Penquins and the Baby Jesus

Our family settled in and watched the March of the Penqiuns last night. I was totally amazed. If you haven't seen it rent it immediately and be prepared to be awed for the next hour and fifteen minutes. I would suggest grabbing a blanket though, watching all that happens in -70 degree temperatures makes you feel very cold.
I won't go into details, but the march the penquins take every year is a seventy mile hike from the ocean to their breeding grounds. Ever watched a penquin walk? They are torpedos in the water and can slide on their bellies like kids on a slip and slide (which they do when their feet get tired on the journey), but for the most part they walk for seventy miles in baby steps over snow and ice. And, they do this several times a year, walking in a single line formation. They look like a parade of tiny lost waiters in a blizzard.
Why do they do this? For Prom night! That's why! It is there they select their mate, do a little dance, fall in penquin love, get married and lay an egg. All in wind chills of -100 degrees.
Then, on a certain day the girls all decide it is time to go to the grocery store, seventy miles back to the sea. The egg, which has been resting on their feet, covered by their stomach, is then passed very carefully to the boy, who then puts it on his feet and covers it with his stomach. If they take too long or pass the egg wrong to each other the egg quickly freezes and all their efforts end in loss. The female leaves to eat and bring back food for the chick three months later! All the males stay and keep the eggs warm over the winter, not eating for almost four months!
It is truly amazing to watch the march of these animals, the journey that is taken in the harshest conditions on earth, in order for them to pass on life to the next generation. And it has been happening for thousands of years. What parents won't do for their kids!

I was there for the birth of all four of my children. I had to go to the vending machines for coffee a couple of times. Our youngest son was born at home, which is an amazing experience but tough on the tupperware. With his birth I had to make a short trip to the hospital with a doctor friend of mine to get an oxygen tank to have in case of emergency. It was February with snow on the ground and I realized once I got there that I still had my house slippers on. That was pretty close to a penquin march. Sort of.

All this does cause me to think of the journey Mary and Joseph made to Bethlehem. A full term teen on a donkey? Wonder how that trip went? Labor pains and no place to stay? Where do you find a mid-wife this time of night in a place where you do not know anyone? I wonder about her labor. That few inches down the birth canal can be the longest journey on earth.

And Jesus, you were born into the harshest conditions in the universe. You came to the bone-chilling climate of cold human hearts and the blazing heat of our shame and sinfulness. Your journey started before creation and is continuing today as you walk ever toward us and with us in this world. And all for life. Real life.

Because of your journey my journey makes sense. You have made love possible. Your presence in the hearts of my friends and family means that I can find hope and forgiveness when my sins have created an antartic in their lives. It means that the sun, hidden in darkness for months, will come out again, and warmth and life will go on.

Merry Christmas.