Tuesday December 7, 2021
TRAVELING WHEN PREGNANT
SCRIPTURE: Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 NIV
We all know the story of how Joseph and Mary journeyed from Nazareth to Bethlehem because of the census. Then, Mary had the baby Jesus while they were there. A typical traveler at that time could walk 15-20 miles a day, so such a journey would have taken four to six days. There were two routes that could be taken; the shorter route was through Samaria, but that was enemy territory and sometimes bands of outlaws harassed traveling Jews. The longer and preferred route, almost 90 miles long, was to go to the Jordan River and then follow the river south to Jericho, then turn west and go up into the Judean hills toward Bethlehem, which was a suburb of Jerusalem. The last part of the journey was the most difficult as it involved a 3% grade of rocky and steep road. On that road, the outlaws were Jews. Assuming that Mary was eight months along in her pregnancy, she could certainly not have walked that far. Hence, she rode a donkey. That would have been easier, but not by much.
I made a journey when five months pregnant. Sandy and I drove down Interstate 95 from Alexandria, Virginia to Charleston, South Carolina for our late May anniversary. That was 530 miles and took an entire day. I can remember that I told Sandy several times to slow down – upon hitting a bump in the road at highway speed, baby Wade would kick in protest at being jostled. As I recall the interstate roadbed near Raleigh, North Carolina needed repair as there were lots of bumps.
I am sure there were bumps on the road that Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem. I also suspect that Mary, at such an advanced stage, was even more prone to be kicked by the baby Jesus when the donkey went over bumps. It could not have been pleasant for her, nor for Joseph pulling the donkey up the final steep road. They had the reassurance of the scripture from Joshua, that the God was with them on their journey. So, too, does that passage reassure us as we travel through life centuries later – that God wants us to be strong and courageous and will be with us wherever we go.
PRAYER: Thank you, God, for being with us wherever we go this holiday season. Amen.
Carol Rice
