A Few of FR's Finest....Every Day....12-25-02....Christmas Day

Billie and daisyscarlett

[daisyscarlett]

Click on Baby Jesus

THE CHRSTMAS STORY
As told by Matthew

THE NATIVITY

This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was a righteous man and did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly.

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"--which means, "God with us."

When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he had no union with her until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.

WISE MEN

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star in the east and have come to worship him."

When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. When he had called together all the people's chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Christ was to be born. "In Bethlehem in Judea," they replied, "for this is what the prophet has written: "'But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.'" Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. He sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and make a careful search for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him."

After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen in the east went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they were overjoyed.

GIFTS

On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold and of incense and of myrrh. And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. "Get up," he said, "take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him."

FLEEING TO EGYPT

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, "Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child's life are dead."

So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."

--Matthew 1:18 - 2:23 New International Version

JESUS IS THE REASON
FOR THE SEASON

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS

THIS WEEK'S THREADS 12-23-02 Christmas Music 12-24-02 Twas the Night Before Christmas

Opinions by our own 'King of Ping' The guy's good, folks!

Thanks, Mixer!

1) Click on the graphic to open the Calendar.
2) Once there you can click on any month and even click to the right to go into next year. Once you are in the month that you joined FR you will need to click on the number in the calendar and then an add item screen will come up.
3) In the next box enter your name in the "Calendar Text" field and then click on submit.
4) If any of the screens fail to load simply click on refresh in your browser and that will usually fix it.
5) If all else fails or simply if you want me to do this for you send me an FReepmail and I will gladly do it for you. ~Mixer

[Pippin]

thanks, Valerie! :^)

[MistyCA]

Wow, Pippin! You have a beautiful family! Thanks for inviting me to see your pictures! I enjoy receiving your pings. :) The larger apartment sounds wonderful.

[Billie]

Big ole Texas Hugs to you, Meekie! Is Ming still with her family?

[Pippin]

Of course, having a larger place has it's duties!

I was informed that next year I'm to have the family over for Christmas Eve!

[MistyCA]

Hey! I didn't know it was your birthday!

Happy Birthday Pippin!

[Pippin]

Thanks, Misty!

[MistyCA]

LOL! Yes, do I ever know! We have always had the family gatherings at our home because it was the best "party place" other than my parent's home. Well, don't you know...the next home we bought was our parent's place! LOL! Now my daughter bought it from us so she got all the party duties this year! She loves it as much as I always did. :))))

[ValerieUSA]

Thank you so much for the link to that lovely Mark Lowry song!

[MeekOneGOP]

Ah, I see. "The Two Towers" is the 2nd part of Tolkein's "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy. Thanks. I'll have to check with my brother on that. When we were kids, he read all of them. Me? I dug into Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, LOL!

PS: Oh! It just dawned on me. You remember my brother (FReeper screen name "CaTexan"). He replied to you on a comment. He's been registered for several months now, and that was his only reply on FR as yet. I'll hafta work on him some more, lol !

[Pippin]

This is going to be a fun year!:^)

[firewalk]

Hiya Billie (-:

[MistyCA]

You are very welcome! Doesn't that look fun? I would love to be bouncing from a balloon! :)

[Pippin]

Yes, Meek, I remember CaTexan!

I was wondering what happened to him. You work on him and tell him he's missed! :^)

[MistyCA]

I sure do hope so! I can't take anymore drama! :)

[Pippin]

HEE! HEE! HEE!

Sounds like a fun idea!

[Pippin]

The only drama is going to be when we drop the bomb on Saddam, LOL!!

[MeekOneGOP]

Big ole Texas Hugs to you, Meekie! Is Ming still with her family?

Oh, thanks ! I love big ole Texas hugs. Plenty of 'em yesterday at my aunt's house with some of my cousins and other family.

Yes, Ming is still in China. I talked to her last night and she is having a nice visit. She'll be back Jan. 2nd. I'll pick her up at D/FW. I'll be glad when she gets back. (I haven't had any good Chinese food since...the day she left, lol !)

[MistyCA]

Well...as long as the ground around me isn't shaking from some misplaced artillery, that's ok! :)

[firewalk]

Happy Birthday Pippin! (-:

[sweetliberty]

This is my second Christmas on FR; third if you count my lurking year. I got to move into a bigger place too, AND next door to FReepers plus having a couple more FReepers in the neighborhood now! Over Christmas I have seen Fellowship of the Ring, regular AND extended version, The Two Towers (and ready to go see it again), and am over halfway through re-reading Fellowship of the Ring. I also got to do my first FReep this year.

Happy Birthday Pippin!