{"id":2158,"date":"2022-12-20T10:12:15","date_gmt":"2022-12-20T16:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/?p=2158"},"modified":"2022-12-20T10:12:15","modified_gmt":"2022-12-20T16:12:15","slug":"hear-the-hay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/hear-the-hay\/","title":{"rendered":"Hear the Hay"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hear the Hay<\/strong> by Phil Morgan
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

We are once again at the season of “Peace on earth and goodwill toward men.” Each year at this time we are bombarded with words like love, peace and joy. We are told to spread peace to all the nations and show love to everyone. I agree with these statements wholeheartedly, but sometimes I feel like we are taking an easy way out. We can be so vague that all we end up with are the warm, fuzzy feelings of good moral behavior. Christmas can come and go with Christ in the background. He’s there… but hardly noticed. He’s not real, just a kind of soft, fluffy symbol of love and kindness.<\/p>\n

In old testament times, God often presented Himself in ways that were ethereal and hard to grasp. When He led the Israelites to the promised land, He took the form of a fire by night and a cloud by day. He came as a burning bush, light, fire, smoke and thunder. These are all powerful symbols of His majesty, but they are hard for us humans to relate to. The first Christmas changed all that. God was no longer a vague concept, he was a real, live baby that we could touch with our own fingers.<\/p>\n

For us to truly experience Christmas, we must journey past the pretty ceramic and wooden nativity scenes to the rough stone walls of a stable cave. Can you smell the musty aroma of the cows and donkeys? Does your nose burn with the sharp scent of hay and manure? Can you hear the snorts as huge, moist, black nostrils sniff the air? Can you hear the crackle of the hay as the tiny bundle wiggles in the feeding trough? Can you feel the frustration as a father realizes the best he can offer is so much less than his heart desires? Can you see the exhausted mother whose shining eyes focus on the tiny baby in front of her, unaware of anything around except this amazing miracle? Can you see the tiny fingers reaching up – so small, yet so perfectly formed? One day they will hold a carpenter’s hammer. One day they will lovingly touch a leper, a bleeding woman, a hurting soul. One day they will be mercilessly nailed to a rough wooden cross. But that is yet to come. Those chubby little fingers that look so small wrapped around His mother’s thumb, will one day reach all the way from heaven to touch your heart. That’s God in the manger. No longer a vague, shapeless entity just out of our reach. Now there is truth we can touch, holiness we can hold. Jesus came to make God’s love real to us.<\/p>\n

This year I challenge you to go beyond the cloudy concept of peace and goodwill to the hard wooden manger in Bethlehem. Let Christ make Christmas real for you. When you truly understand and appreciate His precious gift, you won’t be able to do anything less than spread His love and peace everywhere you go.<\/p>\n

\u200b<\/p>\n

For unto us a Savior is born… and lives!
\nPhil and Pam<\/p>\n

\u200b<\/p>\n

\u200bClick Here to Check our Concert Schedule!<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n

\u200bCheck us out on Facebook! – http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/PhilandPamMorgan<\/a>\u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hear the Hay by Phil Morgan We are once again at the season of “Peace on earth and goodwill toward men.” Each year at this time we are bombarded with words like love, peace and joy. We are told to spread peace to all the nations and show love to everyone. I agree with these statements wholeheartedly, but sometimes I feel like we are taking an easy way out. We can be so vague that all we end up with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2159,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2158","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-devotional","ctfw-has-image"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/unnamed4.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9vaGn-yO","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2041,"url":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/enough\/","url_meta":{"origin":2158,"position":0},"title":"Enough","author":"Garry Gardner","date":"March 8, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Devotional by Phil Morgan In our Bible study this morning, Pam and I found ourselves in the book of Habakkuk. Just to jog your memory (my preferred form of exercise), the book starts with Mr. H and God having a little chat. Habakkuk says, \"The world is going to hell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Devotional"","block_context":{"text":"Devotional","link":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/category\/devotional\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Enough.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2086,"url":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/bothersome-to-beautiful\/","url_meta":{"origin":2158,"position":1},"title":"Bothersome to Beautiful","author":"Garry Gardner","date":"June 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Devotional by Phil Morgan I have to admit, Jeremiah 29:11 has always bothered me. It's a comforting verse, \"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'\" Yet, it has\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Devotional"","block_context":{"text":"Devotional","link":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/category\/devotional\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/FHBanner.jpg?fit=1200%2C368&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/FHBanner.jpg?fit=1200%2C368&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/FHBanner.jpg?fit=1200%2C368&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/FHBanner.jpg?fit=1200%2C368&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/06\/FHBanner.jpg?fit=1200%2C368&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":866,"url":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/the-fourth-gift\/","url_meta":{"origin":2158,"position":2},"title":"The Fourth Gift","author":"Garry Gardner","date":"January 11, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Phil Morgan (used by permission) On January 6th we celebrated Epiphany, commemorating the visit of the wise men to check out the newborn baby Jesus.\u00a0 Quick quiz - what gifts did the wise men bring?\u00a0 If you just yelled out \"gold, frankincense and myrrh,\" you got it!\u00a0 But do\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Devotional"","block_context":{"text":"Devotional","link":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/category\/devotional\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/WiseMen.jpg?fit=500%2C340&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2346,"url":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/message-from\/","url_meta":{"origin":2158,"position":3},"title":"Message from President John Stumbo","author":"Garry Gardner","date":"August 12, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Every Christian needs to hear this","rel":"","context":"In "Devotional"","block_context":{"text":"Devotional","link":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/category\/devotional\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/HisPeople.jpg?fit=1080%2C606&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/HisPeople.jpg?fit=1080%2C606&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/HisPeople.jpg?fit=1080%2C606&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/HisPeople.jpg?fit=1080%2C606&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/HisPeople.jpg?fit=1080%2C606&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2158"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2161,"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2158\/revisions\/2161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2159"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2158"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2158"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bethelcma.org\/bethel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2158"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}