{"id":1385,"date":"2010-12-25T01:25:28","date_gmt":"2010-12-25T01:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/markdroberts\/2010\/12\/another-christmas-miracle.html"},"modified":"2010-12-25T01:25:28","modified_gmt":"2010-12-25T01:25:28","slug":"another-christmas-miracle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/2010\/12\/another-christmas-miracle.html","title":{"rendered":"Another Christmas Miracle?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday I shared the story of my daughter Kara&#8217;s &#8220;miraculous&#8221; silence when, as a seven-week-old baby, she played the baby Jesus in our church&#8217;s Christmas Eve pageant. No crying she makes? Indeed!<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s another chapter in that story. <\/p>\n<form><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kara-smiles-me-5.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/photos\/Kara-smiles-me-5.jpg\" class=\"mt-image-right\" style=\"float: right;margin: 0pt 0pt 20px 20px\" height=\"489\" width=\"360\" \/><\/form>\n<p>Except for the times in the early evening when Kara cried uncontrollably, she was a happy baby during her first weeks of life. In fact, she smiled earlier than many babies do. I can even supply proof. The photo to the right shows Kara about about six weeks of age. I&#8217;m holding her. My wife, Linda, is taking the picture.<\/p>\n<p>I was the lucky recipient of most of Kara&#8217;s early smiles. I&#8217;d jiggle her on my lap or speak happily to her and she&#8217;d smile right back. As you can imagine, I was one happy daddy!<\/p>\n<p>We had a wee bit of a problem, however. Kara did not smile for her mother. The person who carried her for nine months and gave birth to her. The one who spent about half of her waking hours feeding her. The one who loved Kara passionately and sacrificially was not getting a smile. As you can imagine, Linda felt rather sad about this, maybe even hurt. She knew enough not to take it too seriously. But, still, she was desperate for even a little smile from Kara.<\/p>\n<p>On Christmas Eve, Kara played the baby Jesus in the church pageant. As I explained yesterday, she was miraculously quite during the whole performance. That was fantastic. But she still didn&#8217;t smile at Linda. <\/p>\n<form><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Kara-smiles-Linda-5.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/94\/import\/photos\/Kara-smiles-Linda-5.jpg\" class=\"mt-image-right\" style=\"float: right;margin: 0pt 0pt 20px 20px\" height=\"476\" width=\"360\" \/><\/form>\n<p>On Christmas morning, Linda was holding Kara in her lap, talking to her and smiling at her. All of a sudden Kara smiled with the biggest smile ever. Her face burst forth with joy. Linda spoke urgently to me: &#8220;Mark, she&#8217;s smiling!!&#8221; I took one glance and then looked around for my camera. It was nowhere to be found. I ran back into our bedroom, where I finally located my camera. I sprinted back to the family room, sure that Kara would have stopped smiling. But, no, there she was, beaming at her mommy.<\/p>\n<p>Did Kara know it was Christmas? I don&#8217;t think so. Did she realize that a smile for her mother would be the best Christmas present ever? I doubt it.&nbsp; But there it was, plain for all to see (including you, note the photo to the right).<\/p>\n<p>Was this a Christmas miracle? Perhaps. The same God who came to dwell among us in the baby Jesus might very well have helped an infant girl smile at her mother on Christmas morning. Why not?<\/p>\n<p>May you experience the real miracle of Christmas, the truth and love of God in Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate!<\/p>\n<p>Merry Christmas! &nbsp; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday I shared the story of my daughter Kara&#8217;s &#8220;miraculous&#8221; silence when, as a seven-week-old baby, she played the baby Jesus in our church&#8217;s Christmas Eve pageant. No crying she makes? Indeed! There&#8217;s another chapter in that story. Except for the times in the early evening when Kara cried uncontrollably, she was a happy baby&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":214,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[195],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Another Christmas Miracle? - Mark D. 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Roberts","description":"Mark D. Roberts: Thoughtfully Christian Reflections on Jesus, the Church, and the World","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/1ff094a57b7e41f534434b1723df3d73","name":"Mark D. Roberts","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/f2d\/f2ddf5f080861f66ea230384f9d1bab2x96.jpg","caption":"Mark D. Roberts"},"description":"The Rev. Dr. Mark D. Roberts is a pastor, author, retreat leader, speaker, and blogger. Since October 2007 he has been the Senior Director and Scholar-in-Residence for Laity Lodge, a multifaceted ministry in the Hill Country of Texas. Before coming to Laity Lodge, he was for sixteen years the Senior Pastor of Irvine Presbyterian Church in Irvine, California (a city in Orange County about forty miles south of Los Angeles). Before his time at Irvine Pres, Mark served on the staff of the First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood as Associate Pastor of Education. (Thanks to Janel Pahl for taking the photo to the right.) Mark studied at Harvard University, receiving a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in the Study of Religion, and a Ph.D. in New Testament and Christian Origins. He has taught classes in New Testament for Fuller Theological Seminary and San Francisco Theological Seminary. Mark has written several books, including No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer (WaterBrook, 2005), Dare to Be True (WaterBrook, 2003), Jesus Revealed (WaterBrook, 2002), After \"I Believe\" (Baker, 2002), and Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (Word, 1993). His most recent book is Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (Crossway, 2007). He is currently working on a commentary on Ephesians that will be published by Zondervan in 2014. Mark writes a devotional for The High Calling of Our Daily Work, a website associated with Laity Lodge. His \"Daily Reflections\" can be viewed online or sent as a daily email. If you wish to receive this email, just visit TheHighCalling.org and sign up. Mark serves on the editorial board of Worship Leader magazine, where he publishes articles and reviews, including his regular column \"Lyrical Poetry.\" Additionally, he has published dozens of articles in leading magazines and journals. He often speaks for churches and other Christian groups, and has been interviewed on over seventy-five radio programs nationwide. Mark is married to Linda, who is a Marriage and Family Therapist, a Spiritual Director, and a retreat speaker. They have two children, Nathan and Kara.For Publicity Photos and Bio Statements for Mark, please check here. Mark's Dossier Professional History: Senior Director and Scholar-in Residence, Laity Lodge, October 2007 to present. Senior Pastor Irvine Presbyterian Church, June 1991 to September 2007 Adjunct Assistant Professor Fuller Theological Seminary, 1994 to 2007. Courses: New Testament Theology and Exegesis. Adjunct Instructor San Francisco Theological Seminary, 1995 to 2001. Courses: New Testament Greek and Exegesis Associate Pastor of Education First Presbyterian Church of Hollywood, 1987-1991 Teaching Fellow Harvard University, 1980-1983 Education: Ph.D. in the Study of Religion. Harvard University, 1992. Area: New Testament and Christian Origins M.A. in the Study of Religion Harvard University, 1984. A.B. magna cum laude in Philosophy Harvard University, 1979. Phi Beta Kappa; Danforth Fellowship Books: Can We Trust the Gospels? Investigating the Reliability of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Crossway, 2007 No Holds Barred: Wrestling with God in Prayer. WaterBrook, 2005 Dare to Be True: Living in the Freedom of Complete Honesty. WaterBrook, 2003. Jesus Revealed: Know Him Better to Love Him Better. WaterBrook, 2002. After \"I Believe\": Experiencing Authentic Christian Living. Baker, 2002. Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther in the Communicator's Commentary Series. Word, 1993. Contacting Mark: You can reach Mark at: E-mail: mark@markdroberts.com mroberts@laitylodge.org Phone: Laity Lodge: (830) 792-1216 Address: Laity Lodge 719 Earl Garrett Kerrville, TX 78028","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/author\/mroberts"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/214"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/markdroberts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}