By Grace Baldridge

This is the view from our hotel in Bethlehem. I am so taken with our temporary home. Bethlehem truly is a little town and has small town charm.  Our hosts are gracious and fed us a delicious meal. We had chicken, rice, five kinds of cold salads, soup, potatoes, fish, and of course Pita bread.

Our journey here was full of delay. Nothing was out of the ordinary, just broken computers at customs and Sukkot traffic on our drive from Tel Aviv to Bethlehem. Jerusalem was packed.

One can’t get by without thinking of Mary and Joseph on their own trip to Bethlehem to be counted in the census. They had to have been delayed by any number of issues, but perhaps not by a faulty computer.

The disparity of Jerusalem and Bethlehem is stark. I suspect it was as well in the old days because of the grandeur of Jerusalem versus a little town like Bethlehem.

(I only have about 5 hours of experience here so I’m not making any huge comparisons.)

What I do know is the way I feel when I look out over the same places Mary saw from atop her galant steed (“she called me a steed!” Sorry- Shrek reference). I can’t help but have a storybook view. But I know better. That’s not the whole tale.

The division here may look different today, but it’s still there just like it was when Herod was governor.

All anyone wants is to be safe and sound with the people we love. That will never change. It seems impossible for me or anyone else to remember that. We want to grab for more… even at the expense of others.

This is the world God loves: It’s broken pieces still shattered even after 2000 plus years of knowing God in Christ. And it made love known here… in this little town.