ONE LONE STAR
- One lone star, enlarged with love,
- Led the unknown way
- To the Son who’d brought with Him
- Hope’s redeeming ray.
- Compel YOUR eyes to venture high
- Above what seems so far.
- Soar with Mercy’s omnipotence and
- Dare to be that star.
- Katheryn Maddox Haddad
TABLE OF CONTENTS
- 1—MARY & HEROD Dayspring Dawning
- 2—ELIZABETH Bastion of Barrenness
- 3—JOSEPH I Two Fathers, One Son
- 4—JOSEPH II Walking Tall
- 5—SHEPHERDS Glory of the Ordinary
- 6—ANNA & SIMEON Flaming Hope With A Flickering Candle
- 7—THE WISE MEN I Celestial Secrets and Star Search
- 8— THE WISE MEN II Cradle of Majesty
- 9— ZECHARIAH Silent Thunderbolt
- 10—ARCHELAUS & the BOY Lost in Wonder
- 11—THIRTY-THREE YEARS LATER Epilogue
INSERT YOURSELF INTO THE STORY
Although the events take place shortly before and during the first century AD, this story is written to help you in our modern world identify with the characters who lived then. While true to the life of Christ in every known aspect, conversations often take a modern flavor as though the characters were speaking today. After all, did they not speak what was “modern vocabulary” in their day, even in the Aramaic language?
You will see places in the story where you are invited to participate either as an encourager or discourager of a character, as though you were there with them. This is your chance to become their friend. You will easily spot those places in the story. Instead of wondering who is talking, remember, it is you.
A NAY-SAYER ATTACKS THIS BOOK
The plot is all wrong. Who’d ever believe it?
Mary and Joseph? Nobodies. They think they have their lives together all figured out. They don’t. An interfering force is about to disrupt everything.
A wedding that will be the talk of the town? Definitely. They will have that all right. But not in the way they intend. Their wedding will be the gossip of the town. Albeit, holy gossip. Whatever that is.
Instead of guests coming in from everywhere for the happy occasion, hardly anyone will attend. Instead of delight, there will be embarrassment. Talk of the town? Yes. But Mary and Joseph will wish everyone would just leave them alone in peace.
A moderate home in a moderate part of town? Not any time soon. They will be forced to go to their ancestral home at the other end of the country for a pointless census.
Then the military will go after them. They’ll have to escape to another country. It will be a long time before they can have that moderate home in that moderate part of town. What bitterness lies ahead for them.
How could Joseph go through with it in the first place? He’s stupid. Just plain stupid. Who would marry a woman who is already pregnant by someone else? That story she concocted about being impregnated by God. Where did she hatch that up? She needs a good head shrink. So does Joseph. What a weird pair. Maybe they deserve each other.
And that son of theirs. This is where the plot really gets bizarre and makes no sense. Their son is actually supposed to be God.
Now, let’s suppose for argument’s sake he really is God. It’s all wrong. Does he make his entrance as a grown man? No. He’s actually born. He makes his grand entrance as a mere baby. He takes all that unnecessary time to grow up.
Once he’s grown, is he a giant? Nope. He’s the same size as any other man. Shorter than some.
What about a ring of stars around his head to signify his divine station? Well, if not that, at least a halo. Where’s his halo? He has none. He claims it would detract from his divine mission. So, how is anyone supposed to know he’s God if he looks like everyone else?
He could at least fling lightning bolts at his mortal enemies. No way. Not this peculiar specimen of God. He flings words instead. What good is that?
All right, then. How about riding on the wings of a giant eagle as he goes around spreading those words? No way. Not that man—er uh God. He gets around like the mortals do. He walks or uses the same kind of transportation everyone else does.
Well, food. Ah yes, food. He could eat stones and wash them down with water wrung out from a couple of clouds. But no. He eats the same kinds of food everyone else does.
So here he is. He dresses like everyone else. He faces his enemy like everyone else. He gets around like everyone else. He eats like everyone else. No way is anyone going to believe he’s God
He’s going to do everything wrong. It’s hard enough to believe in a divine eternal being. How is one supposed to believe in someone who looks and acts the same as them?
Poor Mary and Joseph. Especially Mary. What’s about to enter her life is at once myth and mystical and a great big hoax. And even though some people will eventually call her a goddess of some sort, some will call her son a devil.
But others will believe. They will actually believe this whole thing. They will stake their very lives on it!