You're listening to Encounter, a simple daily podcast to help you find the secret in

the ordinary.

We have 100 meditation episodes on this podcast, but we're excited to announce the launch

of the Encountering Peace Mobile App, where you can hear the entire library of more

than 500 seasonal and topical meditations.

I encourage you to download the Encountering Peace Mobile App today, where all of the meditations

are free, as they should be.

The tiny caravan of ancient astrologers and wise oracles is still far to the east as the

cry of a baby splits the cold night air.

A cry loud enough to ring the ears of the mother and father in the manger, but a cry loud

enough to be heard around the world.

But the effects of the cry seem to have been heard first by a lowly band of shepherds not

watching their sheep that night.

Not to a waiting cord of kingly kings or to a royal pageantry, but heard first by the

lowly, the humble, and the last any would expect to be tasked with telling the world of

the arrival of God on earth.

This meditation from Luke 2 will follow the humble shepherds on their passage that evening.

Those shepherds, as they were the first to receive the birth announcement, the first

to open it, and the first to share it, the lowly shepherds.

So to begin, allow your eyes to move from open to a soft gaze to now closed, as you receive

this gift of meditation for the next 15 minutes or so, and offering, if you will, to encounter

God through the story of the shepherds.

...