With serenity beyond her years, the young and heavily
pregnant teenage girl leaves her home village of Nazareth
and its small comforts to go on a long and arduous journey
to Bethlehem with Joseph. He is a young man she loves and
to whom Mary is betrothed, but he is not the father of her
baby.
Despite the painful awareness of the nasty gossiping and
scornful looks of the women in the market, both Mary and
Joseph have been separately told by angel messengers that
Mary is carrying the son of God. He is to be a Savior for
their people and that knowledge fills them with love for
the child and sustains them on their journey, despite its
worries and travails.
Famous for her Christmas stories of hope and love, New York
Times bestselling author Donna VanLiere has penned a warm,
yet sharply realistic, account of the age old story by
focusing on the normal worries of the journey and the
faith in God of this young family. Made fresh by shifting
the perspective to that of the eyes, ears, and thoughts of
the parents, we are pulled directly into the dust, pain, and
weariness of the journey. Our senses are assailed by the
smells of the animals and the molding smells of the
moldering hay when they finally find a bit of shelter in
the back stable of an overcrowded inn.
Prefaced by the simple version of the story from Luke and
delightfully illustrated by Michael Storrings, THE CHRISTMAS
JOURNEY is sure to be a treasure for your family
to read every year or to give as a gift of joy to others.
With its origins as a narrative tale, it begs to be read
aloud and shared with others.
The eighty-mile journey of a common carpenter and a simple
peasant girl is one of the most powerful stories in history.
As books go out of print and stories fade from memory, the
journey of Joseph and Mary and her delivery inside a common
barn continues to bless and inspire hope in people around
the world.
Accompanied by moving and beautifully rendered illustrations
throughout, Donna VanLiere’s retelling shows that the story
of the Nativity is alive in our modern world.
Excerpt
Joseph sets his jaw and ignores them, relieved to get away
for a
while. The angel of God had visited him and Mary about this
baby, but
he hadn't visited everyone in town. Joseph has heard the
townspeople
ridicule Mary. He has seen them point and then turn away,
ostracizing
her with their clenched teeth and cold shoulders.
"Perversion," they
have said. "Prostituted under the nose of her father." The
gossiped
indictments and whispered innuendoes have seeped under every
doorway.
The conception was not cloaked in anonymity. Everyone knew
her name.
They knew her father and mother's name. Joseph's own heart
has
throbbed with a dull pain for weeks, and looking at Mary, he
wonders
how someone so young is able to bear the burden of such a
stigma.
Mary lays her hands on her swollen belly. The baby dropped
into the
birth canal days ago, causing increasing discomfort. A chill
clings
to the shadows that stretch over the sleepy town, and Joseph
places a
thin blanket over Mary's legs. Joseph forces a smile and
quickens his
steps. What if she gives birth on the side of a mountain?
What if
the baby comes in the middle of the wilderness? What would
he do?
Who could help him? Several families from Nazareth are
traveling in
caravans on the road ahead and behind them, but Joseph does
not feel
he can rely on them for help. He has never felt so isolated
in his
life.
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