Comfort, comfort my people,
says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and proclaim to her
that her hard service has been completed,
that her sin has been paid for,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins.
A voice of one calling:
“In the wilderness prepare
the way for the Lord;
make straight in the desert
a highway for our God.
Every valley shall be raised up,
every mountain and hill made low;
the rough ground shall become level,
the rugged places a plain.
And the glory of the Lord will be revealed,
and all people will see it together.
For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Isaiah 40:1-5 NIV
Prepare the Way
If you are looking for a unique way to see Canada’s Arctic, plan a trip along Inuvik/Aklavik Ice Highway. Come winter, some 2,000 kilometres of ice roads are plowed across Canada’s vast Northwest Territories. Impassable the rest of the year, these frozen waterways connect 12 towns and their residents to the outside world. If you’re up for a more off-beat Canada road trip, make like a local and give ice-road travel a go on the 117-kilometre stretch - called “pretty and pretty legendary” by the NWT tourism authority – between Inuvik and the hamlet of Aklavik.
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The Old Testament is the story of God’s preparation for the coming of Jesus. It records God’s working in a sinful world to prepare a people for the One who would come to redeem them. Through patriarchs, priests, judges, prophets, and kings, God is making straight the paths that will lead to the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem. The prophet Isaiah had a unique view into the arrival of the Christ, and he writes this, in preparation, in Isaiah 40:1-5: “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins. A voice of one calling: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all people will see it together. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.’”
These have been words from the heart.
Bob Beasley