{"id":2281,"date":"2011-12-14T10:33:27","date_gmt":"2011-12-14T15:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=2281"},"modified":"2011-12-14T15:04:21","modified_gmt":"2011-12-14T20:04:21","slug":"aftermath","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/aftermath.html","title":{"rendered":"Aftermath"},"content":{"rendered":"

December 5 means that both of the Special Gathering Christmas plays are over in Melbourne and Vero. \"\"<\/a>This year unlike 2009, Mary’s face wasn’t bruised from having dental surgery. \u00a0The shocking effect was what appeared to be a bearded Mary. \u00a0Unlike 2004, Joseph wasn’t rushed\u00a0to<\/strong>\u00a0the play\u00a0from<\/strong>\u00a0the hospital emergency room after the doctors had stopped an all day nose bleed. \u00a0Thereby, we didn’t have a \u00a0Joseph who held his head high and was continually wiping blood from his face because he was fighting a nose bleed. \u00a0No one slipped, fell or broke a leg.<\/p>\n

However, in our song about Joseph and how Joseph was angry with Mary because of the baby who had been conceived, one of our soloists sang, \u201cWhile Joseph tossed an angel.\u201d \u00a0The words were \u201cwhile Joseph tossed in anger.\u201d \u00a0Fortunately, no one seemed to notice a song in which we advocate abuse of heavenly visitors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>One of our angels did grow uncomfortable in her costume, so her helpful staff took off the bulky robe and head gear. \u00a0Our member sat happily in the back of the auditorium with her staff until it came time for the angels to go to the front of the stage to announce the birth to the shepherds.<\/p>\n

On cue, she noisily broke away from her staff and took her rightful place with all the other angels.<\/p>\n

I love working with people who are mentally challenged at The Special Gathering. \u00a0Our members are part of a cloistered sub-culture about which most folks know little and care less. \u00a0I love a gracious Lord who placed me right where he wanted me and brought me to these wonderful people who love Him with all their hearts. \u00a0I love a Joseph who must be rushed to the play and fights a nose bleed but who never thinks about not attending. \u00a0I love the surprises and the angelic abuse and the wandering angels.<\/p>\n

angel photo by Oriental Trader<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

December 5 means that both of the Special Gathering Christmas plays are over in Melbourne and Vero. This year unlike 2009, Mary’s face wasn’t bruised from having dental surgery. \u00a0The shocking effect was what appeared to be a bearded Mary. \u00a0Unlike 2004, Joseph wasn’t rushed\u00a0to\u00a0the play\u00a0from\u00a0the hospital emergency room after the doctors had stopped an…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,5,20,182,40,186,49,16,8,4],"tags":[690,21,688,739,696,7,699,715,701,694,337,689,700],"class_list":["post-2281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-autism-spectrum","category-christianity","category-church","category-disability","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-christmas","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mary-and-joseph","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nAftermath - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/aftermath.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Aftermath - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"December 5 means that both of the Special Gathering Christmas plays are over in Melbourne and Vero. This year unlike 2009, Mary’s face wasn’t bruised from having dental surgery. \u00a0The shocking effect was what appeared to be a bearded Mary. \u00a0Unlike 2004, Joseph wasn’t rushed\u00a0to\u00a0the play\u00a0from\u00a0the hospital emergency room after the doctors had stopped an…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/aftermath.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-12-14T15:33:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2011-12-14T20:04:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/files\/2011\/12\/Mary-on-donkey-150x150.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Aftermath - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2011\/12\/aftermath.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Aftermath - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"December 5 means that both of the Special Gathering Christmas plays are over in Melbourne and Vero. 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