Bethlehem Blue Sapphire Christian Cross Necklace

The Bethlehem Cross

That night there were no reporters, no journalists, nothing written; obviously no pictures. With time, the story got out because it was told later by many. Each story was told from a different perspective but the big story, the light in the night sky and so much commotion about a stable. The essential elements were all there. This is an “eye-witness” account of the celestial event, the stir in the neighborhood and the curious light in the sky. Our observer was a Bedouin, a herder of goats who lived five houses over. These are his thoughts… yes, richly imagined and 80% true.

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I walk at night. I do it to clear my thoughts. I like the exercise. I like the open spaces, walking settles me. There are sounds and smells that drift in the night air, conversations between and among people. Not that I’m eavesdropping, but as I walk, I listen. Words spoken become clearer as I approach then they fade as I pass. The scent of animals, human, supper… so many supper smells. The smell of the earth: the plants, it’s all so much richer in the dark.

Then there was the light. Oil lamps flicker. Candlelight bends and leans with the air. Care is taken to not waste, so the dark is huge. It is dark everywhere, which is why the light in the sky was so obvious. There is the moon, big bold silvery disk, but this was a time of no moon—just the stars, all tiny pinpoints. Most twinkling tiny. The light I’m speaking of, we all saw. It was at first small in the East and became brighter with the passing nights. It appeared to move in our direction. We talked about it during the day. They were talking about it at night beside their oil lamps. You simply could not not notice it. Not as big as the moon but vastly bigger than the stars, and bright: a big blue light glowing up there in the sky. We didn’t see it in the day. Clearly though, it was there at night, bright enough to see your shadow.

Truth: we were scared because no one had ever seen or experienced such a thing. Truth: it scared me and while I went out at night I could see it. I could even see it when I closed my eyes. No one could explain it. As the nights passed it simply got closer and it was nearer to directly above. The nights were cool—I would say 40°. Truth was, we didn’t have thermometers, so obviously I couldn’t nail it so specifically. What I can say is that I couldn’t see my breath and water was not yet freezing. It felt cold.

I’ve always noticed, my senses feel sharper in the dark. As a goat herder, I’m sensitive to the cattle and sheep—they too were responding to all the activity. I tried to simply walk by but couldn’t. I would slow, then stop out on the road far enough to not be noticed. I remember the night toward the end when three well-dressed men arrived with camels. A type of other-worldly light seemed to spill from the stable. There was the blue star above a warm glow from within. I and my neighbors talked. The men with the camels left. The sheep and lambs settled. The tax crowd thinned. Everything returned to normal. In a few days our neighborhood settled back. We never saw the star again.