I've posted this before but it's time to do so again.

 Bill Rice has been dead for many years.  He was a cowboy early on in his
life.  He later went into ministry work.  When he died, he owned a 1500 acre
ranch out east in one of the Carolinas, as I recall, but his full time 
ministry
had turned into a ministry for the deaf.  Every summer, about 1500 deaf 
people
came to his ranch and would spend two or three weeks on the ranch.  They 
rode
horses, camped out, sat around huge bond fires, and those trained in sign
language would translate everything, including the Bible studies they had, 
and
the preaching services.

 Bill went to the Bible lands once, maybe more than once, but this one time
I know about, he said, during an off time, he asked the guide to take him to 
a
place that he, the guide, thought was like where Jesus was truly born.  The
guide explained to him that throughout  Palestine, especially in those days,
they didn't need stables or barns because of all the thousands of small 
caves
throughout the countryside.  Of course, many were likewise buried in such 
caves.
Anybody come to mind right off whom you can think of?  Jesus for example?
Anyhow, before speaking on this same topic today at church, I read through 
the
Christmas stories, so called, and realizing I didn't see the word "stable" 
in
the stories, I did a computer search.  I was positive that I had read the 
word
"stable" in the birth of Jesus passages of Scriptures.  Guess what?  The 
word
isn't even in the Gospels.  Yes, it says he was wrapped in swaddling clothes 
and
laid in a manger, but it says nothing about a barn or a stable.

 Bill rice said the guide took him to a cave which had been used once as a
stable for farm animals.  The cave was empty at the time so Bill asked the 
man
if it was ok for him to go inside.  The guide said that there was no light 
but
he was welcome to enter.  Bill said when he stepped inside, the smell nearly
knocked him out.  This was coming from a cowboy who was used to being around
such smells.  Secondly, Bill said that the animal manure he stepped into 
came
nearly to his boot tops.  The entire cave was like this.  He moved around 
and
examined the manger that was there.  He stood in this cave and realized for 
the
first time in his life, this was really like the true humble birth of the 
God of
the universe.  He said it changed his life just thinking about it.  It has
changed my life since I heard this story, too.  I trust it will change your
thoughts about Christmas and who Jesus really is.  Think of it.  If this was
like the place Jesus was born, that is, in a cave, he was also buried in a 
cave,
and rose again from a cave.  Go Jesus.  Show 'um.

It Sounds Like God To Me
WWW.SafePlaceFellowship.com