Tree of Mamre

First Drive of Bentley Continental GT V8 - 2012

2012-01-31T04:29:00.001-08:00

Silverstone, England - It’s all about the numbers: 500 bhp at 6000 rpm, a jaw-dropping 487 lb.-ft. of torque from 1700 to 5000 rpm, 180-plus-mph top speed, sub-5 seconds to 60 mph and a 500-mile range from a single tank of gas. That’s right, gasoline not diesel.

Salutation to Bentley’s world of cylinder deactivation, where Bentley’s version of the 4.0-liter V-8 announced by Audi late last year slots under the hood of the Continental GT and GTC.

Brian Gush, Bentley’s armature and powertrain director, is at pains to point out that this simply isn’t a re-badged Audi V-8: We were there right from the beginning; this was a joint effort with our Audi colleagues. There were explicit demands that we had and that needed to be met; for incidence, we brought the impression of cylinder deactivation to the program.

Although Bentley already has deactivation technology on the pushrod 6.75-liter V-8 used in the Mulsanne, the new engine’s system uses a different process to shut down half the cylinders during light weight operations.

Know about Foam and Foam Board Insulation

2011-11-01T01:21:00.001-07:00

A variety of materials like glass, foam, cellulose, aluminum foil etc are used for Attic insulation purposes. But one of the more favored insulation materials is foam. Despite the fact that foam insulation products are costlier than other types of insulating materials, it is widely used.

Higher price may however be deemed justifiable as R-values of the foam insulations range from R-4 to R-8 per inch of thickness. This is roughly three times more than most other insulating materials of similar thickness. It is also seen that if properly installed, foam insulation is a lot more effective than the rest.

When it comes to foam insulation there can be three options - molded expanded Polystyrene (MEPS)/ extruded expanded Polystyrene (XEPS) or Polyurethane or Polyisocyanurate. Any of these should provide you with very effective insulation. Foam insulation can be done as a liquid or using factory made foam boards.

Liquid foam insulation is done either by applying from small spray containers as a liquid or by means of a pressure sprayed product for heavy duty applications. Both types expand and solidify as the chemical mixture cures. Both spray foam and foam boards are equally versatile and can be used to insulate roofs, walls, foundations, entry and overhead garage doors, pipes and tanks, under basement slabs, or over a slab-on-grade floor.

Be it any type of foam insulation, you must take care to protect it from direct sunlight as the sun's ultraviolet rays have the potential to damage them. For roofs, it’s preferable to apply a coating of tar/ acrylic/ silicone/ rubberized paint. Or else, you can also cover the foam with a rubber or plastic membrane or a layer of asphalt and roofing felt.

Foam board insulation is very effective in preventing the oppressive summer heat from penetrating into your home. It also would help you conserve energy and save on your utility bills. Foam board insulation is a rigid foam sheet, usually four by eight feet (1.2 by 2.4 m) in size, used in nearly all aspects of building construction to provide thermal resistance in floors, ceilings and walls.

Polyurethane and Polyisocyanurate foam board are very similar in content. Foam board insulation is usually placed between the exterior finish and the studs of exterior walls. To prevent air infiltration, it is necessary to place rigid insulation boards tightly together and seal the seams with tape or caulk. Polystyrene foam board insulation is done in much the same way as Polyurethane and Polyisocyanurate foam boards, except for the differences in expansion.

Please bear in mind that foam board insulation is susceptible to deterioration through exposure to sun. Though foam insulation offers no food value to insects, still insects can bore holes into it. Therefore it will be necessary for you to take appropriate precautionary measures to protect your insulation from sun and insect damage.

Foam insulation is not easily combustible but if ignited, it burns and emits dense, black, smoke containing pernicious toxic gases. Because of these inherent perils, foams used for construction will require a covering as a fire barrier.

A lot of precaution is necessary to install foam insulation. You may have to use a mask helmet and gloves. It is even advisable to cover your whole body as foam is hyper allergen and it could lead to dermatological problems. It is wiser that you hire an experienced professional to do the job as the health risk is quite high.

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Solar power vents attics benefits

2011-10-17T00:01:00.001-07:00

Solar powered attic vents can be used to control heat and moisture. Today there are alternatives to roof louvers that are smart and effective. The solar varieties work of the principle of solar energy. These collect the energy from the rays of the sun during your day when your attic is at its warmest. Using this energy, it generates electricity. This electricity is used to operate an extremely high energy efficient motor that is placed inside the power vent. So what does this mean to you? You are generating free electricity and getting free power! You are not only reducing the total usage of electricity in your house but you are also using a source of energy that is renewable and works without leaving waste.

There are many types. The roof mounted is one of them. This has a durable high quality two piece construction. This utilizes a solar panel that will collect the rays from the sun and convert it into electricity. This unit will be used to operate a 24 volt DC motor that is housed in the inside of the power vent. These units are rust resistant and a have a steel dome that is galvanized. These are pretty low profile too. The solar panels are usually located in a separated location from the dome or the roof. There is no separate electrical outlet or installation that is required. Also this will work from sunrise to sunset without costing you any money.

The next type is the gable mounted type. This type is used in conjunction with the solar gable attic fans. The best part about these solar vents & spray foam insulation is that the installation of them is really simple. There is no electrical hookup required. This will save you all the trouble from finding a low priced electrician because there are no complicated wirings that you would have to deal with. All that you need to do is secure the solar panel and the fan. After they are secure, all that is required is the connection of a simple plug from one to another. These systems can be conveniently mounted on your home’s gable and hidden behind a decorative shutter. Also the solar panel will come with brackets. You can use these brackets to mount it on the roof easily.    The solar panels will absorb the incoming rays of the sun and convert it into electricity.

The main advantage of using solar vents is that you can save tons on the electricity that you would otherwise use on cooling or heating your home. You are not only conserving energy but also you are making use of a renewable source of energy that does not leave any waste behind. Also these will help to prevent moisture damage to your attic. Normally moisture would enter your attic through daily activities like laundry cooking or bathing. This moisture would get into your attic and cause damage. Using such a setup would prevent such damage by preventing them moisture to accumulate in the first place.
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Save electricity bills by using radiant barriers

2011-10-12T23:24:00.000-07:00

Householders own multitude of choices for enhancement that may bump up the value of their home even as improving its comfort.

Are you a home owner and thinking to improve your house completely either by repainting a room or have you thought about projects which could add aesthetic value?

Reduce your house’s heat with the help of radiant barrier as it is easy to use, safe to handle and effectual at plummeting heat loss and it can also turn back the extreme rays of the sun during the summer time and keeping the house cooler too.

Radiant barrier is a comparatively latest item for consumption that consumers are gradually becoming aware of. It has a reflective opus placed in your attic that reflects heat before it enters your home. Just by applying a coat of paint under the decking surface heat could be transferred and it also seals up the cracks and crevices in the wall.

Radiant barriers are materials installed in buildings to condense summer heat gain and winter heat loss, also to cut building heating and cooling energy usage.

The main advantage of attic radiant barrier is that it helps in reducing air-conditioning cooling in warm or hot climates. Radiant barriers generally consist of a slight sheet or veneer of an extremely reflective material, typically aluminum applied to one or double sides of a number of substrate supplies. These substrates consist of Kraft paper, plastic films, cardboard, plywood sheathing, and air infiltration barrier material.

It is expected that a radiant barrier have the potential to slab 97% of the radiant heat immersed through a roof's surface; this can result in a 30-degree cutback in attic or creep space temperature.

Spray foam insulation: It is a general and an essential thing that we insulate our homes to condense speed of heat loss. The insulation is carried by using spray foam in the opening, chink and the crevice such that there is no amend of heat linking the walls of the house and the environment.

Some of the Benefits of Spray Foam Insulation Include:

Reduction in sound diffusion, better environment, Keep Pests Outdoors, reduction in noise levels, Reduction in moisture and the development of Mold, apart from this it also has certain benefits like generating improved environment by plummeting dust, dirt, and pollen, Saving Energy structuring effectiveness & a Green Environment, produces air tight thermal seal, stops air and dampness penetration, Makes your home more comfortable, trim down capacity requirements, maintenance and wear of HVAC equipment.

Attic ventilation keeps the loft cooler in the summer and dry in the winter. Attic ventilation keeps the loft cooler in the summer and dry in the winter. Good exposure to air boosts the act of your insulation, expands the life of your HVAC unit and saves you even more money on energy bills.

Benefits of attic ventilation: it extends the life of your roof, cut downs the load on your HVAC system, stops ice damming in colder regions, and diminishes moisture build-up in the loft.

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A Read up About Attic insulation

2011-10-10T23:46:00.001-07:00

When we are considering attic insulation, there are several factors that we should keep in mind. There are two main types of blow in attic insulation. These two are most commonly used. They are cellulose and fiberglass insulation. Also there is the blow in rock wool insulation but the use of it is not so common.

Cellulose, which is most commonly used, is a natural product of wood. It is primarily made out of natural newspaper. To meet the smoke development and flame spread requirements of today’s building codes; a fire retardant chemical is added to the cellulose. The fiberglass insulation material that is used is the same material that batts or roles of the fiberglass insulation except for the fact that it is chopped or cubed so that it can be easily installed with the help of the insulating blowing machine. The fiber glass insulation will typically consist of 20% to 30% of recycled glass.

The r value of the cellulose that is used is R-3.2 to 3.8 per square inch. The loose filled fiberglass will have an R-value of R-2.2 to 2.7 per inch cube. To achieve the desired R value, you will have to depend on both the depth of the insulation as well as the density.

There are varying R values for ceiling insulation based upon the energy codes as well the climate of your locality. Based on the type of attic that you have, the code requirements may also vary. For example for joist assembled roof assemblies as well as for attics with single rafter may vary. There is a typically a chart on the insulation bag that will have the accurate depths for the various R values.

There are depth markers that are required to be placed in attic space which the WSEC requires to help the inspector and the installer verify the depth of the insulation. These depth markers should be placed within every three hundred square feet of the attic area and these must face towards the attic.

The depth of the insulation is very important; however, checking the density of the insulation is also equally important. The blow in insulation type can be fluffed up after it is installed. This is done so that it meets the required depth without actually meeting the required R value. This will settle over time so that the desired R value is achieved as the R value is lowered after it settles down.

The attic card is the easiest way to document the amount of R value installation. These are usually found stapled near the attic access to the truss. This card will also have information that is cited by the federal trade commission. Sometimes a chart is also attached with this.

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Pros and cons of auto transport services

2011-03-31T00:30:00.001-07:00

It is pretty common for every man in his life to relocate. In fact invariably at least millions of people every day relocate in our busy world. So there is no need for surprises. Relocating can be due to many reasons. Both personal needs as well as office demands come under the common reasons. The distance involved also varies. People either move within the same city, between cities, or across nations as well. Some people relocate just to satisfy their dreams and live in places where they once dreamed to live. When moving within the same city, of course there is no need for the services provided by the car shipping service providers. However when relocating across nations or cities, you cannot embark upon such long journeys on your own. This is where auto transport service providers come to your aid.

Every process or products or inventions has its own pros and cons. These words holds true for auto transport services as well. Fortunately, there are very few negligible negative points when it comes to auto transport services and it is largely based upon the service provider only.

Pros of Auto Transport Services:

Moving a vehicle is not an easy task. Vehicles are heavy to be moved around and pretty costly as well. Thus they need to be given at most care when moving process occurs. It is ok and implies less pressure or stress on you to considerable levels when the distance between the current place and the destination is quite small. When the distance is longer, we ought to depend upon the service providers as they provide the shipping service in an efficient way. All you need to do is contact them and they’ll come to your place, pick your car, take responsibility for your car and drop it at your destination with at most care. They also provide you facilities such as email and toll free enquiry, online estimates, insurance quotes and other details for your benefits. They also provide necessary billing statements once the task is done and the charges are paid with which you can claim damage costs legally in case there are any damages to your car at the time of delivery.

These companies also provide you auto insurance when you avail their services. They also activate remote GPS system for you to monitor the movement of car when the shipping is in progress in case you need it. With the insurance, you can claim for damage costs in case if any damages where caused during shipping.

Cons of Auto Transport Services:

Companies provide two methods of transport services, ne is Open method and the other is enclosed method. Open method often involves environmental risks and hazards. There is a chance for scratches and damages to get incorporated while the shipping is in progress. Especially this holds true if the driver is not an experienced one. Some companies do not provide proper GPS system facilities as well. Thus before availing services, check for the company’s reputation and their experience for the task.

The Great Global Warming Fraud

2011-03-30T05:22:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am a global warming skeptic, and I always have been. It did not require hacked e-mails from CRU to make me believe it was all horse-hockey. If anthropological global warming is a fact, then how can scientists explain the recent decline of the Martian ice caps? (They ignore it.) How can they explain the various temperature spikes in the 20th century, which were followed by cool periods (these are written out of the data).Book of Hours, early 15th century, showing farmers sowing crops in October outside Paris

Even more importantly, how can they explain the Medieval Warm Period (800-1300)? Well, they literally re-wrote the scientific literature to say that it was a localized event that only occurred in Northern Europe, and that the temperatures never got nearly as warm as they are today.
This is, not to put too fine a point on it, a complete, bald-faced lie. As pointed out elsewhere, the same kinds of data that are used to support the claims of recent warming also show that the Medieval Warm Period was a worldwide phenomenon, and that the temperatures then were higher than now. (There is a reason that Greenland is called "Greenland"--the ice cap was much smaller in the Viking era than it is now, and Greenland had thousands of small farms on it.) Further, the atmospheric CO2 level was lower then than now, which means that CO2 was not the culprit. While there are a lot of reasons to doubt global warming, the existence of the Medieval Warm Period is the most damning.

The truth is, global temperatures have not risen 1998, and the Sun recently experienced a new minimum (a minimum is where there is an absence or near absence of sunspots). Prior to the recent global warming craze, the general scientific consensus was that the temperature of the Earth was in direct correlation to the intensity of the Sun's heat (a logical deduction, I might add). When the Sun is active and putting out more heat, it creates more sunspots--and indeed, there were slightly more sunspots than usual in the 1990s. When the Sun is less active and cooler, the number of sunspots declines. The last three minimums, deep and lasting enough to bear names, all occurred during what is now called the Little Ice Age (the Spörer Minimum, 1450-1550; the Maunder Minimum, 1645-1715; and, the Dalton Minimum, 1790-1830).

Yes, I am a global warming skeptic, and I always have been. It did not require hacked e-mails from CRU to make me believe it was all horse-hockey. If anthropological global warming is a fact, then how can scientists explain the recent decline of the Martian ice caps? (They ignore it.) How can they explain the various temperature spikes in the 20th century, which were followed by cool periods (these are written out of the data).Book of Hours, early 15th century, showing farmers sowing crops in October outside Paris

Even more importantly, how can they explain the Medieval Warm Period (800-1300)? Well, they literally re-wrote the scientific literature to say that it was a localized event that only occurred in Northern Europe, and that the temperatures never got nearly as warm as they are today.
This is, not to put too fine a point on it, a complete, bald-faced lie. As pointed out elsewhere, the same kinds of data that are used to support the claims of recent warming also show that the Medieval Warm Period was a worldwide phenomenon, and that the temperatures then were higher than now. (There is a reason that Greenland is called "Greenland"--the ice cap was much smaller in the Viking era than it is now, and Greenland had thousands of small farms on it.) Further, the atmospheric CO2 level was lower then than now, which means that CO2 was not the culprit. While there are a lot of reasons to doubt global warming, the existence of the Medieval Warm Period is the most damning.

The Plots to Kill Hitler--When a Nation Stands at the Crossroads

2009-12-27T03:03:00.000-08:00

This last year saw the release of two movies about plots to assassinate Hitler. Both were in their own ways more fantasy than reality. The first was Valkyrie, and the second was Inglourious Basterds. I have not seen Valkyrie, and in fact, I refuse to do so. It is simply too much of a hurdle for me to believe that Tom Cruise could in any way successfully portray a German war hero such as Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg. The publicity photo of Tom Cruise with an eye patch looked patently ridiculous, and the release of photos of Cruise and the Count, highly retouched in an attempt to prove that they looked alike, was pathetic. Cruise just simply lacks the gravitas to successfully elicit anything more than a snicker in his vain attempts to play a German officer. If for no other reason, the film was pure fantasy. At least Inglourious Basterds, which my two eldest drafted me into watching, never pretended to resemble anything close to reality. Where Cruise and Count Stauffenberg failed, Tarantino delivered—the assassination of Hitler, in living color. However, this was almost an aside to the glourious inanity of a movie whose title has both words misspelled, and which has Brad Pitt trying to pass himself off as an Italian while speaking with a cinematically over-the-top southern accent. Both films involved fantasy—in the first, that Cruise could act; in the second, that Hitler and the German High Command were killed in a French movie theater before the War's end. However, the most fantastic conceit of all—a conceit both films shared—was that the death of Hitler would bring about the end of the war.

When one examines the plots to kill Hitler, there were two common strands—many of the participants were Nazis, and one of the goals of all of the plots was to avoid the destruction of Germany while at the same time avoiding unconditional surrender. A look at Rommel, for example, who was a co-conspirator in the last assassination attempt, illustrates the problem with the idea of assassinating Hitler as a way to end the war. Rommel was early on involved in training the Hitler Youth, and then in charge of Hitler's personal guard. It was through this, and his friendship with Joseph Goebbels, that he was made a commander of a Panzer Division, despite having no previous experience in tanks. It was just happenstance that he turned out to be a gifted tank commander. With his victories on the battlefield, he became a personal favorite of Hitler's. It is difficult to believe that he turned against Hitler because of his distaste for Hitler or Hitler's policies. Rather, he turned against Hitler mostly because he was dissatisfied with the prosecution of the war. With this in mind, what would make anyone believe that he would have been willing to end the war on the Allies' terms? Rather, he and his co-conspirators thought that if Hitler were gone the Allies would be willing to sue for peace and allow them to keep their government and much of what they had already gained during the War. This was the main reason why, when the conspirators tried to reach out through different channels to Churchill, he refused to deal with them. His reasoning was that they could assassinate Hitler anytime they wanted, but they would still have to unconditionally surrender. He was absolutely unwilling to let them negotiate a peace that stopped the war and left the status quo unchanged. Indeed, Hitler himself would have been willing to negotiate a peace with Britain and America, if he could have kept everything he had gained. The problem, in the end, was not Hitler, but Germany and its aims. The poison of Nazism simply had to be drawn out of Europe and then destroyed for there ever to be any real peace. Churchill and the Allies grasped this, but the conspirators didn't. To put it simply, men such as Hitler gain their demonic power as a judgment of their nation and the world they live in. While assassination may seem like an attractive alternative to some people, in a real sense it is an attempt to short-circuit the process and cheat the impending doom. When one reads of the various conspiracies regarding Hitler, one sees that in every case they were thwarted, seemingly by some spiritual force. But this is true of other attempts to get rid of other despots and fiends. It would be convenient to blame Satan, and say that he was keeping the conspiracies from succeeding. Indeed, it is convenient to blame Satan and say that he brought Hitler to power in the first place.

However, there is another way of looking at it. In truth, can anything happen unless God allows it to happen? God tested the German people—and the world—by allowing Hitler to rise to prominence in Germany. Everyone failed this test, either by actively working to put Hitler in charge, or by simply standing by and allowing it to happen. In the same way, God was not about to allow a small group of men to decide the fate of their nation, working in secret, in dark rooms, in the dead of the night, plotting to kill Hitler. What was required was for the nation to rise up and say "No!" to Hitler, for the nation to reject him, for the nation to repudiate the man and everything he stood for. However, in God's search for righteous people in Germany, he came up nearly empty. Certainly, for all of his bravery and integrity, Count von Stauffenberg did not fit the bill. He was a man wanting to murder one dictator, and then make another man dictator in his place. How could God bless this? How could this ever be counted as righteousness?
So the nation of Germany stood at a crossroads—it could repent of its evil and allow the poison to be drawn out, or it could reject this course, continuing to call evil good, and be destroyed. No one man could cheat Germany from this fate. The German people had to be made to decide. Sadly, they decided wrongly. In doing so, the guaranteed that the only way the War could be ended was through their utter destruction.

The Well of Bitterness, and the True Meaning of Christmas

2009-12-19T09:58:00.000-08:00

Unlike some Christianistas, I've nothing against Christmas trees or Santa Claus. On the other hand, one has to recognize that these have little or nothing to do with the true meaning of Christmas. At the same time, many people talk of Christmas in terms of giving gifts and eternal brotherhood--peace on earth, good will towards man, etc. This view certainly contains some truth, but if limited to these themes, misses the big picture.
My own understanding of Christmas, and of its importance, began in the oddest of places. I was doing research on the meaning of the name "Mary". That was it. I was not looking for any big revelations or eternal truth. I was merely looking for the derivation of a name. Yet, when I found the definition, it troubled me, and raised yet more questions. This led me to Exodus, and to a certain well in the desert ....

but I am getting ahead of myself. So, let's start from the beginning.
Remember that old Charismatic worship song:

I will sing unto the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously,
The horse and rider thrown into the sea.

This song was taken from Exodus 15. The Israelites had just escaped from the Egyptian army, which had been swept away by the Red Sea. At this point, Moses and then Miriam sang this song in praise of God because of their deliverance. We all like to end the story there, but Exodus 15 continues:

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?"
Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.
There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, "If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you."Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.

One would think, after this great victory, that two things would have occurred:
1) God would take care of them.
2) The children of Israel would have trusted that God would take care of them.
Yet, that is not exactly what happened. God did take care of them, it is true, but not in the way that they would have liked or that they would readily understand. For this reason, the people grumbled. Now, before we all get high and mighty and say that we wouldn't have grumbled if it had been us instead of them, let's look at the situation: The children of Israel were promised deliverance; they were promised, well, the Promised Land. They had just seen God work a mighty miracle to deliver them, and so they had every reason to believe that the miracles would continue. Yet, what they got was three days of desert with no water, and then when they finally found water, it turned out to be a bitter well from which no one could drink.
For just a few seconds, let's get real: I would have grumbled if I were in their shoes, and you would have, too.
Now, while it is true that the water was turned sweet, and it is true that God still led the people to Elim where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, the plain fact of the matter is that the well's name was "bitterness", and the well is still named that today. The water may have been made sweet, but the name of the well, and the bitterness it represented, is still there even now.
Somehow, despite all of the miracles that God did for the children of Israel, there was a tension between him and them--a tension that never left. They trusted God and followed him out into the wilderness. Yet they grumbled against him, because the promise was not yet fulfilled (and no, the waters of Elim do not represent the Promised Land--it was but a respite before they entered into yet more desert).
"What do you mean by this? You promised deliverance, yet you led us out to the desert to die? What is going on with this?"
The children of Israel grumbled against and fought with God for more than forty years in the desert, and there were many times when God was not too thrilled with them either. More often than not, he simply wanted to destroy them. Instead of peace between God and man, there was enmity; enmity, no less, between God who had chosen these people and delivered them, and the people who had left everything behind to follow him. The well of bitterness was always with them.
This is why the name "Mary" became so popular among the Jews before the coming of Christ. (Mary's name means "bitterness"--she was named after that well.) Even after they entered the Promised Land and become a nation, the promise to the children of Abraham--God's eternal promise--was still unmet. The bitterness was still there, perhaps even more pungent after the more than 1,600 years since the time of the Exodus than ever before. And why shouldn't it have been stronger? The children of Israel had received a taste of God's salvation, but it had only been a taste. It would be like being invited to a king's palace for a banquet, and being told that one day all of the wealth of the palace would be yours and that you would be able to live there. Then after the banquet is over, you have to go back to your hardscrabble life, every day working your fingers to the bone, suffering. You can see the palace, that wonderful city in the sky, from afar, but you can't go there. Not yet. And all the while, you wonder when the promise will be kept. For centuries, they had waited for the Consolation of Israel, but this consolation never came, and there was no evidence that it would come anytime soon. This will lead to bitterness. Anyone who says otherwise is simply not being real.
But then, at a time when no one was expecting it, an angel appeared to a daughter of bitterness:

In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, "Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you." Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.

Troubled indeed. The children of Israel had undergone centuries of hardship because they were favored by God. How much more hardship could a girl like her stand?

But the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end."

The Consolation of Israel had arrived!

"How will this be," Mary asked the angel, "since I am a virgin?"
The angel answered, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God."
"I am the Lord's servant," Mary answered. "May it be to me as you have said." Then the angel left her.

Though still highly distrustful of what God's "favor" would mean to her, Mary showed true faith: "I am the Lord's servant. May it be as you have said." One should not think for a moment that Mary believed any of this to be good news. Based upon the history of Israel, and the track record of other people that had received angelic visitations, such as the prophets (they were all killed--and Isaiah was even sawn in two), she still had to have been greatly troubled by what she heard. Yet, her answer was that whatever the possible personal cost, she was the Lord's servant. This is faith. This is true faith, not the watered-down positive thinking called "faith" by the name-it-claim crowd.
To continue, Mary then hurried off to Elizabeth:

At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah's home and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed: "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!"

Suddenly, instead of being called "bitter", Mary's name became "blessed". Yet, how could this be accomplished? How can bitterness be turned into blessing?

The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.

And so, here we have it: The Holy Spirit had to come upon her, and the power of the Most High had to overshadow her, so that the Son of God would be born within her. This was the blessing. This was her consolation.
Several times in this essay, I have talked about "getting real". One has to ask people to get real, I think, because behind all of the glitter of Christmas tinsel, and all of the warm feelings of Christmas dinner by the fireside, there is something horribly fake about so much of what is called Christianity today. This falseness has to do with the fact that we have not yet entered the Promise Land. It is true that we have been given a taste of it, but this small taste is nothing more than a taste--the Promised Land is still far away. We can see it, but we cannot enter into it yet. At the same time, most evangelicals have been taught to ignore Hebrews 11 and all of its implications, and believe that we have entered into the Promised Land already. Too many Christians live hardscrabble lives, going under with day to day problems, all the while denying that Christian life has not turned out quite the way they expected. They thought all of their problems would disappear when they became Christians, yet becoming a Christian turned out to be just the beginning. So they live in the wilderness near a bitter well, all the while pretending that this is the Promised Land, that they have already arrived, and that anything less than a proclamation of this false "truth" is a manifestation of a lack of faith. Indeed, many Christians are effectively still living in the land of Egypt--slaves and mistreated, but well-fed and content--all the while proclaiming that Egypt is the Promised Land, and cursing anyone who would dare say otherwise.
The truth is, anyone who really follows God will end up in the wilderness, where there will be chastisement and suffering (and as we all should know, those who are not chastised by God are not really his children). Effectively, Israel--and its experience with God--is a foreshadowing of the Christian life. We are brought out of slavery in Egypt, through the baptism of the Red Sea, into the wilderness. There we wander, seeing the Promised Land from afar. Then when we enter the Promised Land, we must fight to get the abundance that God has for us. Along the way, there are times of exile, slavery, and defeat. And in the end, we realize that while the land of Israel is indeed the Promised Land, it is just a finite shadow of the true Promised Land that is yet to come, the Eternal City, which we have not yet entered. Throughout this, there is a well of bitterness, an enmity between God and us. We have left everything to follow him, yet at times it seems that he has not delivered, that he has led us out into the desert to die. At the same time, God is not always too happy about us.
Ironically, there is more than an element of truth to our complaints: God has led us out to the desert to die. Indeed, it was his purpose all along. Like it or not, our old sinful nature has to be destroyed, or we will not be able to enter into his promise. Such a journey is not pleasant. God knows that most people will serve him after they have received a miraculous deliverance by his hand. The real question is, will we serve him even if there are no miracles, and if there is no deliverance. Will we serve him if serving him means suffering and losing everything? Will we still serve him even when he does not appear to answer our prayers? He wants us to get to the point where we are willing to say, regardless of the circumstance or the cost, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said." We cannot reach this point if we always live in a land of milk and honey.
Nevertheless, in all of this, there is a purpose: It is to turn our names from "bitter" to "blessed". Yet, how could this be accomplished? How can bitterness be turned into blessing? The Holy Spirit has to come upon us, and the power of the Most High has to overshadow us, so that the Son of God would be born within us. This is our blessing. This is our consolation.
We cannot do this in our own strength: The Son of God cannot be born within us without the power of the Holy Spirit. And anyone who would try to bring the Son of God into being within themselves through their own strength will only inherit the bitterness, and not the blessing.
So what are we to do? We must embrace the wilderness--God's chastisement, and acknowledge that there have been times when we have felt let down by God. In everyone's life, there will be times when we will say, "My God, my God! Why have you forsaken me?" In everyone's life, there will be a cross and suffering. In everyone's life, there is a well of bitterness. Yet, within this, there is a consolation--a consolation that we can only receive when the power of the Most High overshadows us, and the Son of God is born within us. With this, there is a promise, a promise that we know will be kept because Christ has been born on this day.
This is the meaning of Christmas.