Month: December 2025

The Hills and Valleys of the Nativity #1

eejoseph

DAY 1 — A MOUNTAIN

Locating the Birth in Time and Space: When Heaven Names the Moment

If you’ve ever wondered whether God moves in the real world — the world of headlines, deadlines, and political noise — the Nativity answers with a resounding yes.

Luke doesn’t start with “Once upon a time.”
He starts with Caesar Augustus, the emperor who thought he ran the world.
Matthew doesn’t begin with a fairy tale either.
He begins with a genealogy, a long line of flawed, real people whose stories are stamped into the dirt of history.

This is not myth.
This is God stepping into the timeline.

And the moment He chooses is wild.

A census is underway — the kind of bureaucratic headache that clogs roads and fills inns.
A young couple is traveling under pressure.
A star is rising in the East, bright enough to catch the attention of scholars who read the sky like a library.
Prophecies whispered for centuries suddenly start clicking into place like tumblers in a lock.

Isaiah’s virgin.
Micah’s Bethlehem.
David’s line.
A star that moves with purpose.

It’s as if heaven is saying,
“Watch this. Everything is aligning.”

And right in the middle of all that cosmic choreography —
a young woman is carrying a child.

Baby! Joy in the making.
Not theoretical joy.
Not symbolic joy.
Not doctrinal joy.
But the kind of joy that kicks, rolls, stretches, and presses against the walls of a mother’s body.

The incarnation is not just a theological event.
It is a pregnancy.
A heartbeat.
A mother’s breath catching as she feels life move inside her.

And then — the announcement.
Not to kings.
Not to influencers.
Not to the people with microphones or platforms.

To shepherds.

Night-shift workers.
People who smell like sheep and sleep under the stars.
People who don’t get invited to anything important.

And suddenly the sky explodes.

Light. Voices. Glory.
A message so big it shakes the air:

“A Savior has been born. Christ. Lord.”

This is the mountain.
The moment when heaven leans over the edge of eternity and says,
“Right here. Right now. This is the moment everything changes.”

And the shepherds — stunned, blinking, hearts pounding — do the only thing that makes sense.
They run.

Because when God shows up in your field, you don’t stay where you are.
You move.

Who do you resemble today — the shepherd startled by glory or the Magus scanning the sky for signs?

Honey Drop 61 – Just Desserts for the Fainting and the Spent

eejoseph,

“He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength.” Isaiah 40:29

The scene

A weary shepherd sits at the edge of the campfire glow.
The flock sleeps, but his heart does not.
He has poured out counsel, comfort, correction, and tears
until his own strength feels thin as smoke.
Across the field, another soul lies collapsed —
not faint, but spent.
And the shepherd realizes:
they are both held by the same God.

The comfort – the tension

The Tension:
Leaders often believe they must stay strong for others.
They hide their faintness,
bury their emptiness,
and pretend that “running out” is a failure of faith.
They fear that if they admit they’re spent,
God might step back instead of step in.

The Comfort:
But the verse refuses that lie.
Jah meets the faint with power and the spent with abundance.
He does not switch gods between stages.
He does not shame the empty.
He multiplies strength where there is none.
The shepherd and the sheep receive the same grace.

Lexical Brief:

  • הַיָּעֵף (hayya‘ef) — the faint, the one running out.
    An adjective used as a noun: a condition becoming a person.
  • אֵין־אוֹנִים (’ein onim) — the no might, the one who has nothing left.
    A noun phrase: not a description, but an identity.

The grammar moves from decline → emptiness, and the verbs match the movement:

  • He gives power to the faint.
  • He increases strength to the empty.

How sweet it is! Grace escalates as weakness deepens.

The drop

From faint to spent,
Jah does not change His posture toward you.
He gives to the one running out and multiplies strength to the one who has none.
Dear leader, Dear lamb,
your emptiness is not a threat to Him — it is the place where His abundance begins.

Poetic Flash: The God who meets the slipping overwhelms the spent.

Nativity 2025

eejoseph

Starting today at 555pm my nativity 2025 Series, a little late but aligning with the eastern Christmas, hits the press. This year my goal is to light up the birth of the Messiah with four (4) hubs and two (2) domains

Hubs

  1. Locating the birth in time and space
  2. Identifying the partners and actors
  3. Certifying the purpose
  4. Gazing at the mystery of the God with us

Domains

Truth-telling can descend into glitter, and shallow pools of what we want and want to hear. The story of Christ’s birth carefully leads us through the highs, lows and the ordinary of the times.

  • The mountains
  • The valleys

Since Christ came as Light we will begin tomorrow with the darkness of the times. Stay tuned! See you at 555pm

Honey Drop 60 – Just be. Breathe and Wait.

eejoseph,

The Verse (the Petal)

“Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD”. Psalm 31:24

The Scene

A small circle of the faithful stands at the edge of a long night.
Behind them, the proud stride forward as if the world belongs to them.
Before them, the path is slow, quiet, and dim.
They are not asked to conquer anything — only to keep standing, to breathe, to feel, to wait.
And in the waiting, something begins to steady inside them.

The comfort – the tension

The Tension:
Waiting is not passive.
It stretches the heart,
exposes the ache,
and makes you wonder if courage has slipped through your fingers.

The Comfort:
But Jah does not ask you to be unbreakable.
He asks you to be human —
to stumble, rise, cry, mend,
to let your heart stay open long enough
for strength to find you.

The Lexical Brief – diving into the words for clarity

  • ἀνδρίζεσθε (andrizesthe) — not macho bravado, but stand up inside yourself.
    Be human. Be present. Be honest.
    Laugh, cry, hurt, heal — but don’t collapse inward.
  • κραταιούσθω (krataiousthō) — let your heart be strengthened.
    Not “make yourself strong,”
    but allow courage to come.
    Let the Keeper pour strength into the places that tremble.

Together they form a rhythm: your stance + God’s strengthening.

The DROP (the Nectar)

While the proud rush ahead,
you wait —
and in the waiting, you become real.
Be yourself in the shadows,
and let courage come to you.
Jah meets the honest heart
long before the dawn arrives.

The Poetic Flash: Strength begins where pretending ends.

Honey Drop 59 – Faith Finds its Footing

eejoseph,

“Who among you fears the LORD and obeys the voice of His servant? Let the one who walks in darkness and has no light trust in the name of the LORD and rely on his God.” Isaiah 50:10

The scene

A voice rises in the assembly — not scolding, but searching. “Who among you…?” Not because Jah is unsure, but because Jah wants the one who trembles, the one who listens, the one who trusts in the dark, to know he is seen. A lone figure steps forward in the shadows — not with confidence, but with honesty. And Jah nods, as if to say, “I know you. I knew you were here.”

Lexical Brief

  • יִבְטַח (yivtach) — to trust, to lean your full weight.
  • יִשָּׁעֵן (yisha’en) — to rely, to be supported, to rest on a sure strength.
  • שׁוֹמֵר (shōmēr) — the Keeper, the One whose ongoing action is to guard, attend, preserve.

The Tension & The Comfort

The Tension: You walk without light, uncertain of the next stone, unsure if your fear disqualifies you.

The Comfort: But the question is the comfort — Jah calls out because He already sees you. And the Keeper who knows your name keeps your way.

The HONEY DROP (the Nectar)

Jah asks “Who?” not to expose you, but to name you. The one who fears, obeys, trusts, and leans — Jah knows that guy exists. And the Shōmēr keeps him still.

May the One who asks “Who among you?” remind you that He already knows. May your trust find its footing, your leaning find its strength, and your darkness find a Keeper who never sleeps.

Poetic Flash: Your trembling step is already recognized in heaven.

Honey Drop 58 — Shalom, Shalom

eejoseph,

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are stayed on You, because they trust in You.” Isaiah 26:3

The scene

When storms begin to gather and my thoughts start running wild, You steady all my thinking like a parent calms a child. You hold my restless mind in a peace that flows like sea — shalom upon shalom, poured gently over me.

The shaking- the shalom

My mind leans hard on You when the world begins to shake. You keep me in a wholeness that no trouble ever breaks. Your care becomes the shelter where my inner fears agree that shalom upon shalom is where my trust will be.

You shape my inward frame when the pressure starts to rise. You quiet all the noise with a calm that never lies. Your presence is the keeper of the thoughts that bend the knee — shalom upon shalom, the peace that carries me.

Lexical Note Shalom shalom means wholeness in full degree; yetzer is the mind You shape intentionally; samakh is the leaning that trusts Your constancy — shalom upon shalom, the peace You give to me.

The drop

The Drop When my mind leans on You, You keep it whole and free. Shalom upon shalom — Your perfect peace in me.

Poetic Flash :Your doubled peace becomes my steadying decree — shalom upon shalom, the calm that keeps my sea.

Honey Drop 57 — You, My Light

eejoseph,

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” Psalm 27:1

The scene

When shadows gather close and the night begins to rise, You kindle up my path and put brightness in my eyes. Your warmth upon my skin makes the darkness turn and flee — someone else can be afraid, but not me.

The shadow- the light

You show me every danger that would hide along the way. You steady all my footsteps so my feet don’t go astray. Your fire in the night is the shield that covers me — someone else can be afraid, but not me.

You lift me from the traps that were tightening unseen. You stand as my stronghold where the fearful cannot lean. Your presence is the fortress where my heart walks bold and free — someone else can be afraid, but not me.

Lexical Note: Light means sight and warmth and steps that walk free; salvation means rescue with sure victory; stronghold means safety no threat can decree — someone else can be afraid, but not me.

The drop

When You are my light, fear has nowhere left to be. Someone else can be afraid — but not me.

Poetic Flash: Your light on my path is my bold guarantee — someone else can be afraid, but not me.

Honey Drop 56 — Into the Broad Place

eejoseph,

“He brought me out into a broad place; He rescued me, because He delighted in me.” Psalm 18:19

The scene

A man steps out of a cave where he has hidden too long — hunted by enemies outside and betrayed by a leader inside his own house. The air behind him is tight with fear and narrow escapes. Then he emerges into open ground. The sky widens. His chest loosens. For the first time in years, he can breathe without listening for footsteps.

The comfort – the tension

The psalmist names salvation as spaciousness. God brings him into a merchav — a broad place — because rescue is not complete until the body knows it is safe. And this is not only personal. Israel knew what it was to be squeezed by foreign powers and failed by its own kings. Many communities still know that story: pressed by former colonials, disappointed by present leadership, living in a narrowness not of their own making. Yet the verse insists that God’s delight is stronger than any constriction. The broad place is the sign that deliverance is real — for the individual and for the people.

Lexical Note: merchav means open space, wide ground, room to breathe. It is salvation experienced as spaciousness. Rescue is the action; delight is the motive; the broad place is the proof.

The drop

When God delights in you, He brings you into room — not just for your breath, but for your people’s future.

Poetic Flash: He frees your chest so your people can breathe again.