A Sunday during Lent is the perfect time to introduce you to Donna VanLiere's The Christmas Journey, a different view of the journey to Bethlehem undertaken by Joseph and Mary.VanLiere acknowledges that people know Luke's account of the trip, beginning with, "In those days Caeser Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world....And everyone went to his own town to register. So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child." That's the account we know.
But, no one really thinks about the gritty details. VanLiere reminds us. "For Joseph's family it would be over seventy miles and a four-to-seven day walk from Nazareth to Bethlehem." And, Mary was nine months pregnant, forced to ride a donkey over rocky terrain. It also hadn't been easy for Joseph and Mary up to this point. She was shunned and talked about in Nazareth, a small town, because she got pregnant before she was married. How easy was it for a teenage girl to hold her head up in that community, when only she and Joseph knew the truth, as the angel had told them?
And, this wasn't an easy birth in sterile, modern facilities. Even though Luke tells there was no room for them, and they found a place in a stable, it's VanLiere that says, this is a stable. A stable has noisy, smelly animals, smells like manure, and isn't the cleanest, nicest place to give birth with no women helping her, no midwife, no doctor.
VanLiere's account shows how miraculous and beautiful the journey, and the birth, actually were because she shows the reality and the details of life. The Christmas Journey is all the more powerful once the gloss is taken off of it. This might truly be a story to ponder in your heart.
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The Christmas Journey will be one of the two books offered in the final giveaway of this holiday season, beginning on Thursday, Dec. 9th, so watch for the details.
The Lifetime Movie Network will be airing Donna VanLiere's movies in the next few weeks. Here's the schedule, but check your local listings for your correct times.
MONDAY, DECEMBER 6
The Christmas Blessing - 6p - LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK (LMN)
The Christmas Shoes - 8p - LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK (LMN)
The Christmas Hope - 10p - LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK (LMN)
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 7
The Christmas Shoes - 12a - LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK (LMN)
TUESDAY, DECEMBER 14
The Christmas Blessing - 11a - LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK (LMN)
The Christmas Shoes - 1p - LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK (LMN)
The Christmas Hope - 3p - LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK (LMN)
SUNDAY, DECEMBER 19
The Christmas Hope - 10p - LIFETIME MOVIE NETWORK (LMN)
SATURDAY, DECEMBER 25
The Christmas Shoes - 11a - LIFETIME
The Christmas Hope - 1p - LIFETIME
The Christmas Blessing - 3p - LIFETIME
The Christmas Shoes - 11p - LIFETIME
And, I'll be giving away two copies of The Christmas Journey, but there is a contest to win all of Donna’s Christmas books, including an autographed copy of The Christmas Journey that ends on December 14th:
http://www.newreleasetuesday.com/contest_donnavanliere_thechristmasjourney.php
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Donna VanLiere's website is http://www.donnavanliere.com/
The Christmas Journey by Donna VanLiere. St. Martin's Press, ©2010. ISBN 9780312613 (hardcover), 96p.
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FTC Full Disclosure - Library book
