Our family went to a Christmas movie this year called The Nativity. It was more than a bit of a Hollywood portrayal of the birth of Jesus, but I have to admit that I liked it; it really put me in the Christmas spirit. In the movie one of the wise men had a problem with doubt. He had trouble believing that this "Messiah" thing was really true, and didn't want the trouble of a long journey looking for him in Palestine. Toward the end of the move as they neared the scene where Jesus lie in the manger, in good Hollywood style, they came over a hillside to see a light-beam from heaven directly to the place where Jesus was born. At that point the wise man who initiated the journey to find the Messiah looked at his doubting friend and said "how's your faith now?" I've had my own experience of this in the past week.

In my last post I spoke of the difficulty I have determining how to alleviate pressure during times of great stress. The subject came from the fact that things had already been tough and ahead of our family lie a very stressful summer with the move to Springfield, MO. About the time I wrote we were just getting our house on the market, probably full two months behind the schedule our realtor said would be necessary to sell, close, and move out. This was not good news because I've had this lagging doubt that we would be able sell our house on time and was beginning to believe I would probably be stuck moving out to Springfield alone for a semester while the house sold. Obviously, we would not be able to move if it didn't sell, and considering that the market is tumbling and many homes are sitting unsold, it seemed like a real possibility. Well . . . after two weeks on the market we accepted an offer last week for full asking price. The inspections are today and if all goes well a final signing will be in two weeks. I am not the spiritualizing type, but it did seem like God sort of whispered in my ear the other day and asked, "how's your faith now?"