Searching and Inquiring

The chicken coop on an icy February day is not generally the place I’d look for beauty.

It doesn’t smell, look, or feel beautiful, and the quicker I can get the work done, the better.

However, the fog had frozen in just such a way as to capture my attention.

Each hexagonal opening of the chicken wire looked like an icy crown of thorns. The chickens were confused as I bent down to examine the ice crystals. I fell to my knees at the startling beauty.

As I gazed at each spiky crystal, I thought about that crown of thorns worn on Christ’s bleeding brow. It was meant to mock Him. It was meant to humiliate Him. It was not meant to be a thing of beauty.

But because He wore it, it was. Because the King of Glory made it His crown of choice, it was. Because it ultimately failed in its intended purpose, it was.

The chickens had really grown quite curious by the time I wiped the frozen tears from my cheeks, stood from the snow, and proceeded with the chores. However, I walked away from the coop with more than I had come with that day.

The beauty of the Gospel changes us even when we find it in unexpected places.

When the Apostle Peter wrote to the exiles of the dispersion, he told them that the prophets had “searched and inquired carefully” about the person and timing of Christ.

They knew to look even at the icy chicken coop for glimpses of Him. They knew He was coming, and they wanted to be ready.

At Incarnation Press, we have an earnest desire to publish materials from writers and creators who are searching and inquiring carefully about the beauty of the Gospel- even though they may find it in the ugliest of places.

We want to bring these glimpses of the Gospel to those who are searching and inquiring- to those who are diligently seeking- in a way that is real, relevant, and reliable.

It is real because it doesn’t gloss over the difficulties and ugliness of sin but offers Gospel solutions to the pain and problems we face.

It is relevant because it takes into account the places and situations that readers come from. “Not all who wander are lost,” inspires us to think that “Not all who seek are yet found,” but we hold diligently to the promise that “Those who seek will find.”

It is reliable because it is anchored in the truths and doctrines of Scripture as God’s revealed word sent to rescue a lost and dying world.

It is our hope that whether you have come here as a reader, a writer, or a seeker, you will find the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ life-changing as you consider the beauty of the Gospel wrapped in the cover of a good book.

May all of the works you encounter here lead you to search and inquire carefully about the person and work of Jesus.