If you’ve returned to your childhood home or neighborhood, perhaps you found yourself thinking or saying to another: “And, over there where those houses stand, was a great sled riding hill. And, on that block was the best pizza joint. And, do you see this stump–it was once a great apple tree”. Isaiah speaks about Israel that way – they used to be like a flourishing tree, now their like a cut down stump. Their lives are marked by fear, disappointment and shame – the way many of us feel around the holidays. But, out of the stump grows a green sprig of life – and that life represents a King. And although his identity and kingdom won’t be revealed for hundreds of years, the promise is so real, and glorious, it sustains them for the present. Can you imagine a future hope so great, it has the power to sustain you even now?