Nancy said to our friend, "I want to show you something." She headed to the left, not the usual way to church, and then turned to come down Wollochet Dr. toward the church. Maria gasped at the sight. "No words could describe it," she said later. A block or two from the church there was a solid line of cars parked on both sides of Wollochet to the turn off and beyond for another block or two. A Sheriff's cruiser with blue flashing lights idled as an officer waved cars and people on to Gustafson Dr.. Many were also trudging in the dark toward our church. Some pushed strollers while other cars in the street idled for their turn to get to parking.
Meanwhile the same scene played out on the other end of Gustafson where more double lines of cars were parked as an officer waved walkers and drivers toward our church. Meanwhile a host of helpers from Harbor Covenant, our neighboring church, helped direct cars into their parking lot that held about 200. They then walked across the street to enter our little village of Bethlehem to experience what it might have been like the night Christ was born of a virgin in a stinking animal shelter.
We really didn't think we'd have much of a turn out due to the heavy rain the night and that we had not advertised in the papers and there was a Seahawks game; but we were wrong. This was our 19th Living Nativity. It has grown from a couple of hundred people to a record 5,676 people who came to walk through in the cold night air under a super moon. Many others tried to come but turned back when they saw the lines. It was like a sea of people waiting to cross the street to get in. Many waited nearly hour to park and shivered in the cold to see this event.
How is it that a tiny Jewish baby born 2,000 years ago can draw multiple thousands here and around the world? It’s amazing that this baby makes the Hawks play second string. The only reasonable answer is that this is no myth. It is a real story about ancient prophecy fulfilled when God chose to reveal Himself as the Christ, the Son of God. No other explanation works or even comes close. God became man to come and die for our sin on the cross so those who repent can be forgiven eternally by His grace.
One of the guests who came sent us this wonderful video he took on his phone. Thanks, Jason, for doing that. Click here. https://www.facebook.com/DiscoveryBC/videos/1934229749950458/
Watch the Discovery Baptist Facebook page for it as well as an album of pictures coming soon that were taken this year at the Living Nativity. Your photo may be there.
Sat. Dec. 10th 9AM help is needed to put away Nativity Structures.
Our Thanksgiving Offering for the year is open through Dec. 31 and will go to the Choose Life Center run by Holly Friesen in Odessa, Ukraine.