{"id":781,"date":"2015-12-03T13:37:20","date_gmt":"2015-12-03T19:37:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedisciplemaker.org\/?p=781"},"modified":"2021-12-14T19:38:04","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T19:38:04","slug":"suddenly-the-christmas-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/suddenly-the-christmas-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Suddenly&#8230; the Christmas Story"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"bsf_rt_marker\"><\/div><p><em>\u201cGlory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.\u201d<\/em> \u2013 Luke 2:14 NLT<br \/>\nFrom the publisher, \u00a0Don Pape &#8211;<img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-image-278 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/don-pape.jpg\" alt=\"Don Pape, Publisher\" width=\"269\" height=\"179\" \/><br \/>\nI love the <a href=\"\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2021\/12\/salvation-in-the-slush-pile\/\">Christmas<\/a> story. I never tire of hearing it told or reading it from the Gospels.<br \/>\nLuke\u2019s story of the shepherds and the angels must have been something, right? Minding your own business, tending your sheep, keeping wild animals away and trying to stay awake. Suddenly . . .<br \/>\nLife is like that, isn\u2019t it? Business as usual and suddenly. Concert goers have their evening interrupted by gunmen. \u00a0Suddenly. Two planes careen into office towers in one of our beloved cities. Suddenly. High school students are taken hostage. Suddenly.<br \/>\nAs I write this my city, Colorado Springs, is reeling from five scary hours where a building was besieged and lives were lost. Our entire city was in the grip of terror. \u00a0Even as I write this, a city in California is a casualty of more random shootings. Suddenly.<br \/>\nAnd so, as I follow Jesus in a world torn upside down, a world of sudden interruptions and unexpected disturbances, I hold onto the message given from the skies two millennia ago. A message spoken suddenly to a terrified audience. A reassuring message: peace on earth! Thanks be to God!<br \/>\nGet a <a href=\"http:\/\/books.noisetrade.com\/themessagebible\/the-message-of-christmas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">FREE Message of Christmas.<\/a><br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/books.noisetrade.com\/themessagebible\/the-message-of-christmas\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-776\" src=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/wp-content\/uploads\/Message-of-Christmas.jpg\" alt=\"Message of Christmas\" width=\"215\" height=\"326\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cGlory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.\u201d \u2013 Luke 2:14 NLT From the publisher, \u00a0Don Pape &#8211; I love the Christmas story. I never tire of hearing it told or &#8230; <\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more-container\"><a title=\"Suddenly&#8230; the Christmas Story\" class=\"read-more button\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/suddenly-the-christmas-story\/#more-781\">Read more<span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Suddenly&#8230; the Christmas Story<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_caption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_nocaption":"","_FSMCFIC_featured_image_hide":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Suddenly... the Christmas Story - The Disciplemaker<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.navpress.com\/sites\/thedisciplemaker\/2015\/12\/suddenly-the-christmas-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Suddenly... the Christmas Story - The Disciplemaker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cGlory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.\u201d \u2013 Luke 2:14 NLT From the publisher, \u00a0Don Pape &#8211; I love the Christmas story. 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