Joshua our youngest son, I was on the phone with a college friend when Maria held the positive results in front of my face. I immediately stopped talking and it was obvious to my friend that something had happened. The warmth and love that spread through me was incredible. Imagine Joseph's reaction when he received Mary's positive pregnancy announcement.
This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. Matthew 1:18-24
Joseph went to sleep with a heavy heart. Because of Mary's illegitimate pregnancy he had decided to end his marriage with her before it even got started. Joseph woke up feeling very differently. In his dream Joseph received a positive pregnancy test like no other. He also knew Mary was having a son and that Son... "will save his people from their sins." Talk about unique and indescribable! And even with this promise from the angel of the Lord, Joseph and Mary could never have anticipated what was in store for them and their son.
As parents, Maria and I have been blessed three times by God to bring a child into this world. The emotions we experienced then and over the last 26 years have covered the whole spectrum of parental roller coaster rides. But like Joseph and Mary we have had to trust God with our children's lives, just as we do with our own.
As we await the coming of the Christ Child this Christmas let us all fully entrust ourselves and our loved ones to God's loving hands. God is always looking to bringing forth "new birth". May we be open and willing this Christmas season to accept God's will and His plan for our lives. We can't know what might come but we can know that "God is with us!"
The story continues...I'm still working on the pondless waterfall in our front yard. I shared this project with you two weeks ago in Playin' In the Dirt. Since then I've had to rework sections of the stream three different times because we were losing too much water. I am now an expert on evaporation rates and excessive splash, two causes of water loss. This morning I tore the whole thing apart and I'm starting over.
Have you ever watched DreamWorks Animation's Kung Fu Panda? I stumbled across it recently and thoroughly enjoyed Jack Black's performance as a bumbling, noodle selling, kung fu enthusiast, giant panda named P o. Set in ancient China, it is more than a humorous slapstick comedy. The core message of the story jumped out at me as I have been focusing recently on the concept of being. Po is shockingly identified as the Dragon Warrior and he reluctantly enters training. The goal of the training is to receive the Dragon Scroll, which is believed to hold the secret to limitless power. Now I don't want to spoil the big reveal but I will say that what Po realizes is the same as what I speak to in the concept of being and authentic identity. So, where do we find the secret to our "power?" I praise You, because I am wonderfully made; wonderful are Your works! My very self You know. Psalm 139:14 God knows it; and we must seek Him with all of our hearts in order to find it. As it was in the movie, the answer is stunningly simple. Our authentic identity is already within us. The challenge for Po in the movie was in seeing himself accurately and not the way others saw him. Even his teacher scoffed at the idea that Po was anything more than an underachieving dreamer who overate when he was anxious. Po's problems are rooted in the fact that he believes the lie of his false identity much more than he does his authentic one. Is it possible that you do the same? Who could have imagined that beneath all of Po's girth lived the Dragon Warrior? What's hidden from view in you? Seek God for understanding as to who He created you to be. Spoiler Alert: the secret of your limitless power is already in you. God placed it there and He wants you to be who He authentically created you to be.
Maria and I have been playing in the dirt a lot recently. First we replaced our French drain and then we embarked on a creative project intended to change the entire look of our front yard. My brother Jeffrey and I installed a new front step.
