Immanuel

I apologize if I sounded a bit too preachy yesterday. I didn't mean to sound like Jonathan Edwards with a Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God tone. That is one intense sermon if you have never read it. We studied it either last year or the year before in my English class.

I think I have a theme going this week. It happens. A few weeks ago, my these was silence. I think I wrote two or three blogs about silence. It was one of my pastor's sermons that just stuck to me like superglue. The same is true for this week it seems. I'm stuck on this topic of being alone.

I got a new Bible on Sunday. It's the New Century Version and it's a lot different from other Bibles I have had. Well ok, the layout of this Bible is different because it's not like a book. It's actually in the format of a magazine. It's called a Biblezine. It's pretty cool. It has the complete New Testament. And I'm gonna try reading through it completely.

So last night before going to bed, I read Matthew 1. And something struck me while reading it. This was something that had never struck me before. I mean I know the story of Jesus and how he comes into this world, but that's not what struck me.

Jesus' name was what struck me. The prophet said that they would name him Immanuel, which means "God is with us."

That's really cool! I've never thought about that before. Ok, I probably have, but I doubt it ever really impacted me this much before.

God is with us. He will never leave us. It is impossible for God to leave you stranded. We're not alone!

If you ask me, that's wonderful news!