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And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. He took with him Mary, his fiancée, who was now obviously pregnant. -Luke 2:4-5

Imagine being this close to Mary’s due date, and traveling from Nazareth to Bethlehem. [Did they even know when that would be?] By air, that would be 60 miles. But there’s not a straight road from Nazareth to Bethlehem today, so why would we think there was one then?

At best, this was a few day’s journey for Joseph and Mary, and a donkey in tow.

With Thanksgiving behind us, we have made our last out-of-town trek before baby girl comes. The doctor even warned us before this trip about our “Plan B” should something happen while we were away.

Thinking about all of the plans we’ve made, I got nervous when the doctor mentioned the possibility of what a “Plan B” would mean:

• “our” hospital
• “our” doctor
• the car seat [because they won’t let you leave the hospital without it!]
• clothes to wear home
• mom’s bag
• dad’s bag
• a camera
• and the list goes on…

Did Mary and Joseph have any of this to worry about? For starters, they were the parents of God’s child. With all that had gone into the journey so far, did they have any doubts that they would be well taken care of?

Since they laid the newborn Jesus in a manger, I’m guessing they either didn’t have a crib (or they just didn’t pack it for this trip). Was there anything missed in the birth of Jesus because they were miles and miles from home? Maybe not.

We don’t know about their plans or preparation, but I can only wonder. How different this journey must have been two thousand years ago.

This is part 2 in a series of my reflections this Advent Season. To take a look at the series in its entirety, visit the Advent 2011 page.

You will…give birth. -Luke 1:31

It hit me a few weeks ago: after 28 weeks, the “home stretch” of our wait for baby girl is carrying us straight through Advent. The excitement welling up inside of me is not too far off from the childhood anticipation of Christmas morning, but better than only one night, our journey is going on for a few more weeks!

I am so excited for this baby girl to arrive and become part of our family. Feeling her kick, getting her room ready, making sure we at least can take care of her through the first day — all of these plans and to-do lists swirling around in my head.

“If I feel like this for our baby girl,” I thought, “what must Joseph and Mary have felt awaiting Jesus’ birth?”

Two thousand years later and half a world away brings a different kind of preparation to our journey, but as we begin this Advent season, we anticipate not one, but two joyful celebrations this Christmas.

Part II: coming Tuesday