Autumn is a time when most plants abandon life above ground in preparation for the hardships of the Winter. The branches of most trees and shrubs drop their leaves and go into a dormant state. Herbaceous plants die back to ground level. For them life simply continues below ground where the Winter frost cannot reach. They quite literally go back to their roots. In the Bible there is an old proverb that says: The wicked desire the stronghold of evildoers, but the root of the righteous endures. (Proverbs 12: 12) Very few people enjoy living with insecurity - most of us want the safety a stronghold. It might be in a good job, underpinned with qualifications, skills and experience. Perhaps in family or a circle of close friends. Sometimes it's in self-protection - playing all our cards close to our chest and never making ourselves vulnerable. Strongholds are not necessarily evil, but they have one thing in common. Sooner or later, something or someone comes along an
Some say that Jesus of Nazareth is just a myth and a legend. Others, a historical figure who was born in Bethlehem, probably around 5 BC. Wouldn't it be great if we could find his birth certificate and settle the matter once and for all?! Oddly enough, it's not such a daft idea. The Roman Empire was assidious about keeping records, and the birth of Jesus would certainly have been noted in its archives. Unfortunately, between the sackings of Rome and Constantinople almost all of them were lost. That wasn't always the case, though. Several times in the first three centuries AD the Empire made concerted efforts to erase the story of Jesus from history. For all this time the records were available - as the Christian apologist, Justin Martyr, was at pains to point out in an open ketter to the Emperor: "Now there is a village in the land of the Jews, thirty-five stadia from Jerusalem, in which Jesus Christ was born, as you can ascertain also from the registers of the taxing