a little after the fact, but here’s a great story about a bbc correspondent aleem maqbool and his motivation for retracing the Christmas journey made by Joseph and Mary in the New Testament. He’s kept a diary that you can follow here.
But throughout history, change in this part of the world has often come unexpectedly and in dramatic fashion.
According to the Bible, a journey here made by a man, a heavily-pregnant woman and a donkey changed the world in an instant.
Around two millennia on, their story still impacts on the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
may the impact of that journey many years ago impact you richly this day.