At Christmas time I always find myself remembering special experiences from the past. One of the most memorable and special experiences for me was my experience in shepherds field. As most of you know I had the opportunity to spend a summer in Israel, where we studied in depth the life of our savior. We traveled to many of the places where he lived and preached, in the last 3 years of his life. While we were there, I was really looking forward to our visit to Bethlehem. However when we arrived at Bethlehem and visited the church there, I was very disappointed. It was a dark and dreary church and all the ministers were dressed in black (I have no idea what religion they were from). There were tons of ornaments and trinkets all around. We went down into the cave where THEY thought the savior was born and I remember feeling sad. I remember thinking we have no idea WHERE exactly the savior was born. Where he was born is not the important thing we should focus on, it is WHY he was born.
Later that evening we traveled back to Bethlehem (it is only about a 45 minute bus ride from Jerusalem). Except this time we did not enter the city. We stopped at some fields just before you enter the city. We sat on the hillside and the view was spectacular. The sun was setting and just across the valley you could see the lights of Bethlehem. There was no church and no ornate ornaments; it was just a simple field. However the spirit there was amazing.
My journal entry (July 27, 2000) :
"I am trying to imagine what it would be like to be a humble shepherd watching over your flocks and then have an angel appear to you and tell you that Christ, The Savior, the person that is going to redeem you from your sins has just been born. Then a multitude of angels surround you and you have the opportunity to sing praises to your God. How lucky were those shepherds!"
We spent the rest of the evening singing all of the Christmas songs in our hymn books. I have never felt the spirit of Christmas more powerfully than I did on that July evening. All of us there left with a renewed testimony of our Savior. He is our Redeemer and was born into humble circumstances "to bring us good tidings of great joy."
Later that evening we traveled back to Bethlehem (it is only about a 45 minute bus ride from Jerusalem). Except this time we did not enter the city. We stopped at some fields just before you enter the city. We sat on the hillside and the view was spectacular. The sun was setting and just across the valley you could see the lights of Bethlehem. There was no church and no ornate ornaments; it was just a simple field. However the spirit there was amazing.
My journal entry (July 27, 2000) :
"I am trying to imagine what it would be like to be a humble shepherd watching over your flocks and then have an angel appear to you and tell you that Christ, The Savior, the person that is going to redeem you from your sins has just been born. Then a multitude of angels surround you and you have the opportunity to sing praises to your God. How lucky were those shepherds!"
We spent the rest of the evening singing all of the Christmas songs in our hymn books. I have never felt the spirit of Christmas more powerfully than I did on that July evening. All of us there left with a renewed testimony of our Savior. He is our Redeemer and was born into humble circumstances "to bring us good tidings of great joy."
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