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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? e-edition | subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories 10 things to know for Wednesday SinceYou Asked: SBA would work with Mt. Ashland Ski Area about loan Check It Out: Track Santa's progress Get Up & Go: Dec. 24 Emergency services Crime, Courts and Emergency Services Emergency services Suspects in Highway 66 pursuit now facing drug charges State police disable pipe bomb on Table Rock Road Friends and family of missing teen organize search Two arrested after high speed chase with stolen car Politics and Elections State certifies recount showing failure of GMO-labeling measure Time running out for O&C funds GMO vote recount still shows little change GMO labeling votes recounted under careful watch in Jackson County Kent Bush: First Amendment doesn’t mean what you think it means Education Ruch school class focuses on the natural environment Bethel Church helps families at McLoughlin Middle School Logos may offer students 'fifth year' at RCC or SOU St. Mary's plays host to youth robotics tournament A lesson in giving Environment Biologist resigns over LNG reporting failure Bird flu discovered in Winston backyard flock Jackson County holds back on enforcing GMO ban for now No fish, no funding for problem dams Most residents speak against gas pipeline State News Portland couple's cat stows away in mattress after sale Police officer shoots armed driver near Reedsport Oregon to step up water quality checks on farms Questions remain in death of Oklahoma teen Impostor makes off with Salvation Army donations in Corvallis, Albany Nation - World Obama makes Maduro’s ‘insolent Yankees’ line harder to sell Obituaries James "Jim" LaRoy Edith J. 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Shayne Looper: Away — or rather, the way — in a manger Bathtub or shower: What’s best for you? Food for Thought: Wintertime wining and dining Food Food for Thought: Wintertime wining and dining Kitchen Call: The comfort of creamy soups Community blog: Baking contest finalists combine cookies, candies Community blog: 'Cookbook Book' digests genre's past 300 years Community blog: Liver pat� an easy nosh for Hanukkah and beyond Home and Garden Dear Monty: Can a rookie real estate agent be a good choice? Bathtub or shower: What’s best for you? 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Ashland Ski Area about loan Fans, friends and family welcome home victorious SOU team at airport Wedding: Boldt-Mahon Order of Elks national office revokes Medford lodge's charter Jackson County's new health building complete, will serve clients in February Columnist for a Day Rogue Healthy Aging Tempo Latest stories SugarBeats headline an all-ages dance party at Historic Ashland Armory In the Pocket releases 'I Got News' Live Music in Local Clubs Celebrate winter solstice with the Bad Film Society Southern Oregon Repertory Singers present 'The Holly and the Ivy' Theater ACT presents reading of 'The Quality of Life' Meet the real Jacob Marley This Nutcracker ballet will have a superhero twist Plumbing the depths of meaning TMTO presents 'A Christmas Carol: The Musical' Music SugarBeats headline an all-ages dance party at Historic Ashland Armory In the Pocket releases 'I Got News' Live Music in Local Clubs Southern Oregon Repertory Singers present 'The Holly and the Ivy' Tomaseen Foley's "A Celtic Christmas" returns to the Craterian Theater Community Events Celebrate winter solstice with the Bad Film Society Tomaseen Foley's "A Celtic Christmas" returns to the Craterian Theater Stefan Baumann and Eugene Bennett highlight Third Fridays Dancing People Company celebrates the solstice Dance to the Southern Oregon Jazz Orchestra Dining Food for Thought: Wintertime wining and dining Coffee shops roll out holiday-inspired drinks Over Easy serves 'pop-up' brunch Sundays Ooblies Artisan Waffle Sandwiches Brunch at Loft Brasserie Tempo Videos Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Blogs TV Listings Movie Listings Oregon Outdoors Oregon Healthy Living Magazines & Special Sections NEWS NOW Police officer shoots armed driver near Reedsport ... Suspects in Highway 66 pursuit now facing drug charges ... State police disable pipe bomb on Table Rock Road ... Police officer shoots armed driver near Reedsport ... Suspects in Highway 66 pursuit now facing drug charges ... State police disable pipe bomb on Table Rock Road ... Shayne Looper: Away — or rather, the way — in a manger Comment MailTribune.com Writer Posted Dec. 23, 2014 @ 7:30 am Posted Dec. 23, 2014 @ 7:30 am » Social News By Shayne Looper More Content Now A man asked God how long a million years was to him. God replied, "It's just like a single second of your time, my child." So the man asked, "And what about a million dollars?" The Lord replied, "To me, it is just like a single penny." So the man mustered his courage and said, "Well, Lord, could you spare me just one of your pennies?" And God said, "Certainly, my child; just a second." God just doesn't seem to see things the way we see them, nor does he always do things the way we would like them done. We want our friend to be healed; he is not. We want the bank to come through on that loan; it does not. We want our adult children to live near us; their jobs scatter them throughout the country. Why doesn't God get with the program? But the biblical witness, along with the testimony of saints throughout the ages, suggests that God goes about his business in ways we never would. The classic example is Christmas. What was God thinking, sending the world’s savior as a helpless baby, born into a poor, working-class family, stuck in a forgettable village like Bethlehem? It was impractical and it was time-consuming — as any efficiency expert could have told him — and the cost was staggering. No, if we were rescuing the world from its mess, we would form a committee, begin raising funds, and hire an advertising agency. We would enlist support from government leaders, from intellectuals and from celebrities. We would ask both our propaganda department and our military experts to devise a campaign of “shock and awe” with which to launch our operation. But God's ways are not our ways, and every Christmas we are reminded of the fact. If you ever doubt that, just look back to Bethlehem. God obviously wasn’t kidding when he said, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are my ways your ways." There is a profound mystery in Christ’s strange arrival on our planet. The mystery is not that God invaded the world. That had long been foretold. People were expecting him. It is not that he came “to do away with sin.” The prophets repeatedly warned that he would. The marvel is that he invaded the world as a baby. When God came to his world, he came with love, not irresistible force; with grace, not with threats. People had believed for a thousand years that God would do away with sin, but they assumed he would do so by destroying sinners. It’s probably how we would have done it. But not him. He did not come, as he once said, “to condemn the world but to save the world.” “To save the world.” God’s plan for Jesus was not merely to get people into heaven when they die, but to give people a meaningful way to live now. It was God’s intent (so says St. Peter) to free people from the pointless way of life handed down to them from previous generations; to give their lives meaning and fill them with love. Yet people continue to pursue empty and pointless lives. They invest their time and energy in accumulating stuff, hoping that it will somehow bring them happiness. The wild rush at Christmas time is just one more expression of humanity’s compulsive attempt to fill its emptiness. Yet when the presents have been put away, people’s souls are often just as empty as the discarded boxes that litter their floors. They have missed the real treasure of Bethlehem. Bethlehem’s treasure was not a diamond bracelet or a new iPhone, or whatever else this year’s advertisements are trying to convince us we can’t live without. It was not even gold, frankincense or myrrh. Bethlehem’s treasure was packaged in flesh, gift-wrapped in swaddling, and laid in a manger — with your name on the gift card. When he came to Earth, he was not just away in a manger; he was the way in a manger, the way to a meaningful life now as well as a glorious life forevermore. Of all the gifts ever given, this one is the most precious.   Shayne Looper is the pastor of Lockwood Community Church in Branch County, Michigan. Read more at shaynelooper.com. 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