LA SIERRA BLOG

Blogging Through the Seasons

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Advent 2021

Advent 20 – Shealtiel

I have something to admit. Although I am the daughter of a pastor, I have never been great at Bible trivia. Especially Old Testament trivia. When I looked through the list of names in Jesus’ family tree, I was reminded of that glaring hole in my knowledge and felt the...

Advent 2021

Advent 19 – Josiah

Josiah brought balance back to God’s people. In the 8th year of his rule, when he was a teen, he sought the God of his ancestor David. He purified Judah and Jerusalem of idols and images, he tore down altars to the Baals, and he burned the bones of their priests. He...

Advent 2021

Advent 18 – Hezekiah

Sometimes the name Hezekiah is used to joke about quotations that are supposedly in the Bible but really aren’t. People will say something like, “‘Cleanliness is next to godliness’ is found in Hezekiah 3:16.” While there is no book of Hezekiah in the Bible, there...

Advent 2021

Advent 17 – Ahaz

Ahaz was a king of Judah, one of the long list of names we know from the books of Kings and Chronicles. He is also featured in Isaiah (and Micah) though perhaps we often forget this connection. He was arguably the worst, most ungodly monarch in the history of Israel...

Advent 2021

Advent 16 – Uzziah

As I face retirement after 35 years of working as a nurse for the State of California, two words come to mind: pride and humility. While employed, I took pride in receiving a steady paycheck and working overtime for Items I could not afford otherwise. The company of...

Advent 2021

Advent 15 – Asa

My dad’s brother married my mom’s sister. Two brothers married two sisters. I know it sounds a bit weird, but upon closer inspection it’s not quite as weird as it appears, and as a result, I have some super-cousins (I’ve coined this original term), connected both on...