{"id":6516,"date":"2021-12-26T06:55:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-26T11:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=6516"},"modified":"2021-12-21T09:18:08","modified_gmt":"2021-12-21T14:18:08","slug":"understanding-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=6516","title":{"rendered":"Understanding Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20171224_101540-1-e1545330143136-576x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-3652\" width=\"234\" height=\"416\" srcset=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20171224_101540-1-e1545330143136-576x1024.jpg 576w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20171224_101540-1-e1545330143136-169x300.jpg 169w, http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20171224_101540-1-e1545330143136-768x1365.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 234px) 100vw, 234px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Prodigal:  Christmas this year, felt right as rain!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Me:  Yes, we have to understand what Christmas is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is from the book The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It is almost beyond my comprehension too, and yet I accept that this notion is the key to understanding Christmas and is, in fact, the touchstone of my faith.  As a Christian I believe that we live in parallel worlds.  One world consists of hills and lakes and barns and politicians and shepherds watching their flocks by night.  The other consists of angels and sinister forces and somewhere out there places called heaven and hell.  One night in the cold, in the dark, among the wrinkled hills of Bethlehem, those two worlds came together at a dramatic point of intersection.  God, who knows no before or after, entered time and space.  God, who knows no boundaries took on the shocking confines of a baby&#8217;s skin, the ominous restraints of mortality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thank you for that Gift!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matthew 5:6<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jennifer Van Allen<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>www.theprodigalpig.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>www.faithincounseling.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prodigal: Christmas this year, felt right as rain! Me: Yes, we have to understand what Christmas is. This is from the book The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey It is almost beyond my comprehension too, and yet I accept that this notion is the key to understanding Christmas and is, in fact, the &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=6516\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Understanding Christmas - The Prodigal Pig<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This is a devotion with words from Phillip Yancey. He goes over the importance of what happen the day that Jesus was born.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=6516\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Understanding Christmas - The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"This is a devotion with words from Phillip Yancey. He goes over the importance of what happen the day that Jesus was born.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/?p=6516\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Prodigal Pig\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-12-26T11:55:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.theprodigalpig.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20171224_101540-1-e1545330143136-576x1024.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jennifer Van Allen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jennifer Van Allen\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6516#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6516\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jennifer Van Allen\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4\"},\"headline\":\"Understanding Christmas\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-26T11:55:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6516\"},\"wordCount\":186,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6516#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/20171224_101540-1-e1545330143136-576x1024.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6516#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6516\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6516\",\"name\":\"Understanding Christmas - The Prodigal Pig\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6516#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/?p=6516#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2018\\\/01\\\/20171224_101540-1-e1545330143136-576x1024.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-12-26T11:55:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.theprodigalpig.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/2274d6e5dc07c0258ba4ee1a19c917f4\"},\"description\":\"This is a devotion with words from Phillip Yancey. 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