God in the Midst
By J.B. Hixson, Ph.D.
12/23/2023
Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
In 1989, Sigourney Weaver was nominated for an Academy Award for her leading role in the film Gorillas in the Mist, which was nominated for a total of five Oscars. The movie was based upon the life and tragic death of Dian Fossey, and her book by the same title. Fossey’s amazing story was also detailed in multiple issues of National Geographic magazine.
Dian Fossey was a zoologist and anthropologist who spent more than seventeen years studying mountain gorillas in Africa. In 1967, she established the Karisoke Research Center in the shadows of Mount Bisoke volcano in the Virunga mountain range bordering Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is reported that locals in the area called her Nyirmachabelli—“woman who lives alone in the mountain.”
Fossey lived among the rare, gentle mountain gorillas who were threatened by the cruelty of poachers who were tracking them down, one-by-one, and slaughtering them. She began her mission in 1963 on the side of a 14,000-foot-tall, rain-shrouded volcano, and after several years the gorillas came to accept her as one of their own. Fossey named her gorillas, cradled their babies, and cried with them when they mourned their dead.
She once wrote: “These powerful but shy and gentle animals accepted and responded to my attentions when I acted like a gorilla. So I learned to scratch and groom and beat my chest. I imitated my subjects’ vocalizations (hoots, grunts, and belches), munched the foliage they ate, kept low to the ground and deliberate in movement.”
After nearly eighteen years with the gorillas, she became like them, dwelt among them, and they were her friends. When faced with danger, she bravely defended them. She was their hero. And on the morning of December 27, 1985, she was knifed and murdered, apparently by poachers whose trade she had sought to destroy. She died for those she came to live among and to save.
Two thousand years ago, Christ left the comforts of His home for the fog-shrouded volcano of earth. He identified with us, learned our names, wept with us. And He, too, died for those He came to live among and to save. Jesus once said: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friend.” (John 15:13)
The story of Dian Fossey was about gorillas in the mist. The story of Christ is about God in the midst. Eight centuries before Christ, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed that the baby born in Bethlehem would be called, Immanuel—God with us. And that is precisely what happened that first Christmas morning: God left the eternal realm of glory, came to earth, and put on human flesh to rescue a lost and dying world from the penalty of sin.
Let us never forget that the story of Christmas is a story of unparalleled love and compassion. It is a story of humility, grace, and sacrifice. The essence of the Gospel message is God in the midst. God in the midst of sin-stricken, helpless, and hurting people. God in the midst of a world in desperate need of a hero. God in the midst of you and me. Do you know Him?
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took our place on the cross, died and rose again for our sins. And He offers freely to all the gift of forgiveness and eternal life if we will simply trust Him and Him alone for it.
12/23/2023
Therefore, the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)
In 1989, Sigourney Weaver was nominated for an Academy Award for her leading role in the film Gorillas in the Mist, which was nominated for a total of five Oscars. The movie was based upon the life and tragic death of Dian Fossey, and her book by the same title. Fossey’s amazing story was also detailed in multiple issues of National Geographic magazine.
Dian Fossey was a zoologist and anthropologist who spent more than seventeen years studying mountain gorillas in Africa. In 1967, she established the Karisoke Research Center in the shadows of Mount Bisoke volcano in the Virunga mountain range bordering Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is reported that locals in the area called her Nyirmachabelli—“woman who lives alone in the mountain.”
Fossey lived among the rare, gentle mountain gorillas who were threatened by the cruelty of poachers who were tracking them down, one-by-one, and slaughtering them. She began her mission in 1963 on the side of a 14,000-foot-tall, rain-shrouded volcano, and after several years the gorillas came to accept her as one of their own. Fossey named her gorillas, cradled their babies, and cried with them when they mourned their dead.
She once wrote: “These powerful but shy and gentle animals accepted and responded to my attentions when I acted like a gorilla. So I learned to scratch and groom and beat my chest. I imitated my subjects’ vocalizations (hoots, grunts, and belches), munched the foliage they ate, kept low to the ground and deliberate in movement.”
After nearly eighteen years with the gorillas, she became like them, dwelt among them, and they were her friends. When faced with danger, she bravely defended them. She was their hero. And on the morning of December 27, 1985, she was knifed and murdered, apparently by poachers whose trade she had sought to destroy. She died for those she came to live among and to save.
Two thousand years ago, Christ left the comforts of His home for the fog-shrouded volcano of earth. He identified with us, learned our names, wept with us. And He, too, died for those He came to live among and to save. Jesus once said: “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friend.” (John 15:13)
The story of Dian Fossey was about gorillas in the mist. The story of Christ is about God in the midst. Eight centuries before Christ, the prophet Isaiah proclaimed that the baby born in Bethlehem would be called, Immanuel—God with us. And that is precisely what happened that first Christmas morning: God left the eternal realm of glory, came to earth, and put on human flesh to rescue a lost and dying world from the penalty of sin.
Let us never forget that the story of Christmas is a story of unparalleled love and compassion. It is a story of humility, grace, and sacrifice. The essence of the Gospel message is God in the midst. God in the midst of sin-stricken, helpless, and hurting people. God in the midst of a world in desperate need of a hero. God in the midst of you and me. Do you know Him?
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, took our place on the cross, died and rose again for our sins. And He offers freely to all the gift of forgiveness and eternal life if we will simply trust Him and Him alone for it.
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