A Morning Cup of Tea: The Word

 Good morning! What a beautiful day! We have the opportunity to attend bible study tonight, and fellowship with other Christians. That makes me so happy. I have much to be happy about today, actually. This is the beginning of my husband's weekend so I get to spend some time with him, and today we are beginning the book of John.
   I have never read John before, at least not in it's entirety. I'm sorry to say that in my years as a Christian I haven't read the bible through. That is one of the reasons I began this part of my blog. I am enjoying reading and learning, and I hope you are as well. The bible is a precious message to us from God, and I hope you don't mind that I am slow to go through it. I want to take at least two days for the first chapter. I want to be able to soak it in.
  The first few verses of the chapter make me smile and fill me with awe at the same time. 
 1.In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
 2. The same was in the beginning with God.
 3. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. 
 4. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
  Wow. Christ was there from the very beginning. He created this world. God and Jesus are one and the same, yet the Father and the Son are two different parts. I understand it, and at the same time my feeble brain fails to comprehend it fully. But Jesus was there, from the beginning. He saw the progression of man from Adam to Abraham to Noah to Moses and all through the line. He came to this earth as a human to save us all from our sins, and he was rejected by his own people. But the people who believed and followed, and this includes us, was given a most precious gift: the gift of eternal life. 
  Before Jesus came to earth, his cousin John came first. John was the voice in the wilderness, calling others to repentance and baptism. Others asked if he was the Christ, or Elijah or some of the other prophets. He told them each time no, he was not. He was there to pave the way for Christ. He, who considered himself unworthy to even unloose the latchet of Jesus' shoe, would baptize Jesus. John saw the Spirit descend upon Jesus like a dove. What a glorious sight that must have been!
  I'm going to stop right here for today. If you have not read the chapter I do hope you will. I look forward to learning more each day with you. Have a great day.

A Morning Cup of Tea: A Prophet is born

Good morning! It's almost noon time here though. Today we are finishing up chapter one of Luke, beginning in verse 57.
  Elisabeth gave birth to a son, and everyone rejoiced. On the eighth day the child was circumcised and the neighbors and cousins took it upon themselves to name him Zacharias, after his father. Elisabeth said no, his name is John. Not so, said the others. No one in the family is named John! So they asked Zacharias what the child's name is. He asked for a writing tablet and he wrote, his name is John. At that point Zacharias could speak again! And speak he did! The holy spirit came upon him and he began to prophesy, praising God and foretelling that John would be a prophet who prepared the people for the Lord.