Maybe one of the appeals of the Bible is that it is filled with adventure stories,

and the Epiphany, the wise men traveling from the east to Jerusalem and finally

Bethlehem is one of the greatest adventures of all time (Matt 2:1-2).

Many ironies show up in the story. Certainly wisdom from the east is definitely

counter-intuitive for a good Jew (Gen 3:23-24; 4:15-16; Jonah 4:3-5).

That a monster like Herod figuring into the story so prominently is also unusual

(Matt 2:3-8). Should we then be surprised that very difficult people figure into our stories

as well?

For the wise men, the star stopped over Bethlehem (Matt 2:9-10), but maybe our

star is still moving?

No matter, in order to maintain our sense of adventure we need to genuinely

worship and extravagantly give (Matt 2:11).

God expects our best (Gen 22:1-2), and it disheartens us and saddens Jesus when

we give less (Mk 10:17-22). If we don’t have silver and gold, we need to give what we

have (Acts 3:3-6).

One more irony, generally speaking our greatest gift is our deepest pain.