Flee to Egypt with the child ...

---

When it was time to leave, the Magi returned to their own country by another route, for God had warned them in a dream not to return to Herod. After the wise men were gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up! Flee to Egypt with the child and his mother,” the angel said. “Stay there until I tell you to return, because Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” That night Joseph left for Egypt with the child and Mary, his mother, and they stayed there until Herod’s death. This fulfilled what the Lord had spoken through the prophet: “I called my Son out of Egypt.” -Matthew 2:12-15 NLT

---

Just as things were getting "normal" an angel shows up in a dream and tells them that there is a bounty on the baby's head. Something tells me that this was not the life that Mary and Joseph had imagined when the angel first told them that the baby that Mary would carry was the Messiah. The joy that they had briefly experienced with the Magi has been turned inside out. Would that the Magi had stayed home. Perhaps then Herod would not have known about Jesus?

Have you ever had your plans turned inside out? Have your dreams ever come crashing down all around you? Many times our lives are filled with segues to Egypt. And life is not the one we wanted. In times like these it is good to remember Mary, Joseph and Jesus separated from family and living in Egypt. Sometimes the dream of a future resurrection has to percolate in Egypt. As we answer God's call we are often led into uncomfortable foreign places.

Dear Lord Jesus, teach us to trust you in places that are foreign, lonely and uncomfortable.

---