Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas?

This month we’ll celebrate the most significant landmark event since the fall of Adam and Eve. Sin committed in the Garden of Eden brought about the curse (Genesis 3: 17-19) and separation from God. The central theme of the Old Testament was the blessed hope in the coming Redeemer that would atone for the sin of mankind. The Torah, or the first five books of the Bible, laid out many customs, rituals, and laws for those that chose to serve Yahweh (YHWH). In that law there were very specific instructions regarding the sacrificing of animals as covering for sins. This covering was temporary and only served as a prelude to the complete and perfect sacrifice of Jesus. Hebrews 9:22 declares; “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Someone had to pay the ultimate price for our sin. Since no one was, or is, worthy for such a task, God chose to do it himself.

One of the most amazing things about the Bible is its ability to foretell the future. Old Testament scripture gave many very specific details of the coming Messiah. I’ve read different commentaries and studies by statisticians that say the odds of any one man fulfilling all of the prophecies written is 1 in a number that’s not even comprehensible. Perhaps the most amazing truths foretold about the coming Messiah was the virgin birth as described in Isaiah 7:14. Further, he was to be born in a small, seemingly insignificant town called Bethlehem (Micah 5:2).

God chose to come to us through a young Jewish woman named Mary. Scholars estimate that she was likely 14-15 years of age. Imagine that; the Savior of the world placed such a formidable task to a teenager. She was not perfect but she loved God with all of her heart. (As a side note, let this serve as notice that age is simply irrelevant when it comes to God. He can use anyone; young or old!)

We can’t overlook Joseph. Here’s an upstanding servant of God as well that was faced with a tough decision. He was pledged to be married to Mary but found out that she was pregnant. That would be tough news for anyone. In that culture, rejecting her as his wife would have all but ruined her. Her family would have disowned her and she quite possibly may have even faced death for having a child out of wedlock. As much as Joseph wanted to believe, at first it was tough to hear the excuse of, “God’s the father of my child” (paraphrased of course)! We’re told that he even contemplated leaving her quietly (Matthew 1: 19). After an angel of the Lord spoke to Joseph in a dream, he stayed, took Mary as his wife, and this carpenter became the earthly father of Jesus.

Joseph and Mary lived in Nazareth, in Galilee. However Caesar issued a decree to have a census taken. That forced them to return to Bethlehem in Judea since Joseph was from the line of David. While on their visit to Joseph’s hometown, Jesus was born in Bethlehem thus fulfilling a prophecies of Isaiah 11:1 and Micah 5:2. This was the beginning of the greatest love story ever told when God himself came down from Heaven as the sacrificial Lamb of God.

That brings us to this season of Christmas. Jesus most likely was not actually born on December 25th, but this is the day appointed to celebrate this amazing event. I truly love this season when kept in its proper context. I love the music. I love the lights. I love the trees. People seem nicer, unless it’s Black Friday. I love spending time with family. I love many of the fond memories of Christmases of days gone by, in particular, those when my grandparents were still around. But most of all, I love it when we all remember why we celebrate it.

There’s a changing of the tide in our culture. Many simply want us to forget the true reason for the season. Many want us to believe it’s about a man in a red suit or about how much stuff we can accumulate. The television airwaves seldom even say Merry Christmas anymore because the word “Christ” is right in the middle. How sad is it that media won’t even say Merry Christmas anymore? Instead, most have opted for the politically correct “Happy Holidays.” As for Julian Drive, my family, and certainly me, it will always be “Merry Christmas!” So from all of us, we wish you and your family the Merriest of Christmases yet!

Shane Bowers

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all!! Hope everyone had a splendid Christmas and New Years. Julian Drive has some exciting things in store for the new year. We have a new record coming out soon. It has some incredible tunes on it. If you want a preview just go to juliandrive.com and check out our latest Monday video on the home page. You can also travel on over to itunes and download our EP entitled “Beyond Our Eyes”. Don’t forget to be our friends on facebook so you can keep up with all the latest happenings near you. Hope to see you guys out on the road in 2011. Peace!

Josh

Fall Update

Greetings Julian Drive Fans! We’re coming to you from the cornfields of Nebraska today. We’re off and running with our fall promotional tour. We just finished up an incredible acoustic-style tour all the way to Salt Lake City, Utah and back. We ha

d stops in almost every state in between Georgia and Utah. It was quite a unique tour and we’ve received lots of good feedback from both a sound standpoint and even more, the testimonial sections. We look forward to our upcoming stops the rest of the fall as well. We’ll be everywhere from Florida, all the way up the eastern seaboard to New York. Be on the lookout for us in your area and come be part of a service with us. As a matter of fact, we still have a few gaps in dates and are always open to coming to your church too. Email us on our website at booking@juliandrive.com. We’d love to see you and share what all God has been doing in our ministry.

We are sad to say that James Nitz has made a personal decision to come off the road. He’s held down the bass line for over 4 years and has been the most solid bass player you could find anywhere. As much as we hate to see him go, we wish him and his family the best in all future endeavors.

If you’ve not already downloaded your copy of our new EP, “Beyond Our Eyes” on itunes; do it today! It’s a 3 song preview of our upcoming release in January. Also, make sure you stay in touch with us via our website, Facebook, and MySpace.

Blessings to all!

Julian Drive

We Are In Haiti and are OK

Hey Everyone,

We are in Montrouis, Haiti right now and have experienced the earthquake. We wanted to let you all know that we are ok and are in a safe place. Please spread the word that we’re alright and to pray for our safety and the people of H

aiti. This country was already in desperate need and now that has tripled.

We are currently scheduled to fly out tomorrow evening, but we don’t know if that’s even possible right now. We’ll try to keep everyone informed of what’s going on here.

Please Pray.

Shaun Bennett
JULIAN DRIVE