Not the End But A New Beginning - David

Thousands of people this week cowered in fear, thinking that the end of the world was about to come.

The amazing abilities of Mayan observers, using only the human eye to search the heavens, perceived an order in the universe. Based on their cultural history, they predicted the end of their "Cycle of Events". Only the end of a cycle had been predicted, not necessarily the "End of the the World". Millions have been disturbed by these "prophecies".

From movies, "2012" to shelters in China, people around the world succumbed to an irrational fear. On December 22, the certainty of "normal days" brought thousands of people a sense of relief.

As we mark Christmas this year we are reminded of the prophecies concerning the birth of Jesus, the Messiah. As many as 300 prophecies were made about his life, many of them hundreds of years before he was born.

The chances of all those predictions coming true in one person has been calculated in this way. Take a Sticky Note, and put an "x" on it. Then cover the state of Texas (or the Province of Ontario, or England, or France, or Turkey) with the same Sticky Notes. The chances of finding that single tiny bit of paper among all those other similar bits on the FIRST TRY is about the same chance of all the predictions made in the Old Testament coming true in one person.

We rejoice in the arrival of the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, so many years ago, and the difference he continues to make in our world. This season before Christmas, known as the Advent, looks forward, not to a fearful "End of the world", but the promise, Emmanuel, "God is with us".