Unto Whom?

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11 ESV)

"For unto you," the angels said.  Unto whom?

When Jesus was born, there were shepherds nearby taking care of their flock at night. Shepherds weren't the most noteworthy of people. They did a necessary but dirty job that kept them far away from home for much of the time. Very few people aspired to be a shepherd, even after the great King David. Shepherds were like our modern day janitors. Was it a necessary job? Yes. Does doing this make you any less of a person? No. Was this position looked down upon? Absolutely.

There must have been loads of people nearby Jesus when He was born. Bethlehem itself was packed because of the census. There was no room at the inn after all. There were plenty of people around. Perhaps some farmers, merchants, and traders were there. Romans were certainly present. Certainly there were people around that were more "important" than shepherds.

The Hobbit, Jesus, and Lord of the Rings

I can't wait to see the Hobbit!!!!

I'm a big fantasy nerd.  I love stories about elves, dragons, magic, and knights.  I have grown to love the Lord of the Rings trilogy through the movies and have only just begun reading the books.  And I've been eagerly anticipating the prequel movie that comes out this weekend.

Are you planning on seeing it?  If you are, keep your eyes open for some of the amazing Christian themes that run throughout Tolkien's stories.  J.R.R. Tolkien was a Christian and wove loads of his beliefs into his writing in a masterful way.  As a refresher before watching the Hobbit, here is a quick look at some of those themes as seen in the first three movies.  There are Lord of the Rings spoilers below (but not for the Hobbit).

Super: Elijah is the Flash...Kinda

The Flash is one of those Superheroes that I don't think gets a whole lot of attention.  His only real power is his incredible speed which lets him do a whole lot of things like create whirlwinds by spinning or vibrate his hand so fast he can shatter glass, steel, and the like.  The stuff he does is really kind of cool, but he tends to be eclipsed by Superman who also has super speed on top of all of his other amazing abilities.  At least the Flash is faster than Superman as shown in this clip from Smallville.

Now, when I originally planned out the Super series, I intended on relating the story of Elijah and connecting him to Flash based on the way he outruns a chariot at the end of 1 Kings 18.  But the Lord led me in a different direction with this lesson.  Instead, I'd like to focus on what happened just before that.